Return of Original Documents

[JA Tam 7]

Hi All:

Thanks for all the help that I have received on this site for the past few months. I hope someone can offer some insight into how I can retrieve our original documents.

Initially when the NVC requested that we send in our original marriage certificate and my husband's birth certificate, we were advised that it would be returned to us when we interviewed at the Embassy. Well, this wasn't so - after our interview, my husband asked the CO if we could have our original documents back, to which she responded that she could not give it to us, as she needed to send the complete package for POE. She advised us that we should get it at POE. Again, not so; after hubby was processed at POE in Fort Lauderdale, the immigration officer again told us that he could not give it to us as he needs to send the papers to the National Records Office and we need to send a written request to get it back. WTH??? He didn't offer us any additional information as to where to mail this request, if there is a form we can fill out, anything!!! I called the NVC, the operator told me to email the information to them to see if they could advise me. I emailed them and have been directed first to the Embassy and in a separate email, I am now being directed back to USCIS. I am confused as hell and I am reaching out to my VJ family for .

Has anyone else experienced this and been able to navigate through this confusion?

Any would be greatly appreciated!!!

Edited October 31, 2007 by JA Tam

[Nutty 2]

Hi All:

Thanks for all the help that I have received on this site for the past few months. I hope someone can offer some insight into how I can retrieve our original documents.

Initially when the NVC requested that we send in our original marriage certificate and my husband's birth certificate, we were advised that it would be returned to us when we interviewed at the Embassy. Well, this wasn't so - after our interview, my husband asked the CO if we could have our original documents back, to which she responded that she could not give it to us, as she needed to send the complete package for POE. She advised us that we should get it at POE. Again, not so; after hubby was processed at POE in Fort Lauderdale, the immigration officer again told us that he could not give it to us as he needs to send the papers to the National Records Office and we need to send a written request to get it back. WTH??? He didn't offer us any additional information as to where to mail this request, if there is a form we can fill out, anything!!! I called the NVC, the operator told me to email the information to them to see if they could advise me. I emailed them and have been directed first to the Embassy and in a separate email, I am now being directed back to USCIS. I am confused as hell and I am reaching out to my VJ family for .

Has anyone else experienced this and been able to navigate through this confusion?

Any would be greatly appreciated!!!

THAT SUCKS! The Consular Officer was totally wrong....

Please look at page 8 of the DS-230 instructions FOR JAMAICA that I posted. It specifically states you'll get your documents back at the time of the interview. This is the October 2007 version of the forms/instrcutions.

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/APP-PK3-0001-071025.pdf

If I were you I would write a letter to the head Consular Official in Jamaica and include the copy of the DS-230 instructions with your letter explaining the problem.

HIGHLIGHT the Following:

The name of the officer who interviewed you and kept your papers - or - any document that can be traced back to the person who screwed you up.

HIGHLIGHT the part in the DS-230 instructions where it says "originals will be returned to you at time of interview"

Ask for them to correct THEIR MISTAKE.

[Nutty 2]

Hi All:

Thanks for all the help that I have received on this site for the past few months. I hope someone can offer some insight into how I can retrieve our original documents.

Initially when the NVC requested that we send in our original marriage certificate and my husband's birth certificate, we were advised that it would be returned to us when we interviewed at the Embassy. Well, this wasn't so - after our interview, my husband asked the CO if we could have our original documents back, to which she responded that she could not give it to us, as she needed to send the complete package for POE. She advised us that we should get it at POE. Again, not so; after hubby was processed at POE in Fort Lauderdale, the immigration officer again told us that he could not give it to us as he needs to send the papers to the National Records Office and we need to send a written request to get it back. WTH??? He didn't offer us any additional information as to where to mail this request, if there is a form we can fill out, anything!!! I called the NVC, the operator told me to email the information to them to see if they could advise me. I emailed them and have been directed first to the Embassy and in a separate email, I am now being directed back to USCIS. I am confused as hell and I am reaching out to my VJ family for .

Has anyone else experienced this and been able to navigate through this confusion?

Any would be greatly appreciated!!!

THAT SUCKS! The Consular Officer was totally wrong....

Please look at page 8 of the DS-230 instructions FOR JAMAICA that I posted. It specifically states you'll get your documents back at the time of the interview. This is the October 2007 version of the forms/instrcutions.

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/APP-PK3-0001-071025.pdf

If I were you I would write a letter to the head Consular Official in Jamaica and include the copy of the DS-230 instructions with your letter explaining the problem.

HIGHLIGHT the Following:

The name of the officer who interviewed you and kept your papers - or - any document that can be traced back to the person who screwed you up.

HIGHLIGHT the part in the DS-230 instructions where it says "originals will be returned to you at time of interview"

Ask for them to correct THEIR MISTAKE.

