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USCIS Announces Tips to Filing Petitions/Applications Online

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As we move toward an increasing electronic environment, we now scan and upload many documents into electronic database systems. To avoid delays and improve scanning efficiency, we recommend that you do not:

  • DO NOT hole punch, staple, paper clip, binder clip, or otherwise attach documents to one another.
  • DO NOT Include photos or documents smaller than 4×6 inches for evidentiary purposes. Provide photocopies of these items instead. The only exception is when we request a passport photo with the filing.
  • DO NOT include anything that contains electronic chips and batteries (such as musical greeting cards) or any non-paper materials such as cassette tapes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, toys, action figures, or thumb drives. We will not accept these types of materials. However, we will accept photographs or photocopies of these items.
  • DO NOT submit forms or evidence documents bound with a binding or spiral wire/plastic.
  • DO NOT submit evidence using photo albums, scrapbooks, binders, or greeting cards.
  • DO NOT fold documents.
  • DO NOT place sticky notes on documents.
  • DO NOT use insertable tab dividers.
  • DO NOT print forms on colored paper.
  • DO NOT submit more than one copy of the same document or evidence unless required by the form instructions or regulations. If you are required to submit a copy of a complete prior application, petition, or request, clearly mark it as a “COPY†at the top of each page to ensure it is processed as intended.
  • DO NOT send original documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, driver’s licenses, passports, naturalization certificates, except when:
    • Required by the form instructions for the application, petition, or request you are filing; or
    • We specifically issue a request for you to submit an original document.

Avoiding these activities will improve our efficiency as we process your application, petition, or request.

David Swaim, Managing Partner
Tidwell, Swaim & Farquhar, P.C.

Cited from AILA Doc. No. 22111651

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