Original documents needed?

[tim626 0]

Hi,

I am petitioning for my wife's CR1 visa. We are at the stage where we are about to submit our documents to the NVC. I have received conflicting information from my lawyer regarding whether original documents are required at this stage.

As per the NVC website, we are to submit only copies of all civil documents at this stage. Then the originals will be needed at the time of the interview.

However, the lawyer is telling us to give them all the originals now. They say they don't need to submit them immediately, but they want to have them on hand for when the NVC asks for them.

My main question is, at what stage will the original documents be needed, and where do they need to be submitted? If they are needed at the interview stage, does my wife need to BRING them to the interview herself? Or do the documents simply need to be mailed to NVC at the time of the interview?

This is an important question due to logistics. Right now my wife and I, along with our documents, are located in UAE. This is where the interview will take place. At the end of this week, I am moving to the US, at which time I plan on handing in our necessary documents to the lawyer in person. I need to know whether to bring the originals with me. My concern is that if I do so, I may have to ship them back to UAE at some later point so that my wife can take them to the interview. This presents a problem, since it is notoriously difficult to ship items to UAE (my mother once tried to ship me a credit card and it was rejected by customs multiple times and never reached me).

Sorry if this was confusing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Edited October 28, 2015 by tim626

[Ryan H 3,812]

Lawyer is behind on the times, NVC no longer requires nor requests original documents; they only want photocopies.

Original documents are to be hand carried by the beneficiary to the Embassy or Consulate for submission.

[mrskvelasco 30]

Copies for NVC (as of last year I think) and originals for interview. Def don't waste time/money having to mail the docs back to your wife when you can just leave them with her.