They kept my fiancees packet!!!

[neal y eliana 0]

I have a couple of questions concerning this as well. I realize that we have to have originals of birth certificate, divorce decrees and transcripts from the IRS. My first question is what about in my situation where I was married until last fall? I've been told that because I had to file jointly in 2003 and 2004 that I have to send my original W-2 forms for those years to show how much I made individually.

I'm also wondering about the snail mail letters from my fiance that he has written to me. They won't take those.....or will they? I mean obviously having my fiance get his visa and being here is most important, but I think everyone here can understand the importance of being able to keep originals of the letters he has handwritten to me for sentimental reasons.

All the original boarding passes and baggage tickets from the airlines? Do they keep those at the K-1 interview too or do they return them ? Will we need those later at any point for the AOS interview?

So my final question is this, really. Is there any way to keep our 'sentimental' orginal stuff used for evidence of our ongoing relationship.

Thanks for you help.

I can help answer parts of yours

Montreal will not ask for proof of your relationship but if you're concerned bring copies of the envelopes to your interview.

We sent copies of boarding passes with our I-129f petition, and were not asked to provide the originals at any stage.

Wow, really? I thought for sure they'd want some sort of letters and/or e-mails we had sent to one another. That'd be a big load off our shoulders if they don't. Plus I was kind of stressing about his first three trips here. We didn't know at the time of those trips that we would possibly need the boarding passes and so he didn't save those. I called Delta and they said they don't even know if they could pull that info for us and even if they did it's $20 per ticket. What a rip off. As if we don't spend a rediculous amount of money for tickets the first time around. Sorry just venting. Thanks for the insight.

I can't speak for every embassy, but they did not seem to care in the slightest about our letters, emails and ticket stubs. I had been to Colombia probably 8 times to see Eliana (and family) not counting the other times I was there to work (how I met her), I probably had 3 ticket stubs from one direction or the other but no full sets. I did have a lot of e-ticket print outs. I got the impression that if you had alot of stuff, they just looked at it.

NONE of this stuff was put in the packet. Only more official documents (taxes, divorce, etc.)

I will say that the big test at our interview was this, he asked Eliana if she spoke english, which she does a little, but not under pressure, thats for sure. So they spoke in spanish.

Then it was my turn, and he asked me if I spoke spanish, and I said a little, but I prefer english. He promptly continued to conduct the entire enterview in spanish.

Lucky for me he was a pinche gringo on assignment in Bogota and his accent was as bad as mine, I understood him perfectly. (He was a nice guy actually, wife and 2 kids with him living in Bogota and really loving Colombia, that made him ok in my book).

Just my experience. Alot of people here know more than me, but I say put copies of all the sentimentil stuff in your papers, and take the originals just in case they want to look, BUT DO NOT GIVE THEM THE ORIGINALS UNLESS THEY ASK, FIRST GIVE THEM THE COPIES. I doubt they will even ask to see the orginals.

Neal

[ChristinaM 0]

Don't give your originals away for love nor money if they don't ask for them specifically. They're far too valuable to leave in the hands of USCIS

In all seriousness, you may get them back at the AOS interview if you get a nice officer who will copy them for their records. If not, then you will have to resign yourself to replacing them, which will be a costly and time-consuming process

Edited March 7, 2006 by clmarsh

[gag54611 1]

Neptune,

Why are you sending your naturalization certificate to Paraguay? What visa are you applying for? I didn't have to send mine to London for my fiancee.

G

[vamsi 0]

I actually made the mistake of sending my original Certificate of Citizenship to USCIS with my I-129F petition. I thought I would have to kiss it goodbye, but to my surprise they sent it back to me after my petition was approved. I guess it was good luck, but I've learned my lesson now about holding onto original documents

[Cassie 8]

Montreal will not ask for proof of your relationship but if you're concerned bring copies of the envelopes to your interview.

this is not entirely true. Montreal rarely asks for proof of relationship (as far as fellow VJ'ers have reported so far), but it does happen. A quick example: On the day of my interview, another gentleman was asked to provide evidence that he had met and had a relationship with his fiance's son. He whipped out the pictures of their trip to Disneyworld, and the officer was satisfied with what she saw.

Long story short though is this: whatever evidence you bring, copy it, and bring that as well!

[neptune970 0]

Neptune,

Why are you sending your naturalization certificate to Paraguay? What visa are you applying for? I didn't have to send mine to London for my fiancee.

G

Hi G,

From what I've read so far I'm under the impression that since the USC (me) needs to send in proof of citizenship with the I-129f - the application for k1 finace visa (I can send in a copy of my naturalization certificate or passport...figure I'd do the first one but doesn't really matter) then once it gets approved, my fiance would need the original of the copy i had submitted with the I-129f for his interview at the US consulate in PY. which means i would have to send the original naturalization certificate to PY. am i getting this wrong? did your finacee interview already? they didn't request any originals in london? it'd be a relief if originals don't need to be sent!!

[Peter Miami 0]

Hi Neal,

Johanna my fiancée just had her interview last Friday she took originals and copies of everything. I told her to show the original tax returns with W2, bank statements and pay stubs but then to give them the copies and get the originals back but the CO would not do that. They kept the original even though we had exact copies. I do not understand this because a lot of people do not even take original, they take copies. And I even sent the I.R.S. transcripts and a million other stuff.

The rest of the original stuff I do not care because I can get it back but not Tax Returns with W2 and pay stubs (1 year).

Good luck,

Peter Miami

[neal y eliana 0]

Hi Neal,

Johanna my fiancée just had her interview last Friday she took originals and copies of everything. I told her to show the original tax returns with W2, bank statements and pay stubs but then to give them the copies and get the originals back but the CO would not do that. They kept the original even though we had exact copies. I do not understand this because a lot of people do not even take original, they take copies. And I even sent the I.R.S. transcripts and a million other stuff.

The rest of the original stuff I do not care because I can get it back but not Tax Returns with W2 and pay stubs (1 year).

Good luck,

Peter Miami

Peter,

My experience as well, maybe it is a Bogota thing. They were taking the originals and that was that. Period.

I feel a little better knowing I was not the only one, some people kind of ripped into me a little about being dumb enough to give them the originals, the thing is, it was not quite a case of me giving them to them...

The original tax returns with W2's and pay stubs are the one that bothered me most.

Anyway, the good news is she made it! We are happy newly weds! I just find it hard to believe our crazy government takes hard to replace papers, keeps them, and then wants you to come with the same papers again.

I'll be taking Friday off to start replacing things...

Good luck Peter, and happy honeymoon!

NEAL