URGENT - Last minute questions before sending I-130 packet

[elvenshadow 19]

I finally got the final documents sent from the US that I was waiting on to send my I-130 packet, which means I can send it in tomorrow's mail if I hurry with final preparations tonight. Among the things I was waiting on were my birth certificate. I just now noticed that the hospital I was born in is listed as being located in Park Ridge, IL which is a suburb just outside of Chicago. However, on all of the forms that I already filled out and printed, I put "Chicago" as place of birth because at the time, my family was living in the Chicago city limits and I thought I was actually born in Chicago.

Do I need to change my place of birth to say "Park Ridge, IL" and re-print everything?

One more question... I haven't written a physical check in over 7 years and have never done so while having a joint bank account with my wife. She was added to my US bank account last year and I need to sign the check for payment. Her name is listed on the top left corner of the paper check under mine, above the phone number and address. Do I need to have her sign the bottom of the check too or can I just sign it myself only?

Last question. I was thinking of trying for an expedite request since we were hoping to get our visa ready so that we could leave Japan near the end of this year together. I have copies of my current contract that state that my contract ends on July 31st. I can only stay in Japan legally for 3 months after that without a job. If I plead that case and send copies of the contract with a letter, do you think it has any chance of being approved? Any chance it would hurt my petition or slow it down?

Edited April 17, 2014 by elvenshadow

[elvenshadow 19]

One more thing... I just realized something insane!

My name is spelled wrong on my birth certificate! My name is Michael but it is spelled Micheal (the A and E are reversed). All of my other legal documents have it spelled the proper way, including my passport...

Should I address this on the notes page that it is a mistake? Should I just act like I never noticed and hope USCIS doesn't notice either?

[Penguin_ie 5,997]

Difficult questions.

The second one should be less of a problem, they may not even notice. That being said, we had someone denied on here a couple of years ago for the difference between Stephen and Steven.

The other thing.... it would probably be better to re-do the forms with the city listed correctly. You could try a cover letter explaining the situation, for but me, I'd rather spend an extra day getting it right the first time than possibly getting an RFE.

[elvenshadow 19]

I already reprinted the I-130 and the two G-325As with the correct birthplace for myself so that is no longer a concern.

What I am mainly worried about is the birth certificate being wrong. Technically we are only required to submit EITHER our birth certificate OR passport copy right? Do you think it would just be better to not send a copy of the birth certificate at all and just send the full copy of my passport?

[elvenshadow 19]

Yea... so I think I'm just going to go ahead and not send a copy of the birth certificate at all. I scanned every single page of my passport and printed them all in color on a high quality printer at work. This should be sufficient evidence to prove that I am a US citizen, or at least that is what I have heard from people here and I trust the information. Will I need to show my birth certificate at any point later in the CR-1 application process? If so, perhaps it would be a good idea to get my birth certificate corrected ASAP?

Anyway, I still am not completely sure about the signing the check with my wife or not so if someone could chime in I would really appreciate it. Same for some advice about the expedite request attempt. Thank you all for your help.

[jan22 3,068]

If it's a joint account, either of you can sign the check -- but it only needs to be one, not both.

I think you made the right decision on the BC vs sending the passport.

Unlikely to expedite -- you can always leave and go back to the US to establish domicile (which you need to do anyway) and wife can follow.....where's the hardship? Not that that's a nice thought, but it's what USCIS will think.

[elvenshadow 19]

I see. That helps a lot. Thank you.

Well, we have been together in Japan for nearly 7 years. I would prefer not to leave her behind here for an undetermined amount of time. Transitioning into America will be much easier for her if she is able to go with me, and the time apart would be very painful.

Anyway... I have one more small question. On the cover letter I prepared which was pretty much the same as the example one that everyone seems to be using, it has the following statement:

"Copies of the documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an immigration or consular officer at a later date."

For our marriage certificate, the official document has copies of some pages of my passport and there is an official stamp from the town mayor on there in Japanese. To make the translation as thorough and easy to understand as possible, for that one page that has the stamp on it (that just says that the document has been proven to be authentic), I scanned it and then edited the scan by erasing the original text of the stamp and typing the translation over where it was. Does this contradict the statement in the cover letter? I am still submitting the original, unaltered document in full along side the translation. I just don't want to get in trouble from trying to make the translation easy to understand.

Edited April 17, 2014 by elvenshadow

[jcruzazucar 131]

No need to send birth certificate, US passport (all pages in color) is enough.

I would not alter the marriage certificate. As long as the translation is included, that's all that they need. The person translating the document would have changed that if they thought it was needed. Of course, this is my opinion b/c it does contradict the statement on the cover letter.

Good luck!