I-134 (Use Original Copies?)

[Narot23 1]

Greetings everyone. New user here. My love and I are about 45 days out of our NOA1, and been a bit anxious about our NOA2, and the process once we get started.

I've been researching the I-134 and pre-filled some of the documents, queried the bank, asked my employer for a letter of verification, and all the other steps. Whew! Of course I want to be well prepared early, to make the process as smooth as possible for her.

My question is, for paystubs, tax documents, bank statements, etc. is it acceptable to use copies? Or, should I provide originals for her to bring to her interview? What did you do? I'm depending primarily on employment, as I'm in my first year of a career job and don't have major savings or a beautiful income history for taxes.I thought it would be easy to get the bank statements - but, they can't provide over than 3 months at the branch, over the phone they said they can't "simply provide a deposit history" but can essentially just print a longer history of my account (re: statement re-prints).

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Copies are fine.

[Joandjo 20]

Greetings everyone. New user here. My love and I are about 45 days out of our NOA1, and been a bit anxious about our NOA2, and the process once we get started.

I've been researching the I-134 and pre-filled some of the documents, queried the bank, asked my employer for a letter of verification, and all the other steps. Whew! Of course I want to be well prepared early, to make the process as smooth as possible for her.

My question is, for paystubs, tax documents, bank statements, etc. is it acceptable to use copies? Or, should I provide originals for her to bring to her interview? What did you do? I'm depending primarily on employment, as I'm in my first year of a career job and don't have major savings or a beautiful income history for taxes.I thought it would be easy to get the bank statements - but, they can't provide over than 3 months at the branch, over the phone they said they can't "simply provide a deposit history" but can essentially just print a longer history of my account (re: statement re-prints).

The letter from your employer should be original signed.

[MochiKamo 93]

Copies are fine, even for the employer letter.

Heck, my company has an automated immigration process that utilizes the work number. The report is generated on company letterhead and is authorized and approved via electronic signature.

I just included a copy of that for the I-134 and now for the I-864EZ.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Yagisama

[Bri & Zai 0]

Quick question for the group - We are about 30 days post NOA1. Is it too early for me to prepare and send the 1-134 doc / supporting evidence to my fiance? I'd like to get this done... and it gives me something to work on! Just wondering if anyone has had any issues with the paystubs, bank statements being from a couple months prior to the NOA2.

Thanks for any insight you might have!

[baron555 934]

My question is, for paystubs, tax documents, bank statements, etc. is it acceptable to use copies? Or, should I provide originals for her to bring to her interview? What did you do? I'm depending primarily on employment, as I'm in my first year of a career job and don't have major savings or a beautiful income history for taxes.I thought it would be easy to get the bank statements - but, they can't provide over than 3 months at the branch, over the phone they said they can't "simply provide a deposit history" but can essentially just print a longer history of my account (re: statement re-prints).

Copies are fine. I obtained the tax transcripts from the IRS...they are free and are better than the tax return documents.

If your current income is above the appropriate level required for your future household size, then there is no need to include anything else.

[MochiKamo 93]

Quick question for the group - We are about 30 days post NOA1. Is it too early for me to prepare and send the 1-134 doc / supporting evidence to my fiance? I'd like to get this done... and it gives me something to work on! Just wondering if anyone has had any issues with the paystubs, bank statements being from a couple months prior to the NOA2.

Thanks for any insight you might have!

I think its better for those documents to have dates close to the interview date. I included paystubs, etc with a date of one week before the interview. So I'd suggest to at least wait until the NOA2.

[Leatherneck 693]

Welcome to VJ.

[Narot23 1]

Thanks for the welcomes and tips. Although we may be a ways off from the NOA2 (our NOA1 was 8/30 and we're at CSC) I want to be on top of things so I know exactly what to expect once it arrives

Keeping my fingers crossed. Is it just me, or is waiting for the NOA2 the worst part overall? The variance on time is insane (for JP and CSC, the numbers are just nuts - some are done in 80 days, some 6 months? ugh!) Could be tonight, could be end of January. Really grateful I'll be going to visit her next month, and that we're on our way to getting through this thing

[Narot23 1]

Copies are fine. I obtained the tax transcripts from the IRS...they are free and are better than the tax return documents.

If your current income is above the appropriate level required for your future household size, then there is no need to include anything else.

My income is well over the poverty guidelines, but I'm operating on this idea that providing multiple levels of support evidence is good - ie Savings, employer letter / paystubs, tax return documents, promise to purchase a bond, etc. You know how this thing can be - don't want to leave any gaps that could give them any reason to extend or delay the process. What exactly did you provide with your I-134?

[MochiKamo 93]

Thanks for the welcomes and tips. Although we may be a ways off from the NOA2 (our NOA1 was 8/30 and we're at CSC) I want to be on top of things so I know exactly what to expect once it arrives

Keeping my fingers crossed. Is it just me, or is waiting for the NOA2 the worst part overall? The variance on time is insane (for JP and CSC, the numbers are just nuts - some are done in 80 days, some 6 months? ugh!) Could be tonight, could be end of January. Really grateful I'll be going to visit her next month, and that we're on our way to getting through this thing

It's not just you. That part of the process was the worst. Once the NOA2 was done, I made the interview appointment myself and flew to Tokyo for the interview a couple weeks later.

My income is well over the poverty guidelines, but I'm operating on this idea that providing multiple levels of support evidence is good - ie Savings, employer letter / paystubs, tax return documents, promise to purchase a bond, etc. You know how this thing can be - don't want to leave any gaps that could give them any reason to extend or delay the process. What exactly did you provide with your I-134?

I think there comes a point of diminishing returns and I definitely crossed it myself at times. Even though we got ticket #1 in the Tokyo Embassy during the interview, we waited longer than many others who had higher numbers. My guess is because I had included way too much #######. I had included paystubs for 1 year (2 each month), 3 tax transcripts, employer letter. I had even included savings statements for one year.

All it came down to was the interviewer asking me how long I had been with my present employer.

For the I-864 I kept it simple and just included income info and left out the savings.