ALRIGHT. HONESTY Please

[JoyDee 21]

urban legend or old wives tale

Not true! I sent my birth certificate and passport with my original petition to USCIS. At the consulate they want to see it AGAIN!! frustration that is causing a delay and headache because I sent the entire packet to my fiance, but i didn't send him the copy of my passport and birth certificate thinking it is wiser not to have these documents floating around a high fraud nation.. think again... consulates make no sense and they can and will ask you for things you've already submitted.

[Maleman 5]

Yes indeed, I made two exact copies of my K-1 packet including sending certified copies of the most important documents. Sending them in electronic form is a very efficient way to transfer the packet. However, later your fiancée will eventually have to print out the entire contents to bring to the interview or he/she may not have the resources to view the contents of the file as well. Thus, I sent the complete package via FedEx, and yes, it was very costly. Additionally, during the interview, your future spouse may be called upon to answer any question relating to the documentation in your packet. Although, we never think of details in we are in love, the CO may ask questions regarding any facet concerning the contents of the packet.

[Lisamarie 79]

I filed the CR1, but I made "three" copies of everything....one for USCIS, one for my husband, and one for me. It was tedious and expensive, especially since our file for the original petition was pretty large, but I wanted to make sure we all had the final copy. I also did the same for our RFE and our NVC packet.

I'm about to mail out my I-129F petition tomorrow... or actually today since it's 12:34 AM. I'm usually in bed at 11PM... I need answers to this: What to send to your fiance(e) once the I-129F is approved (Receive NOA2):

1. A copy of the entire I-129f package (that you made when you sent the petition in) and a copy of information that you sent back due to an RFE (if you received one).

SERIOUSLY. How CRUCIAL and IMPORTANT is this? I think it's a suggestion. If it is, TELL ME it is. I know damn well that not everybody has made an ENTIRE copy. I started to do this as I was piecing together my petition... but since I am so thorough, it began to get too overwhelming to focus on basically TWO petitions... I tried to print everything *times* two still, but I found myself needing to focus on my IMPORTANT petition... copies don't seem as important to me. Now... I'm staying up late because I told my fiancee I'd mail out the petition tomorrow. I don't want to let her down. The separation has been very hard and I can't help but think of her pain the most. I need honest answers. Flat out answers. I'm making black and white copies of my forms/passport/birth certificate as we speak. I can't help but think it's overkill. What's the chances of her consulate/embassy requesting an ENTIRE copy of my petition, if it's forwarded to them anyway? I plan to go to the interview with her, and also plan to help her gather things for the interview.

anyway... other than the most important stuff, I have facebook messages, some skype conversation chat logs, excess pictures printed on regular paper... copies of atm receipt, copies of tickets when we visited tourist attractions in her country... I have so much as far as ongoing relationship stuff. As I said, I'm very thorough and if I was to sit here and make copies of EVERYTHING... it just seems like it'd be a total waste. Especially since I read about many people going to interviews with heaps of stuff and the officers don't even look at it. I know it's worth it, for the outcome but FOR REAL... do I need copies of all the ongoing relationship stuff I ALREADY HAVE in my petition? We plan to print a bunch of that stuff anyway, when I'm there because we'll obviously have more saved chat history/pictures/receipts/etc. I am planning on flying to see her as soon as I send this damn petition because I can't stand being away from her anymore. She feels the same too. I'm going to propose to her on this next visit... and we're also having a small ceremony since her family won't be able to see her get married here with me, in the US when she comes. We'll have more evidence then, for her interview.

I know that what I pasted here: What to send to your fiance(e) once the I-129F is approved (Receive NOA2):

1. A copy of the entire I-129f package (that you made when you sent the petition in) and a copy of information that you sent back due to an RFE (if you received one).

this is a very good suggestion but in the same token it is NOT asked by USCIS. I see a lot of "smart people giving their 2 cents" here very often... I read a lot of posts. If you're gonna just tell me it's "a good idea" then I don't want to hear from you. If you are somebody who has been through this process and didn't make an entire COPY and your process was fine, tell me. If you're somebody who knows a lot about it, did include all of this, yet didn't end up needing it... TELL ME. Just don't pass it as concrete fact if it's not.

