Bulky I-751 Application

[Blessyme 0]

I am about to file my I-751 application in 2 weeks and my packet is so thick around 3 inches. Can i still use fasteners? According to some posts how true that uscis no longer prefer punching holes? 
 

All feedbacks are highly appreciated!

Edited October 9 by Blessyme

[Boiler 45,442]

Quality over quantity

[Dashinka 24,479]

We just used a big binder clip although it wasn't nearly that much paper (3in is more than a full pack of printer paper).

[Crazy Cat 41,806]

Binder clip and rubber band worked fine for us.

[Daphne . 1,852]

Is all of the evidence really good evidence or just a lot of the same things (2 years of bank statements for example)? 

[OldUser 6,604]

2 hours ago, Daphne . said:

Is all of the evidence really good evidence or just a lot of the same things (2 years of bank statements for example)? 

There's nothing wrong with sending 2 years of banking statements. In fact, I-751 instructions ask for as much evidence as possible. This is relevant quality evidence. Hopefully, OP is not sending local bus schedules. In fact, somebody got RFE the other day for this exact reason - not providing enough bank statements.

 

To OP: why not just send it as a stack of paper in a box? It should work, if laid nicely. This would allow USCIS staff to scan this into the system quickly.

Edited October 9 by OldUser

[OldUser 6,604]

5 hours ago, Boiler said:

Quality over quantity

One doesn't cancel the other. USCIS asks for as much documents as possible in I-751 instructions. 2 years of banking statements from used joint accounts is quality, for example. Of course, evidence needs to be all encompassing. I'm sure OP's 3 inches of docs contain different forms of evidence. 

I never seen anybody penalized for submitting too much good evidence. For submitting too little - we see it every day on VJ in forms of RFEs, NOIDs and denials.

Edited October 9 by OldUser

[Boiler 45,442]

3 inches is c 750 pages.....

[Daphne . 1,852]

24 minutes ago, OldUser said:

There's nothing wrong with sending 2 years of banking statements. In fact, I-751 instructions ask for as much evidence as possible. This is relevant quality evidence. Hopefully, OP is not sending local bus schedules. In fact, somebody got RFE the other day for this exact reason - not providing enough bank statements.

 

To OP: why not just send it as a stack of paper in a box? It should work, if laid nicely. This would allow USCIS staff to scan this into the system quickly.

For I-751’s, people usually get an RFE (if they get one) for updated evidence because I-751’s take so long. I received one too, and the RFE clearly stated that is was because they needed updated evidence, which could include updated bank statements. 
 

Sending every bank statement from the last 2 years really is overkill..
 

 

[top_secret 2,402]

Keep in mind that whatever packet you send will immediately be disassembled and fed through their giant industrial scanner so it can be given an IOE number for electronic processing.  Anything that might jam up an automatic document feeder will have to be removed and discarded.  Punched holes are useless but probably not harmful.  Clips, binders, fasteners, tabs, etc will all have to be removed by the scanning crew.

[JKLSemicolon 411]

We sent our ROC packet, with over 800 pages of evidence, lightly wrapped in plastic wrap in a box and without any fasteners, labels, etc. Each section was separated with a different colored cover sheet and we put footers on all pages that include both the section title and ”page [#] of [total]”.

 

Our reasoning was to make it as easy as possible to separate and scan without things getting mixed up.

 

As far as the question of quantity and quality, we went by the form instructions which state to “submit copies of as many documents as you can…to demonstrate the circumstances of the relationship from the date of the marriage to the present date”.

[Scandi 4,166]

My pile was a little less than 3" thick, I used many XL paperclips and then put everything inside a polybag to keep it together a bit better (and protected against fluids/water/whatever), and then into a USPS priority box. Worked out fine, no issues. I also used sticky tabs that I placed at the bottom of pages (I believe I had 10 or 12 tabs separating the different subjects). The tabs were still on the documents when I went for my N-400 interview, so clearly they didn't need to remove them in order to scan them. 

Edited October 9 by Scandi

[top_secret 2,402]

33 minutes ago, Scandi said:

The tabs were still on the documents when I went for my N-400 interview, so clearly they didn't need to remove them in order to scan them. 

 

 

Times have changed.  From some time in early 2023 pretty much all I-751's are scanned and get IOE numbers.  They upload some or all of the dingy grey and white scanned pages to your online account so that you can see they did a pretty poor job scanning them.

[top_secret 2,402]

USCIS has posted updated advice for paper submissions and a lengthy list of things NOT to do.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/recommendations-for-paper-filings-to-avoid-scanning-delays

[Scandi 4,166]

42 minutes ago, top_secret said:

 

 

Times have changed.  From some time in early 2023 pretty much all I-751's are scanned and get IOE numbers.  They upload some or all of the dingy grey and white scanned pages to your online account so that you can see they did a pretty poor job scanning them.

So nothing much changed then, they scanned my documents back in 2020 and they still do. 

Edited October 9 by Scandi