Copies, Originals and Certified Copies Compared
Three words that sound interchangeable describe three different documents with three different fates once they are mailed. Sending the wrong one can mean a delay, and in one case it can mean losing the document permanently.
The rule in short
Supporting documents are submitted in the form the form instructions require, and the ordinary requirement is a legible photocopy. The agency may request an original at any time, sets a deadline for producing it, and returns it once the adjudication is complete. An original sent when it was neither required nor requested may be destroyed. A certified copy is a copy issued and attested by the authority that holds the record, and it is not the same as a notarized photocopy.
Send legible photocopies unless the instructions say otherwise. Originals are requested rarely, come with a deadline, and are returned once the case is decided. A certified copy is neither of those: it is a copy issued by the authority that holds the record, and a notarized photocopy is not the same thing.
What each term means
An original is the document as issued: the certificate handed over by a registrar, the decree stamped by a court, the diploma signed by the institution. It exists in a limited number of copies, sometimes one, and replacing it can take months.
A photocopy is a reproduction made by the holder. It proves nothing about authenticity on its own; its value comes from the fact that the filer certifies the whole filing to be true when signing the form. A copy that is dark, cropped or missing a reverse side is worse than useless, because it looks like an attempt to hide something.
A certified copy is a copy issued by the body that holds the underlying register, attested by that body as matching its record. It is a distinct document with its own seal or signature, obtained by applying to the registry rather than by using a photocopier. Where a rule calls for a certified copy, this is what it means.
| Form of document | Who produces it | Ordinary use in a filing | What happens to it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photocopy | The filer | The default for supporting documents | Stays in the file; nothing to return |
| Original | The issuing authority, when the record was created | Only where instructions require it or the agency asks | Returned after the adjudication, if it was requested |
| Certified copy | The authority holding the register, on application | Where a rule or instruction calls for one | Retained as part of the record |
| Notarized photocopy | A notary, witnessing the copying | Rarely required; not a substitute for a certified copy | Retained as part of the record |
The default and its exceptions
The regulation says original or photocopied documents required to support a request must be submitted in accordance with the form instructions, and the instructions almost always call for legible photocopies. That is deliberate: paper originals in transit are lost paper originals, and the agency has no interest in holding a family's only birth certificate.
Exceptions exist and are stated expressly. Certain medical, civil surgeon and sealed submissions must arrive in their original sealed form. Certain identity documents are inspected at an interview rather than mailed. When an instruction says original, it means it, and a photocopy in those cases is a defect.
Quality of copying is worth more attention than it usually gets. Copy at full size rather than reduced, capture the edges of the page including any perforation or border printing, reproduce both sides even when one appears blank, and use color where the document carries a colored seal or a security feature. A grey photocopy of a stamped certificate loses precisely the part that establishes who issued it.
Scanned filings raise the same issue in a different form. A scan that is cropped, skewed or compressed until the fine print blurs is the electronic equivalent of a bad photocopy. Checking each page on screen at full size before it is uploaded takes minutes and prevents a request for a legible copy weeks later.
Sending the actual certificate to be helpful is a habit worth breaking. Agency guidance states that originals submitted when they are not required or requested may be destroyed after receipt. A document that took months and a foreign application to obtain can disappear because someone wanted to make a strong impression.
When an original is requested
The agency may ask for an original at any time, and the request sets a deadline. Failure to produce the document by that date may result in denial of the request or revocation of a benefit already granted. The request is therefore not an invitation.
Two steps make compliance safe. Copy the original in full before it leaves, front and back, including any endorsement. Then send it by a service that produces a delivery record, and keep that record with the copy, for the reasons set out in proving a filing was made and received. Once the adjudication is over the original is returned, and having the copy means an unreturned document can be chased precisely rather than vaguely.
Where the original cannot be produced because it was lost, destroyed or never held by the filer, the answer is not silence. Say what happened, supply a certified copy from the issuing authority if one can be obtained, and explain what was done to try. The request sets a deadline, and a documented explanation delivered inside it is far better than an original delivered outside it.
A request for an original also carries information. It usually means an officer has a question about a specific document rather than about the case generally, which is a narrower problem than it feels like at the time.
Foreign records and what they look like
Civil records issued abroad vary enormously in form. Some jurisdictions issue extracts rather than certificates, some reissue a fresh document on each application, some annotate the margin of an original register and issue a copy of the annotated page. Any of those can be primary evidence where it comes from the authority with jurisdiction over the record.
Whatever arrives, the whole of it goes into the filing: both sides, every stamp, every marginal note. Where the document is in another language, a full translation with the required certifications must accompany it, and the standards for that are set out in who may translate a document.
