Affidavit Question and Response

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Question:

I have a question again, I hope you can help. It's about the affidavit. The sample vj gave, it said, Buddy O'Mine. Whose name should I put there? if my friend does the affidavit, should they bring the letter to the notary and sign it in front of them? Thank you for helping.

Response:

I personally found that the sample cover letter and affidavit here were both strangely worded and somewhat out of date. I drafted an affidavit for my in-laws based just on what the instructions for the I-751 on uscis.gov said. It was just a simple letter in which I made sure to include their full names, date and places of birth, and relationship to us. In the second paragraph my in-laws affirmed that the marriage was ongoing, was entered into in good faith, and was not entered into for the purpose of circumventing immigration law. A paragraph follows where they explain how they know that. Then they sign and date it. That's all an affidavit needs to comply with the USCIS instructions. Current USCIS instructions mention nothing of notarization, so I didn't bother with that either.

USCIS used to require notarization on certain kinds of evidence, including affidavits of support and RoC affidavits, and some of the samples and instructions here still reflect that.