What should I send such a large petition in?

[krazykoukides 3]

Hey everybody,

I have completed assembling my I-130 petition for my wife, however, I have come to a dilemma.

I am not sure what to send the package in. It is about 2 inches thick and is kinda heavy .. for an envelope.

My wife and I took our time assembling it to make sure we'd have everything and to do it right... but I am very unsure how to send this out.

Does the USCIS accept boxes? or only envelopes? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

-krazy

[Darnell 8,478]

ye gods. get to the post office, grab a priority mail box. it's 2.5 inches thick, internally.

[krazykoukides 3]

Ok, thanks alot!

[kruz_patz 22]

Hey everybody,

I have completed assembling my I-130 petition for my wife, however, I have come to a dilemma.

I am not sure what to send the package in. It is about 2 inches thick and is kinda heavy .. for an envelope.

My wife and I took our time assembling it to make sure we'd have everything and to do it right... but I am very unsure how to send this out.

Does the USCIS accept boxes? or only envelopes? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

-krazy

2" is too much ... what did you included in it ?

[pushbrk 12,801]

2" is too much ... what did you included in it ?

Yes, a priority mail box will work and will be accepted but you probably have far to much included. You should have a cover letter listing the contents of the package. Why not paste in the list of items here and let us help you pare it down. 100 pages is a HUGE petition. Sounds like you've got four or five times that.

[krazykoukides 3]

100 pages is a huge petition? How?

My passport and hers alone is 80 pages.

I do have a cover letter.

But really, how can there be too much?

[krazykoukides 3]

Original submission

USCIS

P.O. Box 804616

Chicago, IL 60680-4107

I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

Petitioner: <my full name>

Spouse: <her full name>

To Whom it may concern:

Enclosed is my petition for my alien spouse. I am a citizen of the United States. My spouse, <her full name>, is a citizen of Egypt, and currently resides in Cairo, Egypt.

The following documents are enclosed:

1. Payment of $355 (personal check in plastic baggy)

2. Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

3. Marriage Certificate between <my full name> and <her full name>

4. Form G-325A, Biographic Information for <my name>

5. Visa photo of <my name> (in plastic baggy)

6. Copy of <my name>’s Birth Certificate

7. Copy of <my name>’s Passport

8. Form G-325A, Biographic Information for <her name>

9. Visa photo of <her name> (in plastic baggy)

10. Copy of <her name>’s Birth Certificate with translation

11. Copy of <her name>’s Passport

12. Proof of Relationship

A. The nature of our relationship

B. Affidavit of <my full name>

C. Affidavit of <my Mom>

D. Affidavit of <my Sister>

E. Photographs of <my full name> and <her full name> together, in Cairo, Egypt, taken in August 2009-Sep 2009

F. Photographs of <my full name> and <her full name> together, in Cairo, Egypt taken in February 2010

G. Photographs of <my full name> and <her full name> with family (identified next to picture)

H. Copy of personal letters (emails) from <my full name> to <her full name>

I. Copy of personal letters (emails) from <my Mom> to <her full name>

J. Copy of personal letters (emails) from <my full name> to <my friend> (confirming engagement)

K. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from June 2008 – December 2008

L. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from December 2008 – June 2009

M. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from June 2009 – November 2009

N. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from November 2009 – April 2010

O. Copy of flight itineraries, entry and exit visas, and ATM withdrawals for first visit (August 14th 2009- September 4th 2009)

P. Copy of flight itineraries, entry and exit visas, and ATM withdrawals for second visit (February 2nd, 2010 – February 24th, 2010)

Q. Copy of engagement ring receipt

R. Copy of wedding ring receipt

S. <my name>’s mobile phone logs

T. Postage receipts from <my name> to <her name>

U. Postage receipts from <her name> to <my name>

V. Screenshot of <her name> and <my name> talking on video on MSN messenger

W. Screenshot of <her name> and <my name> talking on Skype

X. Skype logs for <my name> and <her name>

Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an Immigration or Consular officer at a later date.

Thank you for your assistance to process this application. If you have any questions please contact me at <my phone#>, or please contact my spouse at <her phone#>

Sincerely yours;

X ___________________

<my full name>

That's my cover letter. I took out all names but that's it.

[Darnell 8,478]

re: marriage certificate. DO NOT SEND IN THE ORIGINAL, on I-130 submittal - submit a COPY. A Regular PHOTOCOPY.

You'll need the original, later, at NVC.

[krazykoukides 3]

re: marriage certificate. DO NOT SEND IN THE ORIGINAL, on I-130 submittal - submit a COPY. A Regular PHOTOCOPY.

You'll need the original, later, at NVC.

Oh, I know. I didn't send in the original. Thanks though.

[LoveRani 1]

You don't need to send a full copy of your spouse's passport. You also don't need to send your copy of your passport unless you don't have a copy of your birth certificate. Make sure to write your name and birthday on the back of the passport size picture and the same goes for your spouse too.

You got a lot of relationship evidence. We only sent a few pictures and our marriage certificate copy. That's not a problem though that you are sending that much, hehe.

Goodluck on your journey

[pushbrk 12,801]

Original submission

USCIS

P.O. Box 804616

Chicago, IL 60680-4107

I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

Petitioner: <my full name>

Spouse: <her full name>

To Whom it may concern:

Enclosed is my petition for my alien spouse. I am a citizen of the United States. My spouse, <her full name>, is a citizen of Egypt, and currently resides in Cairo, Egypt.

