Here is an email I wrote to the IG of the Department of State:
Hello:
My husband has received his CR-1 visa from the US Consulate in Abu Dhabi. As part of the application process we were required to submit an original marriage certificate. We read on the Department of State website for processing in Abu Dhabi the following:
The applicant will receive the applicant’s original documents back at the time of the visa interview.
These instructions are located on the following URL:
http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3196.html
The Consulate Officer in Abu Dhabi gave a yellow envelope containing our original marriage certificate along with other documents. The Consulate Officer specified the envelope is to be opened only by a customs agent at the Port of Entry.
Will the Customs Agent at the Port of Entry give us back our original marriage certificate?
If not, who will return our original marriage certificate to us?
I appreciate your response to this matter.
Full Version: return of original documents
VisaJourney.com > Marriage Based Immigration (K1, K2, K3, etc) to the USA > The Foreign Embassy and Consulate General Discussion
It would be nice to see what they say. The only document we received at the embassy was the original marriage certificate we had mailed the NVC, all other documents were never returned.
Diana
Diana
Wouldn't you be better off checking with the consulate first? It may be perfectly possible to switch your original with a copy if you simply ask for it. Surely this would be easier to organise, and much more likely to elicit a response than directing your query to the Inspector General of the DOS 
Consulate is in another country!
My husband had to fly out of Iran to go to the Consulate in United Arab Emirates and is now back in Iran.
My husband had to fly out of Iran to go to the Consulate in United Arab Emirates and is now back in Iran.
QUOTE(Poiteen @ Apr 22 2008, 05:06 PM) 
Wouldn't you be better off checking with the consulate first? It may be perfectly possible to switch your original with a copy if you simply ask for it. Surely this would be easier to organise, and much more likely to elicit a response than directing your query to the Inspector General of the DOS
One of 2 suggestions made in prior post, the other is to ask POE officer if can exchange for a copy when they inspect the immigrations packet when entering the USA. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=1778277Last option is if the POE officer wont return it, then the request for it needs to be made to USCIS, that is where the packet goes after entry to the USA.
You file form G-884 http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD
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