British Expats - do copies have to be certified?

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do copies have to be certified?

hey everyone! i am sending off my adjustment of status papers for my husband tomorrow morning. (me-US citizen, husband-from R.O.Ireland, he came here on visa waiver, we recently decided to get married after dating for a year). My question is, when i send copies of our birth certificates with our packet do they have to be certified copies or will regular xerox copies do? also, the lady on the phone on the INS customer service hotline said to mail our I-485 (and everything that goes with it), not file in person. does that sound right? she also said to include his 50 dollar fingerprinting fees with the packet. why are we sending money for the fingerprints when he isn't being fingerprinted yet? i thought we would pay for that when he gets his I-551 stamp for employment. does this sound normal to you guys? thanks for all your great info and help!

cowall

Re: do copies have to be certified?

Quote:

Originally posted by cowall:
hey everyone! i am sending off my adjustment of status papers for my husband tomorrow morning. (me-US citizen, husband-from R.O.Ireland, he came here on visa waiver, we recently decided to get married after dating for a year). My question is, when i send copies of our birth certificates with our packet do they have to be certified copies or will regular xerox copies do? also, the lady on the phone on the INS customer service hotline said to mail our I-485 (and everything that goes with it), not file in person. does that sound right? she also said to include his 50 dollar fingerprinting fees with the packet. why are we sending money for the fingerprints when he isn't being fingerprinted yet? i thought we would pay for that when he gets his I-551 stamp for employment. does this sound normal to you guys? thanks for all your great info and help!

cowall

Yes you pay for the fingerprinting upfront. The fingerprinting is done BEFORE your interview and must clear the FBI/CIA check before his AOS is approved.

And again she is correct, include everything in one package when mailing your I-130-I-485 into the local INS office (unless you are in the Baltimore area and then it would go to the Vermont Service Center).

As I don't recall where you live and what local INS office you are using, I can't say if her recommendation to mail in as opposed to walking it in is correct.

As for certified copies, certified in this case means that the birth certificate is an original certified copy received from the government authority that issued them. Photocopies of them are fine AS LONG AS they show the filing marks and any seals that are on the original certified copies.

Rete