The following documents are enclosed:

1. Payment of $355 (personal check in plastic baggy)

2. Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

3. Marriage Certificate between <my full name> and <her full name>

4. Form G-325A, Biographic Information for <my name>

5. Visa photo of <my name> (in plastic baggy)

6. Copy of <my name>’s Birth Certificate

7. Copy of <my name>’s Passport

8. Form G-325A, Biographic Information for <her name>

9. Visa photo of <her name> (in plastic baggy)

10. Copy of <her name>’s Birth Certificate with translation

11. Copy of <her name>’s Passport

12. Proof of Relationship

A. The nature of our relationship

B. Affidavit of <my full name>

C. Affidavit of <my Mom>

D. Affidavit of <my Sister>

E. Photographs of <my full name> and <her full name> together, in Cairo, Egypt, taken in August 2009-Sep 2009

F. Photographs of <my full name> and <her full name> together, in Cairo, Egypt taken in February 2010

G. Photographs of <my full name> and <her full name> with family (identified next to picture)

H. Copy of personal letters (emails) from <my full name> to <her full name>

I. Copy of personal letters (emails) from <my Mom> to <her full name>

J. Copy of personal letters (emails) from <my full name> to <my friend> (confirming engagement)

K. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from June 2008 – December 2008

L. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from December 2008 – June 2009

M. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from June 2009 – November 2009

N. Copy of personal chat samples (chat logs from AOL instant messenger) from <her full name> to <my full name> from November 2009 – April 2010

O. Copy of flight itineraries, entry and exit visas, and ATM withdrawals for first visit (August 14th 2009- September 4th 2009)

P. Copy of flight itineraries, entry and exit visas, and ATM withdrawals for second visit (February 2nd, 2010 – February 24th, 2010)

Q. Copy of engagement ring receipt

R. Copy of wedding ring receipt

S. <my name>’s mobile phone logs

T. Postage receipts from <my name> to <her name>

U. Postage receipts from <her name> to <my name>

V. Screenshot of <her name> and <my name> talking on video on MSN messenger

W. Screenshot of <her name> and <my name> talking on Skype

X. Skype logs for <my name> and <her name>

Copies of documents submitted are exact photocopies of unaltered documents and I understand that I may be required to submit original documents to an Immigration or Consular officer at a later date.

Thank you for your assistance to process this application. If you have any questions please contact me at <my phone#>, or please contact my spouse at <her phone#>

Sincerely yours;

X ___________________

<my full name>

That's my cover letter. I took out all names but that's it.

I made bold the things you can just pull out. Much of the other evidence is probably too comprehensive. I would cut down all the evidence of bonafides including the photos (Print multiple photos on the same full sheet of plain paper.) to no more than 20 pages. When you see "or" used in an instruction, take it literally. Neither of your passports is needed with the petition filing.

[LoveRani 1]

I made bold the things you can just pull out. Much of the other evidence is probably too comprehensive. I would cut down all the evidence of bonafides including the photos (Print multiple photos on the same full sheet of plain paper.) to no more than 20 pages. When you see "or" used in an instruction, take it literally. Neither of your passports is needed with the petition filing.

He will need his passport (photo copy of all pages)to prove that he is a US citizen unless he has his birth certificate.

[Elghazi2008 4]

re: marriage certificate. DO NOT SEND IN THE ORIGINAL, on I-130 submittal - submit a COPY. A Regular PHOTOCOPY.

You'll need the original, later, at NVC.

Just as a side-note, we had to send a certified copy of our marriage certificate. A regular photocopy, to my knowledge, could not be accepted. I was under the impression that the certificate had to have the seal on it...

[Elghazi2008 4]

He will need his passport (photo copy of all pages)to prove that he is a US citizen unless he has his birth certificate.

I remember in the directions that it mentioned needing a copy of each and every page of the passport...but when I submitted our package, I only included my biographical page with other things like my license, SS card, etc. and it worked out fine. I wonder if they just used something else that I had sent as proof of my citizenship or if they are in fact occasionally overlooking the requirement of copying the ENTIRE passport....

[Elghazi2008 4]

Hey everybody,

I have completed assembling my I-130 petition for my wife, however, I have come to a dilemma.

I am not sure what to send the package in. It is about 2 inches thick and is kinda heavy .. for an envelope.

My wife and I took our time assembling it to make sure we'd have everything and to do it right... but I am very unsure how to send this out.

Does the USCIS accept boxes? or only envelopes? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

-krazy

Two inches is huge... It's great that you've got that much information, but you may find that they send you a request for additional information simply because they are too lazy to look through your file :-/ . You may want to consider downsizing your correspondence and photos. When I submitted correspondence between my husband and I, I downsized the text to size 8 font. The person looking over our petition read it just fine. Also, remember that they don't need every little bit of correspondence you've got. In all, my husband and I submitted three pieces of correspondence, however we may only have gotten away with that because I was in his country at the time of his interview and I also hand wrote a letter to the interviewer myself... We also fit 4 photos on each sheet of paper (total of 4 papers worth of pictures) so that we could save ink and time the petitioner would need to spend looking them over. Of course we had more, but it wasn't necessary to send everything we had.

If you would just like to send your entire package as it is, since you've already spent so much time on it, I would send it via priority mail, one of those large envelopes. Even one of those legal size flat rate envelopes would do if you can't fit it into a regular priority envelope. I wouldn't send anything in a box though...