[Nutty 2]

Hi All:

Thanks for all the help that I have received on this site for the past few months. I hope someone can offer some insight into how I can retrieve our original documents.

Initially when the NVC requested that we send in our original marriage certificate and my husband's birth certificate, we were advised that it would be returned to us when we interviewed at the Embassy. Well, this wasn't so - after our interview, my husband asked the CO if we could have our original documents back, to which she responded that she could not give it to us, as she needed to send the complete package for POE. She advised us that we should get it at POE. Again, not so; after hubby was processed at POE in Fort Lauderdale, the immigration officer again told us that he could not give it to us as he needs to send the papers to the National Records Office and we need to send a written request to get it back. WTH??? He didn't offer us any additional information as to where to mail this request, if there is a form we can fill out, anything!!! I called the NVC, the operator told me to email the information to them to see if they could advise me. I emailed them and have been directed first to the Embassy and in a separate email, I am now being directed back to USCIS. I am confused as hell and I am reaching out to my VJ family for .

Has anyone else experienced this and been able to navigate through this confusion?

Any would be greatly appreciated!!!

THAT SUCKS! The Consular Officer was totally wrong....

Please look at page 8 of the DS-230 instructions FOR JAMAICA that I posted. It specifically states you'll get your documents back at the time of the interview. This is the October 2007 version of the forms/instrcutions.

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/APP-PK3-0001-071025.pdf

If I were you I would write a letter to the head Consular Official in Jamaica and include the copy of the DS-230 instructions with your letter explaining the problem.

HIGHLIGHT the Following:

The name of the officer who interviewed you and kept your papers - or - any document that can be traced back to the person who screwed you up.

HIGHLIGHT the part in the DS-230 instructions where it says "originals will be returned to you at time of interview"

Ask for them to correct THEIR MISTAKE.

[sunandmoon 450]

don't know if it helps. this is what I found. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...0000ecd190aRCRD

[JA Tam 7]

Nutty, Roy and Yazi: Thank you both for your comments. I will certainly write the letter to the Consular General in Jamaica as suggested by Nutty. It is frustrating, as my husband specifically asked the CO for the documents back, so now it's in limbo somewhere in the flurry of documents that Immigration receives.

Roy and Yazi: I found this form on the USCIS website. I reviewed the document and it stated that the form is invalid without a signature and I would have to sign in front of a USCIS official, so I may have to get an Infopass appointment for that.

Once again, thank you all for your help.

[Mononoke28 135]

Hello Tamieka, I'm glad to see your hubby is finally with you!

I am also curious about the original documentation we submitted to the NVC. They sent it all to the embassy, the embassy didn't give it to us nor the offical at the POE which was MIA. The instructions for form G-884 say "If a final decision has been issued, submit the Form G-884 to the USCIS office or service center that took the last action on your case.", but I'm not sure what that would be. It won't be the NVC because they no longer have them, it won't be the embassy because they don't have them either, then who has them?

Also, how did your husband get his SSC so fast? It's been 4 weeks for us now and nothing and we even went to the SSA office in person to request it.

Diana

[JA Tam 7]

Hello Tamieka, I'm glad to see your hubby is finally with you!

I am also curious about the original documentation we submitted to the NVC. They sent it all to the embassy, the embassy didn't give it to us nor the offical at the POE which was MIA. The instructions for form G-884 say "If a final decision has been issued, submit the Form G-884 to the USCIS office or service center that took the last action on your case.", but I'm not sure what that would be. It won't be the NVC because they no longer have them, it won't be the embassy because they don't have them either, then who has them?

Also, how did your husband get his SSC so fast? It's been 4 weeks for us now and nothing and we even went to the SSA office in person to request it.

Diana

Hey Diana,

I am happy to know that your hubby is with you as well. Are you among the first batch from Colombia with the NVC scheduling the appointment? I wonder if unfortunately as the guinea pigs, we are getting the short end of the stick with getting our original documents back.

I am so sorry to hear that it is taking so long for you both. On the DS230 we selected that we wanted them to issue his SSC; at first when we came through Fort Lauderdale, the Immigration officer told us we could go to the SSA office the next day and request it. Well we went the next day and sat there for 4 hours. When we finally got through, the rep told us to wait 21 days before we come back in and apply for the SSC. She told us that they had issues with new immigrants being assigned 2 SSCs and in order to avoid this, they have put in some guardrails. Tell the immigrant to wait 21 days and if they do not receive it, go back to the SSA office and put in the application. At this point, they check some list to see if we are on it for receiving a SSC and after they confirm whether or not we are on there, they can move forward. Hubby was so disappointed that he would have to wait, so imagine our surprise when he checked the next Tuesday and saw that it had arrived. I hope that you all get something soon.

