Last month, my husband (25, Canadian and EU citizen) and I (23, American) got married, and I'm about to send off Form I-130 (and I-130A) so that he can join me in America when I return for grad school in Fall of 2022. I have very carefully organized all of the additional evidence so that it's very easy to read, but I'm so nervous about the application being absolutely perfect so that there are no delays and we can leave on time, together. Any and all advice is welcome.
We have more than enough sufficient evidence that our 2+ year-long relationship is real, but I'm worried about having enough evidence to prove that our only one-month long marriage is real (bona fide). First of all, we're young, so things like joint bank accounts, a big fancy (and expensive) engagement ring, and changing my last name are just things we are simply not interested in (If you're young and into those things, then kudos, but that's just not who we are, personally).
Plus, I've read a lot online about how important the wedding ceremony itself is in proving the bona fides of the marriage, but we did not do a "proper" big fancy church wedding for a number of reasons. 1) We were both raised Catholic, but due to some family problems with the church over the years (I'm sure I don't need to go into detail here), we both agreed that being in a church would put a damper on things. 2) Lockdown restrictions where we live only allowed 7 guests to attend the wedding ceremony. While we wanted our families there, my family couldn't make it due to a ban on international travel, and his family couldn't make it due to testing positive for covid only week before the ceremony (we have proof of this). 3) Lockdown restrictions altogether banned large gatherings, meaning we couldn't have a "proper" reception. All we did was pop champagne in a nearby park after the ceremony with our very small wedding party, but we still plan to have a proper reception one day, post-covid.
All that being said, I'm worried this will look like an elopement and raise suspicion. There are no wedding invitations or receipts from florists, caterers, or wedding photographers because we simply weren't allowed to have those things. All we have our pictures our friends took on their phones of us at the ceremony, me throwing my home-grown bouquet to the one female friend in attendance, and the wedding party drinking champagne in the park.
I can only hope that the overwhelming evidence we have to prove our relationship is real will be enough. Sure, we could have postponed our wedding until after covid, but that would've postponed his visa, meaning we would have to do long distance while I was in grad school. Sure, we could've done long distance, but we did that once before and agreed never again.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/og4gns/i130_for_my_spouse_any_and_all_advice_welcome/