Guides say Blue ink - USCIS says Black ink for signatures

[mastercard 3]

Every guide I've read here says to sign forms in Blue ink so they will know it is not a photocopy. This is what I did with my I-130 packet.

But on this page for I-864 it says 3 times that you must sign in Black ink. These are the latest inscructions dated 07/26/2016.

I just thought I'd point this out for everyone.

Edited November 6, 2016 by mastercard

[NikLR 13,227]

Not an issue.

[evalili 10]

You can use either Blue or Black ink. Just don't go rainbow on the form.

[JFH 12,190]

Signed everything in blue. No RFEs. No checklist for it.

[tomatoboy 33]

Longstanding practice in legal circles (I'm an attorney, not an immigration attorney, and not YOUR attorney) was to always sign/initial things in blue ink so that originals could be distinguished from photocopies. Of course, color copiers made this somewhat obsolete, but not really since a) you can still kinda tell and b) most office photocopiers are still black and white.

I debated over this in filling out paperwork for USCIS and NVC, since it was second nature for me. I signed the USCIS paperwork in blue ink and they didn't say anything, no RFE, etc... I signed the NVC paperwork in black ink only because I was somewhere I did not have a blue pen at the time, but the ink was a sufficiently brownish black ink that you could still tell, so my obsessive need was satisfied. LOL.

This is my personal, not professional, opinion... Dark blue ink probably won't cause any issues 99.9% of the time. However, somebody at NVC *might* decide to be a pain (or the scanner might not pick up the blue ink well enough) and ask for a corrected version if they're being a stickler, since the form does say to use black ink. I'd still chance it, because of personal inertia and a desire to make it very clear which was the original. You mileage may vary, but it almost certainly won't be an issue.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Whether you use black or blue, use a ballpoint pen because sometimes other types of pens can come out looking like a photocopy. I know I read of that happening before.

[pushbrk 12,963]

I've never heard of an issue with ink or pen type, as long as actual originals are sent or scanned.