My photo book was sent back to me!

[FinnLove 0]

Len, send me a message when/where and how to find you, and I'll be there! Mal, wish you still lived in Issaquah! I love it out there!

Me too, Finn, me too. I loved living out on Tiger Mountain and being 15 minutes from town. And all the yummy restaurants! When you bring hubby here, take him to Jak's!

Hey, there's a Jaks in West Seattle! Same one? Steak place? Hey, you were so close to some good hiking too!

[Malrothien 6]

Len, send me a message when/where and how to find you, and I'll be there! Mal, wish you still lived in Issaquah! I love it out there!

Me too, Finn, me too. I loved living out on Tiger Mountain and being 15 minutes from town. And all the yummy restaurants! When you bring hubby here, take him to Jak's!

Hey, there's a Jaks in West Seattle! Same one? Steak place? Hey, you were so close to some good hiking too!

Yes, same one! Their top sirloin, with salad with a balsamic vinaigrette was to die for! Their bread is also yummmmmmy.

hehe, where we lived, we had a 5 minute walk to trails on Tiger Mtn.

[FinnLove 0]

So you're up north now?

[sjr09 155]

I sent the I-130 package (with exhibits!) on Friday. Today I got a package from USCIS. I nervously opened it, and enclosed was my photo book (I spent all afternoon one day at a camera store doing this super cool book!) and a letter attached. Apparently they are unable to accept photo books! Well, they called it a photo album but that isn't what it is. So word to the wise...don't do this! Waste of time!

So...now of course they (USCIS) have zero pics of my hubby and me (except they have six binders of other stuff!). Is this a problem? I'm assuming the photo book will come handy at the NVC stage... or I'll send it to my hubby. I made two of them!

No Books,CD's VHR,Cassettes and so on! Print your photos on 8.5"'x11" paper! the best way is to photoshop them to a CD and go down and have them printed on a color copier..

Keep in mind the pre-screener at your interview will ask for your 'Bona Fides' they need to fit under the window the slot is 1"H x 12"W they can get a lil- pissssed when you have to take doc's out of books. Use a two hole punch and prong fasteners, with cover sheet. Keep it nice and clean.

Edited August 20, 2009 by sjr09

[Malrothien 6]

So you're up north now?

Only until we're done with this process. Then we're moving to Florida.

[mlybrand 0]

Was the photo book packed in jube jubes instead of packing peanuts?

Mark

[bowgirl 8]

It's good they sent it back.

[FinnLove 0]

Yes Mark, they sent all my jubejubes back. I'm shocked!

They even returned it Priority Mail in a flat envelope. Kudos to USCIS for that!

This photo book thing of mine is very thin. Probably thinner than a stack of paper with photos! My binders? Uh, kinda big...

I doubt they want me to send another package with photos, right? Cuz now they have zero photos of my hubby and me!

Thanks SJR! I didn't know that things had to fit under a window. OMG. I'm doomed.

If one person laughed at USCIS over my photo book, then it's all worth it to me! haha At least they may remember me. "Oh yeah, it's the Binder Girl! She's married to the Finn Man!"

[Lars-N-Yenia 8]

I did not send any photos to USCIS. I am also not sending any photos to NVC. The only stage where photos would be necessary are at interview.

I agree....

[Twisted K 2]

the below made me i sent in 3 binders. mainly because the k1 they asked for additional evidence which we did not have. so for the cr1, we wanted to make sure nothing was lacking

Oops I was talking to the hubby on the phone! I'm backkkk! Yes, my photo book should have stayed with them! Not only did I work so hard on it (well, the camera store did a lot of the work!) but it wasn't cheap! And on the front was a picture of us from 1988 in Australia...

