What Evidence Can I Provide to Satisfy the 2 Year Meeting Requirement for Fiancé(e) Visas?

If you are recently engaged or looking to become engaged in the near future and your partner is living in another country, now is the best time to start thinking about applying for a fiancé(e) visa to bring them to the United States. As a part of this process, couples are required to collect and submit evidence in support of the fiancé visa application. This includes evidence that one partner is a United States citizen, proof of termination of any prior marriages, proof of an intention to marry within 90 days of the fiancé's admission to the U.S. and more.

In an effort to deter cases involving "mail order brides," Congress also added a two-year meeting requirement to the fiancé(e) visa process. This means that the couple must provide evidence that they have met at least once within two years prior to submitting the fiancé visa application.

However, understanding that all situations and circumstances are not the same, Congress provided two exceptions to this requirement. The two year meeting requirement will be exempted for couples that can show that they are following strict cultural or social practices that prevent them from meeting or that the U.S. citizen petitioner would suffer an extreme hardship if forced to meet this requirement. Keep in mind though that these exemptions are discretionary and not automatically granted.

For everyone else, you must provide sufficient evidence to show that you and your partner have physically met in person. Unfortunately, the government will not just take you at your word and requires tangible proof that shows you have met. This can be accomplished by providing copies of the following:

Plane, bus or train tickets / itinerary for trip to see one another;
Passport pages showing relevant visa stamps / admissions;
Receipts from restaurants, hotels, museums, events or places that you traveled to together;
Photos together that are dated within 24 months of the application (if taken on cell phone, screenshot time stamp on photos);
Credit / Debit card statements from couple showing they made purchases together while in the same locale;
Social media posts containing photos (with dates) of you together;

When attempting to satisfy this requirement, it is suggested that you connect with your partner and go over your records together from the dates of your in-person meeting. This will help you think about and collect as many evidences as possible to aid in your application. While photos together are excellent proof, if they are undated and you cannot establish when the photos were taken, the government will reject that evidence.

It is important that you collect enough evidence that objectively shows you and your partner have met in person. These applications are heavily scrutinized and anything that could be considered questionable will be raised by the officer reviewing your submissions.

If you are concerned that you do not have sufficient evidence to satisfy the two-year meeting requirement, you should consult with an experienced immigration attorney immediately as we are best suited to get creative and think of alternative avenues of proof that will help bolster your application.

Disclaimer: This blog post and similar posts are not to be considered as providing legal advice. The discussion here is meant for educational and informational purposes only and shall not create an attorney-client relationship with the readers of this content.