Official vs. original documents

In the course of seeking a visa to, or status in, the United States, you often will need to show documents to a U.S. government agency. For example, in seeking H-1B status, or renewal of an F-1 visa, you will need to provide an “official” transcript. Such a transcript is one that is issued by your university (usually, the registrar). In addition, the transcript often will have the seal of the university, and an indication that it came from the registrar.  On the other hand, a transcript that you yourself print, for example via BlackBoard or Banner, generally will not be considered “official.”

Even though you probably will need an “official” document, you may not necessarily need an ORIGINAL of that official document. That is, most likely a photocopy or scanned version of that document will be sufficient (assuming of course that no one altered the original document, or the copy of the original, because doing either would involve serious legal consequences). When I file documents with USCIS, I have never been asked to show an original document. Likewise, the non-immigrant visa section of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has told me that a photocopy of an official transcript is sufficient for their needs.

Therefore, although your document may need to be official, it might not necessarily have to be original.

My email is csun@calvinsun.com