Copy of I-129F question

[Morrin Asturias 0]

Says I need the complete copy of my i-129F to send to my fiance for her interview. I got most of it, but the Instant Messneger logs I sent, was lost. My bad for not making paper copies. Would this hurt the chances of a denied Visa if I am missing this? I can still sent new proof of ongoing relationship.

[PeruvyandGringa 25]

I wouldn't worry too much. What country is your fiance from? She only needs a copy in the event that they lose something from your submittal along the way. It could be detrimental if you have little proof and are going through a difficult consulate. You will have new chat history long before then, and whatever other proofs you have. If you have a lot of other proof, it shouldn't be a problem at all.

[Filipina Lover 1]

You must have some kind of emails you can print, or if you have to, start emailing now or logging now and she can print something out to take with her and she can always say there was a problem and most got lost.

You must have sent her a couple of greeting cards, so she can use that.

Just do the best you can, most of the immigration officers are nice, and as long as you have everything else perfect, then if you only have a few pages of email or a couple of cards, it might be ok.

I did this 3 times and all 3 times they never looked at the stack of 500 pages of emails, but you need to have something, you can't give her a ream of blank paper with one email on top.

[Morrin Asturias 0]

You must have some kind of emails you can print, or if you have to, start emailing now or logging now and she can print something out to take with her and she can always say there was a problem and most got lost.

You must have sent her a couple of greeting cards, so she can use that.

Just do the best you can, most of the immigration officers are nice, and as long as you have everything else perfect, then if you only have a few pages of email or a couple of cards, it might be ok.

I did this 3 times and all 3 times they never looked at the stack of 500 pages of emails, but you need to have something, you can't give her a ream of blank paper with one email on top.

Well, most of our talking was done over AIM or ICQ. I've been to visit her in Russia twice now, so I got tickets and lots of pictures to send in as well. And still got tons of logs...Just not the exact ones that I sent initially at the beginning of the I-129F.

[baron555 934]

Says I need the complete copy of my i-129F to send to my fiance for her interview. I got most of it, but the Instant Messneger logs I sent, was lost. My bad for not making paper copies. Would this hurt the chances of a denied Visa if I am missing this? I can still sent new proof of ongoing relationship.

No because you have plenty of other proofs of your relationship.

[Morrin Asturias 0]

Alright, just about to send the last stuff to my fiance for her interview...Tho I'm a little panicky...Might not of been smart of me, but I send USCIS the original copy of my birth certifcate. Of course I haven't gotten it back yet. I ordered a new one...But won't be here in time for me to mail all the stuff to my fiance with her interview on the 18th of this month...Is not including an entire exact copy of the i-129f to her for the interview a "Do or Die" thing...Very worried here. >_>

[katie & sifa 25]

Alright, just about to send the last stuff to my fiance for her interview...Tho I'm a little panicky...Might not of been smart of me, but I send USCIS the original copy of my birth certifcate. Of course I haven't gotten it back yet. I ordered a new one...But won't be here in time for me to mail all the stuff to my fiance with her interview on the 18th of this month...Is not including an entire exact copy of the i-129f to her for the interview a "Do or Die" thing...Very worried here. >_>

They shouldn't need your birth certificate at the interview - don't worry. They will need HERS but not yours. The CO will have the application you already sent in, and yours is in there. (So is hers of course, but they will need her original again - at least they did at my fiance's interview.)

Edited February 6, 2010 by katie & sifa

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

The suggestion to make two complete copies of the package does not mean that you should be able to reconstruct copies from documents you still have. It means you should photocopy every page in the package before sending it - twice. As previously mentioned, this might be useful if USCIS loses a document or piece of evidence. A more important reason is so both petitioner and beneficiary will know exactly what was submitted. Many petitioners have discovered errors in material information submitted with the petition, and were able to correct that information with the documents submitted at the interview, or at least they were prepared to address the errors because they knew about them. You can't do this if you don't have a copy of the actual documents you submitted. The beneficiary should have a complete copy because the consular officer can pull questions from the evidence submitted with the petition. If the beneficiary doesn't know precisely what was submitted, then they could be blind sided with questions they didn't expect at the interview, or make a statement that directly conflicts with the evidence.

Except for forms that require signatures, USCIS doesn't require original documents. They will accept photocopies. The consular officer can ask to see the original copy of any document sent with the petition. They may do this, for example, if they want to determine if the submitted copy was tampered with or if something in the submitted copy is not entirely legible. This means that the consular officer could ask to see the original copy of the petitioner's birth certificate if a copy of that birth certificate was submitted with the petition, even though the petitioner's birth certificate is not technically a required document at the interview. It's not likely they would ask to see another copy of the petitioner's birth certificate if it's obvious that the document submitted with the petition is an original certified copy.

When I took my petition package to a local mail boxes store to send to USCIS, I paid to have them make two complete photocopies of the entire package, including double sided copies of documents that had stuff on both sides. In addition, before I took the petition to the store, I made a lo-res 200 DPI scan of the entire package, backed it up on a CD-R, and put it in my "important documents" file. There were several times during the process when it was very useful to be able to refer to those copies.

[PeruvyandGringa 25]

The suggestion to make two complete copies of the package does not mean that you should be able to reconstruct copies from documents you still have. It means you should photocopy every page in the package before sending it - twice. As previously mentioned, this might be useful if USCIS loses a document or piece of evidence. A more important reason is so both petitioner and beneficiary will know exactly what was submitted. Many petitioners have discovered errors in material information submitted with the petition, and were able to correct that information with the documents submitted at the interview, or at least they were prepared to address the errors because they knew about them. You can't do this if you don't have a copy of the actual documents you submitted. The beneficiary should have a complete copy because the consular officer can pull questions from the evidence submitted with the petition. If the beneficiary doesn't know precisely what was submitted, then they could be blind sided with questions they didn't expect at the interview, or make a statement that directly conflicts with the evidence.

Except for forms that require signatures, USCIS doesn't require original documents. They will accept photocopies. The consular officer can ask to see the original copy of any document sent with the petition. They may do this, for example, if they want to determine if the submitted copy was tampered with or if something in the submitted copy is not entirely legible. This means that the consular officer could ask to see the original copy of the petitioner's birth certificate if a copy of that birth certificate was submitted with the petition, even though the petitioner's birth certificate is not technically a required document at the interview. It's not likely they would ask to see another copy of the petitioner's birth certificate if it's obvious that the document submitted with the petition is an original certified copy.

When I took my petition package to a local mail boxes store to send to USCIS, I paid to have them make two complete photocopies of the entire package, including double sided copies of documents that had stuff on both sides. In addition, before I took the petition to the store, I made a lo-res 200 DPI scan of the entire package, backed it up on a CD-R, and put it in my "important documents" file. There were several times during the process when it was very useful to be able to refer to those copies.

Excellent advice as always! I had scanned in every piece of evidence and could reproduce a duplicate copy if requested. Good point on if there were errors (thankfully we didn't have any). My fiance did have a paper copy, and I also gave him a jump drive with the entire package on the drive, in the event he needed yet another copy (and I had it backed up as well). None of our initial petition was even looked at at the interview (I know that we had an easier consulate). He did submit new 'proofs' at the interview as nearly 6 months had passed since our filing. We did go over everything submitted in our petition before his interview.