If I hear anything about how we can request our originals, I will let you know. I also saw that form and wondered the same thing with who should receive the request. I also read the instructions that if the form is not signed it will be considered incomplete and nothing will be processed, but we have to sign it in front of an USCIS official. This would mean we have to make an Infopass appointment with an Application Support Center. I planned on calling USCIS to see if they should be the one to receive this. It is too crazy!!!

[Mononoke28 135]

Ridiculous. I also asked the officer at POE about the SSC box marked on the DS-230, he also recommended that we go to the SSA office to file in person. We go the next day, they say no problem and tell us that it would take 2 weeks for immigration to enter his info in the system, then they would process the SS# petition and that would take 2 more weeks. It's been 4 weeks already, he calls the SSA office yesterday and they tell him to wait 8 weeks. Augh.

I'll ask him to call Immigration to find out what is going on with his card and how we can request that the documents be sent back to us. I'll let you know if I find anything new with that.

Diana

[*JG* 2]

I warned on the yardie thread almost a year and a half ago that they kept Andre's original birth paper and advised everyone's SO get at least one extra copy to bring with them to the US.

Yes, it's a pretty common occurance in JA. Sorry, you missed my warning.

BTW....we couldn't get Andre's mom to cooperate, so I ordered more birth papers online from JA. You have to order 6 of them (don't ask me why) and they cost around $80 with the shipping and all. It was relatively painless. I can point you in that direction if you can't get someone in JA to help you out with that.

I can't help you on the marriage certificate. We did all that in the US.

[Mononoke28 135]

I just spoke with my husband and he pretty much said "screw it, they can keep them". The police and migratory movement certificates expire in 1 year and we have certified copies of everything else. It's just a bummer though since they'll throw all that stuff away anyway.

Diana

[Chris Parker 11]

I warned on the yardie thread almost a year and a half ago that they kept Andre's original birth paper and advised everyone's SO get at least one extra copy to bring with them to the US.

Not all of us can get a duplicate birth certificate; the government in control where the beneficiary was born is under separtist control and the border is closed!

I think this thread highlights several steps which should be taken:

1. Make a photocopy of the front and back of every original document submitted to NVC
2. Ask for the documents back at the visa interview, have a photocopy available to replace it with
3. Failing that, go back to the embassy with the sealed envelope and the photocopies to try to get them replaced by the staff.
4. Failing that, have Form G-884 ready with the copies to submit with the sealed envelope at the POE officer, to try to get them back there
5. Failing that, you must submit Form G-884 to USCIS. I guess it gets sent to the National Records Office, though I think it has been posted in The POE drill thread that all Immigrant Visa papers pass through the Texas Service Center. I would not send out more than one request at a time.

[JeanneVictoria 55]

Hi All:

Thanks for all the help that I have received on this site for the past few months. I hope someone can offer some insight into how I can retrieve our original documents.

Initially when the NVC requested that we send in our original marriage certificate and my husband's birth certificate, we were advised that it would be returned to us when we interviewed at the Embassy. Well, this wasn't so - after our interview, my husband asked the CO if we could have our original documents back, to which she responded that she could not give it to us, as she needed to send the complete package for POE. She advised us that we should get it at POE. Again, not so; after hubby was processed at POE in Fort Lauderdale, the immigration officer again told us that he could not give it to us as he needs to send the papers to the National Records Office and we need to send a written request to get it back. WTH??? He didn't offer us any additional information as to where to mail this request, if there is a form we can fill out, anything!!! I called the NVC, the operator told me to email the information to them to see if they could advise me. I emailed them and have been directed first to the Embassy and in a separate email, I am now being directed back to USCIS. I am confused as hell and I am reaching out to my VJ family for .

Has anyone else experienced this and been able to navigate through this confusion?

Any would be greatly appreciated!!!

Here in Egypt when Wael went for his visa interview the CO asked for his original birth certificate, original marriage certificate and his Army certificate (original). Wael asked the CO for the originals back after the interview but the CO told him he has to keep them for the processing of his visa.

Wael received ALL the original documents back in his package with the visa. There is a sealed packet that he will give to the immigration officers at his POE, but all of the original documents were seperate. Do hope you can obtain all of your originals soon!!

[JA Tam 7]

Thanks for all the responses. We still have other copies, THANK GOD, but I want to get back what they promised us. If it boils down to it and we need more, I can have my father or his mother get additional copies for us at the RGD.

Thanks again.

Diana - I hope that he gets his SSC soon. I wonder if you all will be in the bunch that gets 2 SSNs. That apparently is the issue that they are trying to avoid, which is why the SSA office told us to wait 21 days. It sucks that you are both still waiting to get that. I pray that it will be in the mail early next week

[Dakine 26]

Failing that, you must submit Form G-884 to USCIS. I

Did that over a year ago. Nothing yet.

Guess giving documents back isn't high priority with USCIS as a friend has been waiting over 5 years a still nothing.