I-130
I-130 Petition for Alien Relative
Family-based petition establishing a qualifying relationship — most commonly a bona fide marriage — between a U.S. citizen or LPR petitioner and the beneficiary.
A bona fide marriage is proved with the boring documents: the lease, the joint account, the tax return, the photographs across years. Collecting them is most of the work, and it happens in a language the client may not read. Attest requests them through a translated portal and tracks what's arrived.
The document checklist
What the client is asked for — before you have to ask twice.
A new I-130 starts with this checklist already on the case. Your client sees it in the portal in their own language, uploads from their phone, and each item flips to received as it arrives.
Required
9 items- Petitioner's proof of citizenship or LPR status
- Beneficiary's birth certificate and passport
- Divorce decrees / death certificates for ALL prior marriages
- Joint lease, deed, or mortgage
- Joint bank and credit card statements
- Joint insurance and tax returns
- Photographs across the relationship
- Passport-style photos
- A-number and prior immigration history
If it applies
6 items- Marriage certificate (spousal petitions)
- Birth certificates proving the family relationship (parent, child, sibling petitions)
- Adoption or stepfamily documents (if applicable)
- Children's birth certificates (if applicable)
- Affidavits from friends and family
- Communication records
What the evidence is measured against
An evidence map, criterion by criterion.
Attest reads every document on the case and maps it to the elements below — marking each one supported or a gap, and citing the page it relied on. A gap is stated plainly rather than papered over.
Where these cases get RFE’d
The grounds USCIS comes back on.
When a notice does arrive, upload it — Attest extracts each request, maps it against what you already have on file, and drafts a cited response plan. The response deadline it finds is docketed only after you confirm it against the notice page itself.
Insufficient bona fide marriage evidence
Commingling is asserted but the documents on file don't span the relationship or don't carry both names.
Prior marriages not properly terminated
A decree is missing, uncertified, or dated after the current marriage.
Petitioner status proof deficient
Citizenship or LPR evidence is a photocopy of the wrong document.
Name and date discrepancies across documents
Transliterations and date formats disagree between the birth certificate, passport, and forms.
INA 204(c) marriage-fraud concerns
A prior petition in the record raises a bar that has to be addressed head-on.
Bring an I-130 you already have open.
Nothing to migrate. Upload the file you’re working on and see a cited evidence map against these criteria.
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