USCIS Makes Certain COVID-19-related Flexibilities Permanent

Maggio Kattar

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”)  announced that  the acceptance of an “electronically reproduced” (scanned, faxed photocopied or similarly reproduced) signature on petitions which previously required filing with an original handwritten signature will be permanent policy starting July 25, 2022.

USCIS began accepting copies of the original signed documents March 21, 2020.

The documents with the original, handwritten signatures must still be retained by the petitioners and applicants, and USCIS may, at any time, request the original documents.  The petition must still be signed with an original, handwritten (“wet”) signature and not with an electronic signature such as DocuSign, or a picture of a signature affixed to the form.

If you have any questions regarding this policy change, please reach out to your Maggio Kattar attorney.