passport instead of birth certificate

[sidccc 6]

Hello all

I do not have a copy of my birth certificate, so I am planning on copying all pages of my passport to send in... however I'm not sure what the validity of 5 years means: is that the validity period of the passport (mine has a 10 year validity) or is it the amount left until it expires (mine expires in Nov 2016, issued in 2006)?

Thanks

[baron555 934]

The amount left until expiration. Copy all pages, even the blank ones plus the front and back covers.

[sidccc 6]

Ok, thanks. But then mine does not meet the criteria, it expires in less than 3 years. I don't understand why they would want a passport with 5 years remaining on it... do I have to get a copy of my birth certificate then somehow?

[baron555 934]

Contact the county clerk where you were born. Many have the capability to order these on-line.

[Zedayn 485]

The validity is the referring to the length of time from passport issuance to passport expiration.

From the I-129F instructions page 4 section 5.d:

In place of any of the above, you may submit a copy of your valid, unexpired U.S. passport issued with a validity period of at least 5 years. You must submit copies of all pages in the passport.

The key word here is ISSUED which means at the time the passport was issued it was valid for at least 5 years.

[sidccc 6]

Got it, that makes more sense, many thanks

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

The amount left until expiration. Copy all pages, even the blank ones plus the front and back covers.

This is not correct.

The validity is the referring to the length of time from passport issuance to passport expiration.

From the I-129F instructions page 4 section 5.d:

In place of any of the above, you may submit a copy of your valid, unexpired U.S. passport issued with a validity period of at least 5 years. You must submit copies of all pages in the passport.

The key word here is ISSUED which means at the time the passport was issued it was valid for at least 5 years.

This is correct.

It is the amount of time it was issued with, not how much time is left until it expires. It simply had to be issued with at least 5 years validity and be currently unexpired.

I believe this is not even an issue because only minors get issued passports with less than 10 years validity . http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/services/limited-validity.html