Assembling Package: Tabs Assist Question

[millie2 0]

I found the tips on assembling applications for mailing:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;page=assembly

Very helpful information there.

Now, I'm just wondering -

1) Should the tabs assists be attached to heavy paper dividers OR to actual documents?

In other words, should I use heavy paper dividers between the sets of documents and attach tab assists on the bottom, OR just attach the tabs directly on the bottom of the actual documents without using paper dividers?

2) What should the tabs say - just a reference number (1, 2, 3, etc. referring to the documents listed in the cover letter) - or some wording ("tax return 2008", "bank statement")?

Does anyone know how attorneys do this?

Thanks so much for any help!!

[Silke 1]

Yes, the tips on how to assemble your application are indeed very helpful.

About the tabs though, we used them for our AOS application two years ago and when we went for our interview we saw that all the tabs had been removed...therefore I'm not sure if we will use them again for our ROC application. I wrote a very detailed cover letter which should help the immigration officer working on our case locate things.

By the way, our tabs didn't just show reference numbers but short descriptions such as tax transcript and bank statement.

[jasminelily 1]

Just my 2 cents, I didn't add tabs, may be I would if I have more time or patience. I did have a detail cover letter. The documents should be very clear and obvious on explaning themselves as what they are. Like auto insurance, clearly has both names and coverage period, doesn't take an IQ195 to understand (well, if someone has IQ195, don't think they'd work at USCIS, more likely NASA). You could put some descriptions for things like photos though.

[Emancipation 2]

we are highlighting names and impt. information on our package.. bright yellow should help the officer we figure

[Silke 1]

we are highlighting names and impt. information on our package.. bright yellow should help the officer we figure

same here

[jasminelily 1]

we are highlighting names and impt. information on our package.. bright yellow should help the officer we figure

same here

ditto deuce!

[-B&T- 1]

I made a very detailed cover letter and used 6 tabs attached directly on the bottom of my documents as 'dividers' for quick and easy reference on my documents list.Haven't heard anything from USCIS though

[John24689 0]

I found this site on USCIS. I used it when I first starting filing. It is basically the same as the one above. Just another reference. I was surprised USCIS actually had something worthwhile.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

[poochie 0]

Our immigration lawyer and paralegals did not use tabs. A detailed cover letter would suffice, jmho.

Edited March 2, 2009 by poochie

[csoul 0]

Well, according to the link of the USCIS "The use of tabs assist in locating items listed as attachments. The tabs should be placed on the bottom and not the side for ease in filing" that mean that tabs is "approved" by USCIS.

And Jasminelily I know that doesn't take an IQ195 to understand the documents but obviously if you send, for example 10 months of bank statements from one bank then one annual bill of other stuff and then 10 other documents will be very easy for the officer to miss the annual bill or other single document between all the other pages of the same stuff...

I bet that in some RFEs of documents that people already sent in the original package, the RFE maybe was because the officer failed to read/find that in the original package.

I believe that using tabs is a good idea and is not going to hurt anything.

Good luck everyone.

I'll send my I-751 package in 20 days!!!!!!

[Lexx 0]

I use every mean to make my package as much self explanatory as possible.

- Cover letter with details

- Small paper clip to separate the month bill and heavy clip to group the paperwork (house, cars, bank statements, utilities, credit cards, etc)

- Highlight the name and important dates or transactions (i.e. payroll deposits to joint bank account from both payrolls)

- Tab on the first page of each section with brief explanation

I have very short attention span and poor short-term memory. Doing all these help me keep track of what I'm missing.

Good luck

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I also tried to make my package as user friendly as possible. I used ACCO fasteners at the top, had a detailed cover letter that itemized every document, then separated each 'category' with tabs at the bottom of an index page for each category also itemizing every document in the category. I also highlighted names, account numbers or things I wanted them to see quickly (ie. mortgage payment on joint bank statement, etc.). I felt I had done everything I could to make a positive decision easy for the adjudicator.