Where the registry cannot produce anything at all, the filing moves to a different footing entirely, using secondary evidence and, in the last resort, sworn statements. That hierarchy is set out in proving a record that does not exist or cannot be obtained, and it applies only once unavailability has been demonstrated rather than asserted.
What stays at home
Originals stay at home unless they have been asked for. So does at least one complete duplicate of everything sent, which is what makes a later dispute about the contents of a package answerable; keeping a complete copy of everything sent covers what that file should hold.
Where a filing turns on the authenticity or provenance of a particular document — a record from a jurisdiction whose registers are contested, a certificate reissued long after the event, a decree from a court that no longer exists — the document question can decide the case, and it is worth putting to a document certification immigration lawyer before the package is assembled rather than after an officer raises it.
Points to carry away
- Legible photocopies are the default form of supporting documents unless the form instructions require otherwise.
- The agency may request an original document at any time, with a deadline, and failure to produce it can lead to denial or revocation.
- An original requested and produced is returned once it is no longer needed for the adjudication.
- An original submitted when it was not required or requested may be destroyed after it is received.
- A certified copy comes from the authority holding the record; a notarized photocopy is a different thing and rarely a substitute.
Questions readers ask
Is a notarized photocopy the same as a certified copy?
No, and the difference matters. A notary confirms that a signature was made, or that a copy was made in the notary's presence, and knows nothing about the underlying record. A certified copy is issued by the authority that holds the register — a civil registry, a court, a school — and carries that authority's attestation that the copy matches its record. Where a certified copy is called for, a notarized photocopy does not satisfy it, because the person attesting has no access to the original register.
What happens to an original that was sent without being asked for?
It may be destroyed. Agency guidance is explicit that originals submitted when they are neither required nor requested may be destroyed after receipt. That is a hard rule to discover after mailing a foreign birth certificate that took nine months to obtain. Where an original genuinely must accompany a filing, the form instructions say so; where they do not, a legible photocopy is the correct submission and the original stays in the retained file.
How long does a requested original stay with the agency?
Until the adjudication is complete. The regulation provides for an original submitted on request to be returned once it is no longer needed, and where it is not returned within a reasonable period after the case concludes, a request for its return may be made through the process the agency indicates. Keeping a copy of the original before sending it, along with the notice that requested it, is what makes any later chase straightforward rather than speculative.
Sources
- 8 CFR 103.2 — Submission and adjudication of benefit requests (Cornell LII)Paragraph (b)(4) governs the form of supporting documents; (b)(5) covers requests for originals and their return.
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 1, Part E, Chapter 6 — EvidenceDefines primary evidence as material issued by an authority with jurisdiction over the record.
- USCIS — Form I-765 instructionsStates that legible photocopies are submitted unless an original is specifically instructed or requested.
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 1, Part B, Chapter 6 — Submitting RequestsAgency guidance on assembling supporting documents in a package.
- 8 CFR 204.2 — Petitions for relatives, widows and widowers (Cornell LII)Illustrates where a specific benefit's rules displace the general document requirements.
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 1, Part E, Chapter 2 — Record of ProceedingDescribes what happens to material once it enters the administrative record.
National Attorney Hub is a publication, not a law firm. This article states general rules and cites its sources; it is not advice about any particular case, and the law differs by state and changes over time.
More in Immigration Filings
A Payment That Does Not Clear After Acceptance
If a remittance is not honored by the institution on which it is drawn, no receipt is issued and any receipt already issued is void, with the request losing its receipt date. A payment returned for insufficient funds is resubmitted once; a second failure allows rejection or denial. A payment returned for any other reason, including a stop payment, is not resubmitted at all. Where the request had been approved, the approval may be revoked on notice and other fees are not refunded.
Checking a Case and Asking About a Delay
A person may create a service request where a case is outside normal processing time, where a notice, card or document was not received, where an accommodation is needed, or where a typographic error requires correction. Requests are recorded and routed to the office holding the file, categorized by urgency and completed on a first-in, first-out basis, with a general resolution goal of fifteen business days. Self-service options resolve many questions without a request at all.
A Motion Compared With an Appeal After a Refusal
A motion is filed with the office that made the latest decision, generally within thirty days, and asks that office to reopen on new facts or reconsider on the law. An appeal is submitted on the prescribed form with the required fee, complete with any brief, within thirty days after service. The deciding official reviews the appeal first and may take favorable action within forty-five days before forwarding it. An untimely appeal that meets the motion requirements is treated as a motion.