An I-130 package holds four things: the signed forms, the filing fee, proof that the petitioner is a U.S. citizen or a green card holder, and proof of the family relationship. Everything else in the envelope supports one of those four. This checklist follows the Form I-130 instructions, edition 04/01/24, the edition USCIS lists as current in October 2026.
It covers the core items first, then the evidence that changes with the relative you are petitioning for. For the full process around it, read our Form I-130 step-by-step filing guide.
The Core Items in Every I-130 Package
Every petition carries these, whatever the relationship.
- Form I-130, with every question answered and the petitioner’s signature. A typed or stamped name in place of a signature is not accepted.
- Form I-130A, when the relative is your spouse. Your spouse completes and signs it. A spouse who is overseas completes it and does not have to sign.
- The filing fee: $675 on paper or $625 online as of October 2026 (USCIS fee schedule). USCIS no longer takes checks or money orders with paper filings. Pay by card with Form G-1450 or from a U.S. bank account with Form G-1650 (USCIS).
- Proof of U.S. citizenship, when the petitioner is a citizen: a copy of a U.S. birth certificate, a naturalization or citizenship certificate, Form FS-240 (Consular Report of Birth Abroad), or an unexpired U.S. passport.
- Proof of permanent residence, when the petitioner is a green card holder: a copy of the front and back of the card.
- A full English translation of every foreign-language document, with the translator’s signed certification that it is complete and accurate and that the translator is competent to translate.
- Proof of any name change: the marriage certificate, adoption decree or court order behind a name that differs from one document to the next.
Send photocopies unless the instructions ask for an original. USCIS may destroy an original it did not ask for.
USCIS lockboxes rejected 11% of the more than 10 million filings they handled in fiscal year 2025, most often because the fee was wrong (USCIS). A missing signature or an outdated form edition sends a package back too.
Copy the package before it leaves your hands
Scan or photocopy the whole file. You will need that set to answer a Request for Evidence, and again at the interview. Keep the scans in one folder named for the relative, so the person who answers USCIS a year from now can find a page in a minute.
Relationship Evidence by Relative
Each relationship has a document that proves it on paper. A marriage also needs a second layer that shows it is real.
Spouse
A copy of your marriage certificate. Proof that every earlier marriage of either spouse ended: divorce decrees, annulment orders or death certificates. Two identical passport-style color photos of yourself and of your spouse, if your spouse is in the United States, taken within 30 days of filing.
Then the evidence that the marriage is real. The instructions list joint ownership of property, a lease showing you live at the same address, combined finances, birth certificates of children born to you both, and sworn statements from people who know the marriage. Each statement gives the writer’s full name, address, date and place of birth, and how they came to know the couple.
USCIS asks for more when you married while your spouse was in removal proceedings: clear and convincing evidence that the marriage was entered in good faith. Our marriage green card interview preparation guide shows what officers ask about the same records later.
Child, stepchild, adopted child
A mother sends the child’s birth certificate showing both names. A father sends the birth certificate showing both parents’ names and his marriage certificate to the child’s mother. A father whose child was born outside marriage shows that the child was legitimated before turning 18, or that a real father and child relationship existed before the child turned 21.
For a stepchild: the marriage certificate between the stepparent and the child’s natural parent, showing the marriage took place before the child turned 18, plus the child’s birth certificate.
For an adopted child: the adoption decree showing the adoption took place before the child turned 16, with proof the child was in the parents’ legal custody and lived with them for at least two years.
Parent
For a mother, your own birth certificate showing your name and hers. For a father, your birth certificate showing both parents and your parents’ marriage certificate. The petitioner must be a U.S. citizen aged 21 or older.
Sibling
Your birth certificate and your brother’s or sister’s, showing at least one parent in common. When you share a father and have different mothers, add the marriage certificates showing your father was married to each mother, and proof that any earlier marriages ended. The petitioner must be a U.S. citizen aged 21 or older.
Why USCIS Sends a Request for Evidence
USCIS sends a Request for Evidence when the package leaves a question open. The officer reads your civil records beside your relationship evidence and looks for one consistent story. Three kinds of gap break it.
Names that shift between documents
A birth certificate says Maria Jose Ferreira da Silva. The marriage certificate says Maria Silva. The lease says Maria J. Silva. Each is ordinary, and together they read as three people. The instructions ask for the legal document behind any name change. A short cover note listing each version of the name, and the document it appears on, makes the file easier to read.
Dates and addresses that leave a hole
Form I-130A asks a spouse for five years of addresses and five years of employment (Form I-130A). When the joint lease starts eight months after the wedding, the file should show where each of you lived in those eight months. Fill the gap with the record that covers it: an earlier lease, mail addressed to both of you, a parent’s sworn statement about the months you lived with family.
Relationship evidence that is thin or bunched
Twenty photos from one weekend prove one weekend. Evidence spread across the length of the relationship, a few items per year, shows more than a thick stack from a single month. Joint property, a shared lease and combined finances lead the list in the instructions.
Answer every item in the notice, in one package, before the deadline printed on it. All of the requested material must be sent together, the deadline is never longer than twelve weeks, and it cannot be extended (8 CFR 103.2).
Putting the File Together So It Reads in One Pass
USCIS recommends this order: the payment form on top (Form G-1450 or Form G-1650), then Form G-1145 if you want a text or an email when the package is accepted, then Form I-130, then Form I-130A, then the supporting documents (USCIS). Print on one side of letter-size paper. Leave out binders, photo albums and heavy staples, and write your name on the back of each photo.
Inside the supporting documents, keep one order: the petitioner’s status, then the relationship document, then the evidence that the relationship is real, grouped by kind.
Two items sit just outside this checklist. The Form I-864 Affidavit of Support comes later in the process with its own income requirements, and it should agree with the financial picture in your I-130 evidence. And the terms behind the categories, priority date, immediate relative, preference category, are explained in our Form I-130 glossary entry.
Once USCIS accepts the package it mails Form I-797C, the receipt notice. Its own form says the notice arrives within 10 days of acceptance (Form G-1145). More guides on this stage are on our family petition page.
Related guides
Talk to a Claxton Law immigration attorney
Send us your document list before you mail the petition, and Claxton Law Group will review the file for the gaps that draw an RFE. We work with families across Florida and Utah in English, Spanish, French and Brazilian Portuguese.