Letters of intent- MUST BE ORIGINAL?

[David & Diana R 1,005]

Fellow members,

I have a quick question. My associate is filing a K-1 visa after seeing my sucess in finding, marrying, and bringing my beautiful Filipina wife to the US. We did a spousal visa he is doing a K-1. Do the letters of intent to marry have to be ORIGINAL? Does he have to have his faince send him the document in it's original form from the Philippines to the US or can he simply have her print, sign,scan and email him a copy? In the guides it says original as I recall but on USCIS sites it does not. Do any of the other documents need to be original at this point other than the application itself? Please help.

David for J

[av8or1 246]

No. Copies are acceptable, but they can request the originals at any time and therefore it would be good if the petitioner had the originals on-hand. I had my fiancee DHL me all of the stuff that she had to sign, made copies of that, submitted the copies and kept the originals in the file. The DHL shipment only took 5 days and that was from Moscow, so I'd think that from the Philippines it would be similar...

Edited March 31, 2015 by av8or1

[David & Diana R 1,005]

No. Copies are acceptable, but they can request the originals at any time and therefore it would be good if the petitioner had the originals on-hand. I had my fiancee DHL me all of the stuff that she had to sign, made copies of that, submitted the copies and kept the originals in the file. The DHL shipment only took 5 days and that was from Moscow, so I'd think that from the Philippines it would be similar...

Thanks for the promt reply. I am trying to convince him to create an account on VJ but he has been reluctant. He is trying to use the Government Guides and I always found them incredibally confusing. Anyway, Mahalo.

Aloha, David

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

There are petitioners who have received RFE's for not sending the original signature on the letter of intent.

Tell him to submit the original from his fiancee.

[Zedayn 485]

The letter of intent MUST be an original. You may receive an RFE if you send a scanned copy of the original.

[Elle&Kyle 10]

Hi! I don't know about others, but based on our experience. I just printed a copy of my letter of intent, signed and dated it and scanned and emailed it to my fiance (now husband), he then printed it out, and that what he submitted with our petition and it went fine.

But maybe to be on the safe side, maybe he could ask her to send you the originals. For me though, its not that cheap to send stuff from there to here (US), but maybe its worth it.

Anyway, i think it would be helpful if he will also try to use this site. He can still use government sites too, to compare or clarify stuff, thats what we did. This site and the people here has always been helpful. Im sure he'll learn from here too

[Elle&Kyle 10]

Sorry, i cant edit my first post im on my phone. I mean.. :

*Maybe he can asker her to send HIM the original letter of intent.

[usmsbow 801]

I'm a strong proponent of the scan and print method. I think people misinterpret the "original" bit and go overboard. Making sure the petitioner has the originals is a good back-up though.

[Ebunoluwa 6,136]

I'm a strong proponent of the scan and print method. I think people misinterpret the "original" bit and go overboard. Making sure the petitioner has the originals is a good back-up though.

As stated previously the scan and print has resulted in many RFE's and nobody is misinterpreting the 'original'.

It is best to submit the petition to the USCIS with the original letter of intent signature and then update it again with a fresh letter at the

embassy stage for the interview. A back up plan is certainly not as good as doing it right the first time.

[usmsbow 801]

As stated previously the scan and print has resulted in many RFE's and nobody is misinterpreting the 'original'.

It is best to submit the petition to the USCIS with the original letter of intent signature and then update it again with a fresh letter at the

embassy stage for the interview. A back up plan is certainly not as good as doing it right the first time.

Yes, people on VJ often say that (resulted in many RFEs) but I don't recall someone posting that they in fact got a RFE for providing a copy. Plenty of us have provided copies and had no problems whatsoever. I'm just telling the OP that it isn't a big risk to take the scan and print route...

[clairegie 265]

There are so many things in the process that we cannot control. This is something we can. So why not do it right the first time and send originals?

I for one do not want to send something that I am unsure of. Waiting for the petition to be approved is stressful enough, let alone adding "what ifs" to the equation. IF the adjudicator that receives your petition is strict about "original" intent letters, then it would affect your wait time.

[CowBoE 429]

Fellow members,

I have a quick question. My associate is filing a K-1 visa after seeing my sucess in finding, marrying, and bringing my beautiful Filipina wife to the US. We did a spousal visa he is doing a K-1. Do the letters of intent to marry have to be ORIGINAL? Does he have to have his faince send him the document in it's original form from the Philippines to the US or can he simply have her print, sign,scan and email him a copy? In the guides it says original as I recall but on USCIS sites it does not. Do any of the other documents need to be original at this point other than the application itself? Please help.

David for J

OK...I'll sum it up for you.

The proper thing to do is ... mail in her original signature letter.

The convenient thing to do is ... have her sign, scan, and email you the letter, and you simply print and submit.

Personally, I chose the route of doing everything properly because I believe in doing it right

the first time because any hiccups with USCIS can delay weeks of processing time.

That said, I am sure there is some RFE risk to not send in the original signature, but I believe its a low probability.

[madtownguy 164]

I used originals, but I also didn't have any photos and it got approved which supposedly doesn't happen. We did meet though, and I proved I was in the country.

[Cody and Daisy 373]

Some people will tell you it had to be originals.

Some will bluntly say that copies are all you need and basically say those who say originals are liars because people get approved with copies all the time.

I only have one thing to say on matters like this anymore.

Why risk it?

Original signatures are not hard to get and in every day life signatures should always be originals on everything, that's the point of a signature.

Yes people get away with copies, but why risk it? And why tell people to risk it?

I will always stand by the original signature rule because I will not tell anyone to risk mistakes on their petitions.

At the end of the day it's entirely up to you.

But just keep in mind... Why risk it?

[feli114 65]

i sent in original signatures