Thankyou very much, I'm limited on time

Matt

[kutakendra 3]

Did you write on the pictures? I don't think we did, at this stage. I read somewhere that they needed to have date and location.

[Brit Abroad 166]

My suggestion is to focus on one petition, get the stack built and throw away the copies you made. Then, on the way to the post office, stop ad FedEx Office or Office Depot etc and hand them the whole stack. Ask them to scan the entire stack, in order, to a single PDF file, reduce the file size and put it on your thumb drive or burn it to a CD. That way you have a soft (electronic) copy of the whole stack without worries. You can email it to your fiance and upload it to your own computer. If you want to print it, fine. This way, if there are any problems, you'll know exactly what you sent.

This is exactly what hubby and I did with all of our submissions (except we scanned it ourselves at home). Take the memory stick or CD to the interview and you're covered for any eventuality that might arise. Saves destruction of a rain forest during your entire processing, and ensures that you have all your paperwork to hand immediately at any given time.

[sachinky 465]

I didn't take copies of anything related to the packet that went to USCIS.

But I did have a lot of copies of the marriage certificate, bank account statements, husband's passport copy, notarized affidavits, taxes, important stuff like an updated DS230, I864 etc.

Edited March 17, 2011 by sachinky

[Neonred 3,669]

This is exactly what hubby and I did with all of our submissions (except we scanned it ourselves at home). Take the memory stick or CD to the interview and you're covered for any eventuality that might arise. Saves destruction of a rain forest during your entire processing, and ensures that you have all your paperwork to hand immediately at any given time.

A memory stick or CD are not going to do you any good at the interview when they tell you something is missing. What are you going to do, hand them a CD and tell them it's on there?

Edited March 17, 2011 by Neonred

[Barbara J 115]

I'm about to mail out my I-129F petition tomorrow... or actually today since it's 12:34 AM. I'm usually in bed at 11PM... I need answers to this: What to send to your fiance(e) once the I-129F is approved (Receive NOA2):

1. A copy of the entire I-129f package (that you made when you sent the petition in) and a copy of information that you sent back due to an RFE (if you received one).

SERIOUSLY. How CRUCIAL and IMPORTANT is this? I think it's a suggestion. If it is, TELL ME it is. I know damn well that not everybody has made an ENTIRE copy. I started to do this as I was piecing together my petition... but since I am so thorough, it began to get too overwhelming to focus on basically TWO petitions... I tried to print everything *times* two still, but I found myself needing to focus on my IMPORTANT petition... copies don't seem as important to me. Now... I'm staying up late because I told my fiancee I'd mail out the petition tomorrow. I don't want to let her down. The separation has been very hard and I can't help but think of her pain the most. I need honest answers. Flat out answers. I'm making black and white copies of my forms/passport/birth certificate as we speak. I can't help but think it's overkill. What's the chances of her consulate/embassy requesting an ENTIRE copy of my petition, if it's forwarded to them anyway? I plan to go to the interview with her, and also plan to help her gather things for the interview.

anyway... other than the most important stuff, I have facebook messages, some skype conversation chat logs, excess pictures printed on regular paper... copies of atm receipt, copies of tickets when we visited tourist attractions in her country... I have so much as far as ongoing relationship stuff. As I said, I'm very thorough and if I was to sit here and make copies of EVERYTHING... it just seems like it'd be a total waste. Especially since I read about many people going to interviews with heaps of stuff and the officers don't even look at it. I know it's worth it, for the outcome but FOR REAL... do I need copies of all the ongoing relationship stuff I ALREADY HAVE in my petition? We plan to print a bunch of that stuff anyway, when I'm there because we'll obviously have more saved chat history/pictures/receipts/etc. I am planning on flying to see her as soon as I send this damn petition because I can't stand being away from her anymore. She feels the same too. I'm going to propose to her on this next visit... and we're also having a small ceremony since her family won't be able to see her get married here with me, in the US when she comes. We'll have more evidence then, for her interview.

