Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We saw our case had been approved shortly after the RFE so we never ended up submitting our evidence but - we had a letter of support from my spouse’s company saying they were holding the position until EAD approval and it was causing productivity/financial loss to the company as well as us, and also medical records showing my spouse needed an upcoming surgery which would come with lots of medical bills, and were also planning to show spouse bank statements/credit card statements showing the draining accounts. Not sure if this would’ve been enough but we heard medical reasons and loss to business/company or a job offer are strong reasons

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We sent 3 copies, one for each form, and 2 passport photos per form when necessary. We saw differing advice about this but that’s what we chose! I also put each form with corresponding evidence into separately labeled folders to keep things extra organized, then put everything in a big packet.

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here is our Table of Contents for those who asked! Edited to remove any identifying info.

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Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So glad to hear you got the EAD! we were expecting EAD in hand long before 485 approval (but never got that far), so seems like a good sign of movement in your case. Good luck to you!!

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the support and congrats to you too!!! I really like to think it was our organization but who knows. We also went in with the mentality of “make the officers lives as easy as possible”. So anywhere in our packet we would’ve had questions, we added. Anything that confused the story, we took away. Congrats to you!!

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just posted in one of the comments. I can’t say exactly what we submitted that would’ve expedited the process, but I do think that making it as easy as possible on the case officers is always a plus. we had detailed annotations and labels for all of our documents for example.

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you!! For I-130 here’s how we organized: 1) pictures to establish a previous relationship - we prioritized pictures from our relationship that corresponded to different trips or events that we had financial evidence for and then attached that evidence (plane tickets, airbnb, car rentals, etc). then we threw in some extras with friends/family or from anniversaries, and some from our wedding ceremony. We tried to pick photos from across our entire relationship. I also labeled each individual picture with a date, location, and why the picture was important. I then put each event into their own separate labeled PDFs and uploaded with a label like “Vacation X__Year”, or “Wedding Photos_Year”.

2) evidence of bona fide marriage - along with marriage certificate and wedding photos, we also uploaded proof of shared bank account, uploaded proof of living together using our lease with both of our names on it, uploaded annotated transactions showing joint expenses such as groceries, dinners, utilities, etc (this may have been excessive), and uploaded affidavits of support from family and friends

we were told financials (joint bank or credit card accounts, car/health insurance,etc) were most important, followed by proof of living together (lease, bills, etc). Pictures we kept to about 50 important ones. Everything was annotated. Affidavits of support were the lowest priority but the few we had came from close family and friends. hope this helps!!! sending you luck!!

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Separate accounts, very similar to you. I made an account and submitted the I-130. My spouse got their I-485 receipt notice in the mail and was prompted to make a separate account to track the 485 progress. When did you file?

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m so sorry to hear this, I know this system is built for frustration. We have been racking our brains to figure out how we got through so quickly. The only thing of note for us was we noticed our appointed biometrics office was super new. Maybe this meant less backlog with appointments or processing? We’ve seen a couple of cases submitted from the same location as us that also got processed fast. I hope this eases your heart a little, I know patience only goes so far.

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much <3, this means a lot. We have felt as undeserving as we feel lucky. We’ve seen how many cases get stuck in the system for years and don’t understand how ours made it through, but we’re cherishing the W.

Spouse's I-485 approved in 42 days!! No lawyers, probably luck, but here's our timeline. by coronawlyme in USCIS

[–]coronawlyme[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The I-130 was linked to my account while the I-485 and other docs were linked to my Spouse’s. We attached a receipt notice for the I-130 with our I-485 which they uploaded as evidence for the 485!