Pete&Shan

Hi all,

We have mailed off our packet 3 information and scheduled the medical exam for the 21st of July and I am getting ready for the interview.

I kept two copies of everything, except I only kept one copy of my joint sponsor's tax returns because they are huge - about 200 pages altogether. Am I safe bringing just the one copy of his taxes?

Also, my joint sponsor submitted a photocopy of his birth certificate and a photocopy of his pay stub as part of his I-864 - which I kept copies of as well. My joint sponsor lives in the U.S. and needs his birth certificate.
Is this ok in terms of bringing originals?

Thank you!

Shannon

gooner81

Any non original document has to be notarized in order to be accepted i beleive. So if the birth cert and pay stub is not then I am pretty sure it will not be valid.

You do not need 2 copies you just need the original of everything plus 1 copy of them all.

hope this helps

Also if you have not been given an interview date you should not be arranging your medical because you could be taking someone's appointment who has an interview in the near future. I guess with the medical centres not being so behind now it isn't as much of an issue anymore. If you have just sent off packet 3 expect it to be at least 4 weeks before you hear about an interview date and 4 weeks after that for the interview date. If your a CR-1 that is.

Pete&Shan

Thanks for the info. We are CR1 The tax return is by its nature a copy, since you file the original with the federal government. I will have my dad's office get me notarized copies of his birth certificate and pay stub, and I guess i could get her to notarize a set of the tax returns, if it seems to be necessary. do you think I should?

When we got our packet 3 instructions, it instructed us to go ahead and get the medical, which I thought was strange, but great. The lady at Nuffield had appointments about 10 days out, but they were spotty in terms of time. 8 weeks from now seems long, considering we have the medical appointment, but will go very fast, since we are selling our house, etc.

Congrats on making it to the U.S.!

Shannon

gooner81

Tax returns should be fine because like you say they are copies anyway the others definately get notarized just in case i am 99% sure they have to be, i know all of my joint sponsor's things were notarized although we had original brith cert, but we didn't use joint sponsor in the end anyway.

It's good they have changed it that you can book medical straight away now. It took us 6 weeks after sending the confirmation you have everything before we got our appointment for 4 weeks later. We even had to fax and email them to give us an appointment at that time because we had a deadline for getting it due to cruising to the US.

Pete&Shan

Thanks.

Will arrange the copies now. Luckily, my Dad's (joint sponsor) secretary is a notary so it is free!

My dad only has the small birth certificate that does not list his parents. Should I have him get the larger one? He is applying for his passport, so if he gets that, I will get a notarized copy of that instead. I am trying to think of every possible problem before it happens!

Shannon

meauxna

"Notarizing" is the act of verifying the identity of the person signing a document, in the presense of the Notary.
Documents like birth certificates, tax returns and pay stubs can not be notarized.

Shannon: a copy of your Dad/Joint Sponsor's new passport would be ideal. You should not need to retain your own backup copy of his tax returns, but I do keep the "original" set of docs I submit, and one photocopy of my entire submission.
Then plus one copy to actually turn in.

Pete&Shan

Thanks! Do you think I am ok to bring copies of the birth certificate and paystub, in case he does not get the passport in time to mail me a copy, which would still be a copy, anyway???

meauxna

Personally, I'd be more comfortable with a certified copy of the b/c and an original paystub, but with Joint Sponsors, I've made up in my head that you get a bit more lattitude. My Joint Sponsor docs were sealed in their own envelope which I never opened, but I can't even imagine my mother sending originals of any of her docs.

All I can say is go with what you can reasonable assemble and be happy it's London

sibsie

I didn't think there was any sort of legal restriction on what sort of document can be notarised.

Noorah101

I know in the past, I have notarized a photocopy, by writing a statement such as "I hereby certify this to be a true copy of the original" and then signed and notarized it (after comparing the original and the photocopy). I did this for some documents needed in Iran, so who knows? LOL

Rene

sibsie

I got the British Embassy in Spain to notorise my birth cert etc., I got robbed so many flaming times that I just got a ton of copies done!

The Notary Society in England has useful info and doesn't limit it to signed docs only. (It's a slow day and I love a good old Google)

http://www.thenotariessociety.org.uk/

meauxna

I'm hard-pressed to argue with an actual NP. I'd say that language reads the same as the old form FC-029 which individuals could sign and include with photocopied submissions. I didn't think it fell under the same definitions as 'notarizing', but I sure could be wrong.

sibs: I was speaking specifically to US Notary Public(s) since the USCIS/DoS-required documents that *do* specifically require notarizations detail that the Notary must be a US Notary Public.

At any rate, Shannon, I never notarized or officialized anything special for our case other than the I-864 form and certified copies of birth and marriage certs

Pete&Shan

Thanks guys! I talked to my mom last night and she is getting me a real pay stub and knows I need a certified copy of either his birth certificate or passport, if it arrives in time. His birth certificate is the small card kind, and does not list his parents, so I am a little nervous about using it anyway. He applied for a new passport a few weeks ago, and I have not been given an interview date yet, so he should get the passport before my interview, so my mom is going to get me a certified copy. My dad's secretary is a notary, so it is easy for me to get things notarized.

I only have one set of the tax returns, but will gladly hand those over at the interview, and get more copies if I need them.

Do they always want an entire other set of everything at the interview? Why do you send it all in before hand then?????

Just when you think you have done everything little thing you need to do, you always seem to think of something else!!!

Shannon

Ann

Hi - could I ask you how long it took to reach the interview stage in
London. thanks.

I am asking because I am wondering if I should go the AOS route or consular
processing.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete&Shan" <member39513@british_expats.com>
Newsgroups: alt.visa.us.marriage-based
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 7:06 AM
Subject: London Interview Question


    > Hi all,
    > We have mailed off our packet 3 information and scheduled the medical
    > exam for the 21st of July and I am getting ready for the interview.
    > I kept two copies of everything, except I only kept one copy of my joint
    > sponsor's tax returns because they are huge - about 200 pages
    > altogether. Am I safe bringing just the one copy of his taxes?
    > Also, my joint sponsor submitted a photocopy of his birth certificate
    > and a photocopy of his pay stub as part of his I-864 - which I kept
    > copies of as well. My joint sponsor lives in the U.S. and needs his
    > birth certificate.
    > Is this ok in terms of bringing originals?
    > Thank you!
    > Shannon
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

"Pete&Shan" <member39513@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
    > Hi all,
    > We have mailed off our packet 3 information and scheduled the medical
    > exam for the 21st of July and I am getting ready for the interview.
    > I kept two copies of everything, except I only kept one copy of my joint
    > sponsor's tax returns because they are huge - about 200 pages
    > altogether. Am I safe bringing just the one copy of his taxes?
    > Also, my joint sponsor submitted a photocopy of his birth certificate
    > and a photocopy of his pay stub as part of his I-864 - which I kept
    > copies of as well. My joint sponsor lives in the U.S. and needs his
    > birth certificate.
    > Is this ok in terms of bringing originals?
    > Thank you!
    > Shannon
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Pete&Shan

[QUOTE=Ann]Hi - could I ask you how long it took to reach the interview stage in
London. thanks.

I am asking because I am wondering if I should go the AOS route or consular
processing.

Ann,

We don't have an interview date yet. Our I-130 was filed in London May 18. We got Package 3 on June 29 and mailed it off July 1st. Part of Packet three told us to schedule the medical, and we got an appointment for July 21st. So things are moving along, but the packet did not say when we would expect to hear about an interview date. I am assuming I have to wait at least a month for that, based on the timelines I see here.

Shannon