I know that what I pasted here: What to send to your fiance(e) once the I-129F is approved (Receive NOA2):

1. A copy of the entire I-129f package (that you made when you sent the petition in) and a copy of information that you sent back due to an RFE (if you received one).

this is a very good suggestion but in the same token it is NOT asked by USCIS. I see a lot of "smart people giving their 2 cents" here very often... I read a lot of posts. If you're gonna just tell me it's "a good idea" then I don't want to hear from you. If you are somebody who has been through this process and didn't make an entire COPY and your process was fine, tell me. If you're somebody who knows a lot about it, did include all of this, yet didn't end up needing it... TELL ME. Just don't pass it as concrete fact if it's not.

Thankyou very much, I'm limited on time

Matt

Totally up to you Matt but if I had to do it all over again I would have got my now husband to make a copy of the whole 129f petition for me.We had a RFE during the process and that was easy fixed but when it came to my interview they had lost one of his divorce decrees and I had nothing on me. They had it here in the states but through the transfer from here to Australia they lost one as there were 3 but they wanted the one from over 10 years ago, Go figure they had his recent one but wasn't good enough so we had to express post a certified copy from US to OZ and then wait for them to open it I lost 2 weeks getting my visa because of that. I don't know about copying all of it but definitely the documents and any legal forms as well like divorce decrees and such.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

urban legend or old wives tale

I'm talking about people I actually know. I believe it was the G-325A they claimed the didn't have. whatever it was the photocopy had the photocopied signature so she was given another one to fill in there and then (luckily something that SHE had submitted and could easily do again).

[Lari & Jhona 0]

now that you posted this....i do have copies of my package but i sent the originall birth certificate lol..

which was not even the in extensa it was an extract.

well good luck and and yea make copies better safe then sorry.

[Casprd 167]

Like others, I made a copy of not only the entire package for my wife to keep for the interview, but also sent her all of the supporting emails, chat logs and text messages (I only included a sampling with the package to USCIS. When I go over for the interview I will also take originals of my divorce decree, birth certificate and she can bring our marriage book and will have my passport as well. I can only echo what has been said on the boards thousands of times. It is better to have too much than not enough. I would hate for you to be delayed because one piece of paper was missing from your package and you didn't have another one for the VO.

[Lisamarie 79]

I didn't have the date thing set up on my camera before I left because I got it right before I left, so I wrote on every single picture the date, place, and people in it...27 for the petition, 101 for the RFE......

Did you write on the pictures? I don't think we did, at this stage. I read somewhere that they needed to have date and location.

[brownskinned 5]

As for me , I did have a copy of some of the papers we sent to USCIS, like emails (lots), phonebills (lots) and etc. I bought all these stuff to the interview (so heavy!). Surprisingly, they only looked at my Affidavit of Support I134 and pictures (in an album). The consul had the whole I29f docs (that we sent)in front of her. She reviewed it for 2 min and told me she has no problem approving my visa.

[JohnC811 4]

Well I made a hard paper copy of all the documents pertaining to the K-1 visa also scanned them into a computer as separate pages, using a free PDF maker. and placed them all in a folder which I then zipped archived and it was a good thing I did as the mail to Brazil is taking forever to reach her what should have been 5 days here in the USA is now almost 15 days to reach her and she still doesn't have the hard copy,. I have the luxury of having a web site. So I placed the zip file and original folder on the site password protected so that only she could open or download it. If any pages are missing they are available to her in PDF format. She may need to do this in that her Interview is the 29th of March, and she leaves on the 22nd to be in Rio De Janiero. The just in case fall back method may have to be used to have the hard copy documents with her when she goes. So I guess I have 4 complete copies. 2 hard copies, One on the computer and one on the website.

[sachinky 465]

My interview was for less than three minutes and NOTHING was asked for. I even offered some pictures and phone-bills after my visa was approved but the CO didn't want to look at it. What a waste! I had compiled such a pretty wedding album and was hoping it would elicit at least an obligatory, "aw, what a cute couple you make!"

BUT that giant bag of paper-work weighing atleast 12 lbs in my hands gave me the confidence that I needed to NOT ####### my pants that morning.