Packet: sheet protectors vs fasteners

[Gary Rich 201]

 

5 minutes ago, Family said:

NO ONE handling the DEMOLITION of your Binder and dismantling of sheet protectors will read the contents . ..so your effort was futile . 
‘It’s true that USCIS is forgiving ( unlike courts that would bounce back submissions that don’t conform) …but that attorney was pulling your leg😂

 

I guess you work at USCIS.. and have years of experience working there..

Edited March 21 by Gary Rich

[Family 3,483]

15 minutes ago, Gary Rich said:

 

I guess you work at USCIS.. and have years of experience working there..

Their workflow and dept staffing is widely available public knowledge. 
 

Some DIY hints /hacks are valuable if they help save effort/resources/frustration..

I for example always used dry white out without ever running into any issues, in-spite of the instructions.

[TUC 37]

9 hours ago, Mixel96 said:

What do you mean by Index your evidence ?

thank you for your reply

Okay, that is another way of doing it and different from what’s described on the USCIS instructions.. 

the 2 hole punch way was the way I was told when I submitted my I-129F, I was also was under the impression that leaving all the paper as it was with only a large black Clip to hold it all together was also acceptable.

[TBoneTX 43,069]

1 hour ago, TUC said:

leaving all the paper as it was with only a large black Clip to hold it all together

This is easiest for all parties.

[SalishSea 16,778]

11 hours ago, Gary Rich said:

 

I guess you work at USCIS.. and have years of experience working there..

In fact, Family is one of the few here who has direct experience working in an immigration capacity.  

[WCF 2]

I put everything in sheet protectors in a folio binder.
They returned a couple of documents and it was clear to me that they had disassembled the entire thing and two-hole punched the papers at the top and reassembled it.

[OldUser 4,833]

16 minutes ago, WCF said:

I put everything in sheet protectors in a folio binder.
They returned a couple of documents and it was clear to me that they had disassembled the entire thing and two-hole punched the papers at the top and reassembled it.

 

Please follow the best filing practices next time.

 

Consider this. If you put sheet protectors on every page, and there's 100 pages in a packet. That means somebody has to spend 100-150 seconds (e.g. few minutes) to undo all of that to scan in. Let's settle on 2 minutes. Doesn't seem like a lot, right? Now, think that 20 other people send packets like this every day per service center. I think it's a lot more, but let's assume 20 * 2 = 40 minutes.

 

40-60 minutes a day per service center just to unwrap packets. That's enough time to review 2-3 cases.

 

Now imagine how much time a year that would be. Roughly 250 days a year are work days. Multiple 60 * 250 = 15000 hours a year. How many cases would have been reviewed in this time?

 

We all love bashing USCIS for slow processing times, but if they lose 15000hrs per service center a year, you can imagine how much time they lose on other things: wrong or missing payments etc.

[SneakyPete 46]

On 3/21/2024 at 8:55 AM, Mixel96 said:

It’s really not clear still. They do not tell you how they want photos to be attached. When I do not use sheets and have photos, boarding passes etc for evidence, what is the safest way to attach, when photos are not in standard paper format ?

 

The instructions also say it is „appreciated“ to not use binders and to hole punch documents at the top, there is no clear rule. It doesn’t say anything about sheets anywhere. 

This is ideal or close to it.
American letter sized sheets of paper. Put COPY of boarding passes, copy of passport, birth certificate if you are born American, all on letter sized papers. IF you are sending pictures as evidence of face to face meeting, make a montage and print it on letter sized paper. 
On top put 2 passport sized photos. On top of those put your method of payment, e.g. personal cheque, money order, cashier cheque or I-1450 form. Use single black binder clip to hold all this together. IF you feel extra nice and want to add 2 hole punch on tap do it, but it doesn't matter. Do not punch your cheque or passport photos. 

 

Good luck. Prices are going up on 1 April 2024. Send it before then. 

[hplusj 23]

Based on the turnaround of our petition being in the first batch of approvals for our filing day (top 5%, based on metrics I reviewed from trackmyvisanow), I can only advise to keep it clean and minimalist. 

 

I organized the items in order per the USCIS site's checklist.  I divided each section they listed with a tab *on the bottom* that was removable/reusable (so as not to damage the paperwork) in order for information to easily be accessed, by my fiance, myself, or USCIS (since a copy will need to be brought to the consulate interview).  Evidence that was not on an 8 1/2x11 piece of paper, such as photos, I scanned and included a printed copy so the entire packet was uniform.  One per page, fit to page for clearest image, no collages.  The only exception here were the passport photos, which needed to be originals.

 

The USCIS copy was secured with a large black binder clip.  No staples, no sheet protectors.  Manilla envelope for mailing, everything printed cleanly.  I can only assume that it got us to the front of the line doing it that way.

Edited March 31 by hplusj
passport photo exception