About circumstantial evidence ...

[uhm 2]

A little background, I'm 29, entered without inspection when 15 yo, didn't go to school right away, worked and got paid cash, I didn't get a bank account until I became 18 (when I could get a passport). In other words I have no paper record of any kind from 15 to 18, I may be able to get a medical record but not sure.

My only chance will be getting a bunch of affidavits from friends and relatives during that time, will they (USCIS) take circumstantial evidence for my arrival date?

Thank you.

[JoseG 383]

Since your EWI and don't have any proof that you were here until you turned 18, I'm not sure why they would think that you were here. You would have to submit some type of proof, as insufficient as it may seem, along with affidavits and hope that they use circumstantial evidence. They state that affidavits alone will not work.

USCIS will not accept affidavits as proof of satisfying the following guidelines:

• You are currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran from the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States;
  
• You were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012;
  
• You came to the United States before reaching your 16th birthday;
  
• You were under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012; and
  
• Your criminal history, if applicable.
  

If the only evidence you submit to demonstrate you meet any of the above guidelines is an affidavit, USCIS will issue a Request for Evidence, indicating that you have not demonstrated that you meet these guidelines and that you must do so in order to demonstrate that you meet that guideline.

Q2: Will USCIS consider circumstantial evidence that I have met certain guidelines?

A2: Circumstantial evidence may be used to establish the following guidelines and factual showings if available documentary evidence is insufficient or lacking and shows that:

• You were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012;
  
• You came to the United States before reaching your 16th birthday;
  
• You satisfy the five year continuous residence requirement, as long as you present direct evidence of your continued residence in the United States for a portion of the required five-year period and the circumstantial evidence is used only to fill in gaps in the length of continuous residence demonstrated by the direct evidence; and
  
• Any travel outside the United States during the five years of required continuous presence was brief, casual, and innocent.
  

However, USCIS will not accept circumstantial evidence as proof of any of the following guidelines to demonstrate that you:

• Were under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012; and
  
• Are currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a General Education Development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States.
  

[roadrunner11 167]

Hey I was thinking about other sources of evidence for you. How about taxes? Did your parents/guardians claim you in their tax forms when you were underage? Did you by chance get vaccines? Pictures with dates? Church events that kept records? I'll keep thinking about more ideas.