LGG, my binders were full of black jubejubes and blue ones! hehee Okay, really, I had letters from the 80s and 90s that we wrote. They are a hoot. That was one. Then I had a binder of emails since we found each other again last year, and some cards. Then I had...hmmm...oh, a binder full of photocopies receipts, plane tix, etc...from each trip, divided by trip. Then I had one with a letter from my daughter, forms from work showing I put him as the beneficiary. And ring receipts and cards from the jewelry store! Yes, I acted like a 13-year old. But I also was in "work mode" and made it very organized and professional! Oh well....at least they kept the binders.

Len, send me a message when/where and how to find you, and I'll be there! Mal, wish you still lived in Issaquah! I love it out there!

Now watch. I'll be the one who's still waiting for her NOA2 in a year. ha! At least they could have sent the NOA1 in with the returned super cool and groovy photo book.

[M_n_M 1]

I'm wondering why you didn't save the 6 binders of stuff for the interview....since you're not getting them back, what are you actually taking to the interview? Or were they all copies? What I found out was that everything you send to USCIS, NVC doesn't get it all in the second stage. I had sent copies of birth certificates, marriage license, etc, to the USCIS, and then at the NVC stage they wanted all that from me again! I'm like didn't you get all the stuff, they're like no, we only really get your application and its approval, all documents need to be resent. So I'm realllllly hoping you have the originals for the interview and stuff. That's when all the letters, emails, pics come in handy... ESPECIALLY pics.

Good luck!

~M

[KGH 0]

I sent the I-130 package (with exhibits!) on Friday. Today I got a package from USCIS. I nervously opened it, and enclosed was my photo book (I spent all afternoon one day at a camera store doing this super cool book!) and a letter attached. Apparently they are unable to accept photo books! Well, they called it a photo album but that isn't what it is. So word to the wise...don't do this! Waste of time!

So...now of course they (USCIS) have zero pics of my hubby and me (except they have six binders of other stuff!). Is this a problem? I'm assuming the photo book will come handy at the NVC stage... or I'll send it to my hubby. I made two of them!

That is very interesting, I also sent a Photo book, but they didn't sent back to, I didn't make so tick, it was about 25 pages, I created it with Shuterfly.com but don't worry about it, there shouldn't be any problem, if they needed, just print 5-6 of those picture on a plain paper and sent it to them.

[Twisted K 2]

i sent copies, and scanned everything to adobe pdf file to email to my husband. it was my "just in case" method.

[FinnLove 0]

I'm wondering why you didn't save the 6 binders of stuff for the interview....since you're not getting them back, what are you actually taking to the interview? Or were they all copies? What I found out was that everything you send to USCIS, NVC doesn't get it all in the second stage. I had sent copies of birth certificates, marriage license, etc, to the USCIS, and then at the NVC stage they wanted all that from me again! I'm like didn't you get all the stuff, they're like no, we only really get your application and its approval, all documents need to be resent. So I'm realllllly hoping you have the originals for the interview and stuff. That's when all the letters, emails, pics come in handy... ESPECIALLY pics.

Good luck!

~M

Well actually, I only sent 4 binders-3 exhibits were combined into one! I spent all my free time putting them all together, then found out thru VJ that it wasn't really necessary-but then read some posts in which the applicant "uploaded" USCIS at the beginning, and they got put thru fast. So I figured, WTH, why not? I didn't want to feel like I wasted all my free time-cuz believe me, I missed out on a lot of kayaking because of it! I also was told by peeps here that the documents would just get passed on. Of course I didn't send originals...they are all copies, and I have photocopied replicas of the binders here. So if it doesn't get passed on, no biggie. I'm going to the interview with my hubby because we're making a vacation out of it, so I'll be there with whatever they need (including that photo book!). Yes, I may have done too much, but sometimes it was actually fun! I reread all our letters from the 1980s and it was comical.

In addition to the binders were the required docs such as marriage license, proof of citizenship (for me), etc...

Call me crazy...but I'm the first one to make fun of myself for this!!!!

[FinnLove 0]

Interesting KGH! Maybe they're changing their ways...but if it wasn't for this, I would never have done a photo book! I'm the one with all my photos in boxes...