How many copies of birth certificate total are needed?

[grinchus 11]

Hi everyone,

I'm still at the K-1 visa stage. Our petition was approved in October - yay! - and his date of entry is January 5th!! I'm going to Italy next Wednesday to spend the holidays with his family, so we'll be seeing each other in less than a week! Then we're flying back together, through JFK.

My question is regarding the next stage and beyond. I do read the very helpful guides on this site, but I tend to read them one at a time, depending on what stage of the process we currently are at. Next stop: AOS.

My fiance' needed a copy of his BC for the K-1 visa application, but I also am now seeing he needs one for the GC application stage. Will he need one for any of the stages after that? I want to make sure he comes to the US with as many copies of the BC he'll need to go through the rest of this process. Obtaining a BC - or any of the other docs he'll have to get from Italy - we'll be a pain once he's here. I don't want to be caught dealing w/ Italian bureaucracy from abroad. It's hard enough up close!

So, how many copies of the BC should he get in the remaining weeks he's in Italy; and how many copies of any other docs he'll need from there.

Any advice and guidance would be MUCH appreciated.

[Inky 1,110]

I have used 3 so far, K1, marriage license needed one, and for AOS, i have another for removal of conditions and for naturalization as well incase i need them for that. I just got a bunch of copys of it incase i ever need it for anything here in the states. Considering passport renewal needs the original (for canadians anyways) its good to keep copys on hand when you dont have the original. I had 8 copys of mine made.

[The_Dude 1,142]

We made copies of the original birth certificate. Only had to show the original for the marriage license and submitted copies of it with the AoS and at the AoS interview.

[grinchus 11]

Thanks. I was just communicating w/ my fiance' and asking him to bring a few copies for the marriage certificate, AOS application, etc., and he responded telling me he can't get multiple copies.

I think he's confusing "original" with "official copies" and thinks that they gave him the official copy for our K-1 and that there aren't any more. I'm trying to explain to him that the office that keeps your BC *always* retains the original because it's a legal document that always stays on file w/ them, and that when we ask them for our BC it's *always* a copy.

I've posted this in the Europe sub-forum b/c maybe there's something specific about Italian birth certificates that I don't understand. Anyway, I'm frustrated. I don't want to get stuck w/o the proper docs when we go apply for our marriage license or go through any other parts of this process so he can live here permanently and we can be together