Photos: Date & Time

[honbako 1]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of gathering photos for my I-129F package. None of the photos I took with my fiancee have the date and time on them (I've an old digital camera that doesn't put that information on it).

Should I just print them 'as-is' and include a note on the back as to the location, date, and time? Or should I print them with the date and time on them?

I'm a little uncomfortable with printing them on there since the original data doesn't have it ... or does it not really matter since they are digital photos anyway?

[VanessaTony 3,567]

It could be country specific... but I didn't include any dates or locations or anything (not even writing on the back). I actually forgot... but didn't realise till after my K1 was approved so I didn't stress at all . Dates can easily be doctored and all it takes is you setting your camera to the wrong date and take a pic. As long as you have the boarding passes and/or passport stamps and then the pics it shows you together. Pictures are secondary evidence, the boarding passes and passport stamps are primary.

Edited February 21, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[Audy_Rob 26]

Everything in Vanessa&Tony's answer is good information, I cannot add to that.

I wanted to write because this is very strange. When I download pictures from my camera to my computer and send them for developing, I do not get the date and time. But when I was in Bangkok with Audy and we stopped to get some pictures made from my camera, I stuck the memory card into a computer there and they printed them at the shop in Bangkok.The proper dates and time were printed out on the photos with the date and time the photos were taken, not a current date and time the shop could have printed on them.

I cannot figure out why there is that difference.

[rsn 135]

Everything in Vanessa&Tony's answer is good information, I cannot add to that.

I wanted to write because this is very strange. When I download pictures from my camera to my computer and send them for developing, I do not get the date and time. But when I was in Bangkok with Audy and we stopped to get some pictures made from my camera, I stuck the memory card into a computer there and they printed them at the shop in Bangkok.The proper dates and time were printed out on the photos with the date and time the photos were taken, not a current date and time the shop could have printed on them.

I cannot figure out why there is that difference.

A portion of each photo file generated by your camera contains metadata such as the time the photo was taken, the model of the camera used to take it, if a flash was used or not, etc, etc. This data is always available assuming the original photo file is intact. You may have the option to print the date and time on the camera when you develop it here (depending on the photo developer) but as was said previously, it is not really a useful bit of information as far as proving that the photo was taken on a specific date. I, too, had photos developed in Thailand. I told them to print the date/time on the photo (my wife made me do it) and instead of printing the encoded date/time, they printed the date/time they DEVELOPED the photo. Sigh.

[norrin 3]

I just wrote on the back the date and where we were and who was in the picture, however you can take your camera card to any developer, (I know walgeens and cvs do it) they can put any date you want on them (before they print them not after).

[rsn 135]

you can take your camera card to any developer, (I know walgeens and cvs do it) they can put any date you want on them (before they print them not after).

Which is exactly why it isn't useful to do this. Printing the dates in pencil on the back of the photos is not any less convincing.

[honbako 1]

Thanks everyone for the informative replies. From what I've read, I'll go ahead and add the dates since I realized that it could help corroborate the information on my passport, boarding pass, and the other information that I'll be sending. Thank you again kindly for the informative responses.