Loading…
Loading…
Almost no rejection at the door is about what the form says. It is about the package: the fee, the payment, and what travels with what in one envelope.
In fiscal year 2025 USCIS lockboxes processed more than 10 million applications and rejected 11% of them. The most common reason is not submitting the correct fee.
That is roughly 1.1 million envelopes mailed back in one year.
One payment for a package holding several requests turns one form's defect into everyone's rejection. With a separate payment per request, USCIS keeps the good ones and returns only the defective one. It is the most expensive rule in the module.
When you provide only 1 single payment for a filing package that contains more than 1 application, we must reject the entire package if 1 of the applications is defective. For example, if you are filing a package that includes 2 Form N-400 applications, and 1 Form N-400 is missing a signature, we must reject both if you provide only 1 payment. However, if you provide a separate payment for each application we can accept the complete Form N-400 and reject the Form N-400 that is missing a signature.And even when every form is correct: USCIS processes different requests in different systems, and says a single combined payment may force it to reject the whole package anyway.
We are changing some technology and may use different systems to process different requests and their fees. As a result, we may need to reject your entire package if you submit a single, combined payment for multiple forms. For example, even if you submit Form I-539 and Form I-129 together, we may process them in different IT systems. If both forms are paid with 1 combined payment, we may need to reject both forms.One payment form per request, all of the same type. A package holding both a G-1450 and a G-1650 may have to be rejected.
Complete a separate payment form for each benefit request you submit, using the same type of form, either G-1450 or G-1650, but not both. If your package contains both types of payment it may have to be rejected.One form cannot be paid with two methods, not even when the amounts add up to exactly the right fee.
We cannot accept payment for 1 form that is a combination of different payment types. For example, we cannot accept payment for a Form I-765 filed with both Form G-1450 and Form G-1650 as payment, even if the total equals the correct amount of the fee for the benefit request. If we accept your filing, we will debit funds for the proper amount.USCIS’s own worked examples. Three requests filed together need three payment forms, one each. And the last case is the one nobody expects: five requests paid two different ways do not fit in one envelope — USCIS says to post two packages.
USCIS’s columns: If you submit… · And wish to pay with… · Then you must…
Three benefit requests filed together · One credit card · Submit 3 Forms G-1450, 1 for each benefit request.
Three benefit requests filed together · ACH payment · Submit 3 Forms G-1650, 1 for each benefit request.
Five benefit requests · One credit card for 2 of the benefit requests ACH payments for 3 of the benefit requests · Submit 2 separate packages— First package: 2 benefit requests and 2 Forms G-1450. Second package: 3 benefit requests and 3 Forms G-1650.Since October 2025 USCIS no longer accepts personal or business checks, money orders or cashier's checks on paper, unless an exemption is approved with Form G-1651.
Alert: USCIS no longer accepts payments made by personal or business check, money order, or cashier’s check for forms filed by paper unless you qualify for an exemption. When filing by mail, you can pay using a credit, debit, or prepaid card by completing Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions, or you can make a payment directly from a U.S. bank account by completing Form G-1650, Authorization for ACH Transactions.Where a paper-payment exemption applies, the G-1651 travels inside the same envelope. Sending it before or after does not count.
You must submit your Form G-1651 with your completed benefit request and payment. You cannot submit Form G-1651 separately either before or after you submit the associated benefit request.Where a paper payment is allowed: the payee is written out in full, no initials.
On the “Pay to the Order of” line, write “U.S. Department of Homeland Security” (not “USDHS” or “DHS”).And a check older than 365 days gets the filing rejected.
If your check is not dated within the previous 365 days, we will reject the filing.Unrelated forms go in separate envelopes. USCIS defines “unrelated”: when the decision on one does not affect the decision on the other.
Do not include unrelated forms in the same envelope when filing. Forms are unrelated if our decision on one form does not affect our decision on another, or if they are not considered a family pack. For example, if you plan to file Form I-765 and Form I-485, and whether or not we approve your Form I-485 does not affect your Form I-765, then we recommend you file each form in a separate envelope. A family pack filing would include all 4 members of a family filing 4 Forms N-400 at the same time. Doing so may avoid routing issues that could make it take longer to process your form.And when they do travel together, the name, date of birth and A-Number must be written exactly the same way on each form. This is the rule the preparer's case file exists to satisfy without thinking about it.
Only file multiple forms in the same envelope if they are related (for example, you may file Form I-485 and Form I-765 together in the same envelope if you are applying for the (c)(9) category on Form I-765). If you are filing multiple related forms in the same envelope, write your name, date of birth, and A-Number (if any) exactly the same way on each form (unless you have had a legal change of name or date of birth and provide proof of that).The envelope and the cover letter are marked with the type of submission and with the form number.
Mark the envelope and the cover letter with the type of submission. For example, Original Submission, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (Form I-485).
Mark the envelope and the cover letter with the form number. For example, Form I-129, Form I-360, Form I-485.No binders that cannot be taken apart, and no heavy-duty staples.
When you prepare your packet, remember:
Do not use binders or folders that we cannot easily disassemble.
Do not use heavy-duty staples.The lockbox page’s own list: not properly completed, an invalid or missing signature, an outdated edition, or pages from different editions mixed into one form. The same passage says where the edition date is printed: at the bottom of the form.
We will reject your form if it is not properly completed; if the form has an invalid or missing signature; if it is completed using an outdated edition of the form; or if the form pages are from different editions. All pages of the forms that you file must be completed with the same, current edition of the form or we will reject it. The date on the bottom of each form is the edition date. You can check the USCIS webpage for that form to verify whether it is an acceptable edition when you are filing it.
Our lockbox will also reject your form if you do not correctly complete your electronic payment form (Form G-1450 or Form G-1650), or if the payment amount is incorrect. For more information on completing your payment form properly, visit our Filing Fees webpage.The number that orders this whole module, on the USCIS page where it is published.
In fiscal year 2025, our lockbox locations processed more than 10 million applications and rejected 11% of them. The most common reason for rejection is that benefit requestors did not submit the correct fee amount associated with their benefit requests. Use our Fee Calculator to help you determine the correct payment for the benefit you are requesting.USCIS publishes two different orders, both current and neither archived. They do not agree: one starts with photographs and the other never mentions them. Picking one and calling it “the order” would invent a reconciliation USCIS has not published, so both are here with their dates.
The more recent one. It does not mention photographs.
Reviewed by USCIS on Jul 09, 2026
We recommend assembling your package in the following order:
Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions; Form G-1650, Authorization for ACH Transactions; or Form G-1651, Exemption for Paper Fee Payment. For more information, visit our Pay with a Credit Card by Mail, Pay with ACH Debit Transaction by Mail, or Form G-1651, Exemption for Paper Fee Payment, webpages.
Form G-1145, Request for e-Notification (if applicable).
Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative (if applicable).
Form you are filing.
Form supplements you are filing, if applicable.
Supporting documentation:The lockbox page’s own. It puts photos above the payment, it is the only one of the two that says which end of the list is the top, and the only one that asks for the name and A-Number on the back of each photograph.
Reviewed by USCIS on Dec 07, 2025
After you complete, print, and sign your form, assemble your package. We recommend the following order, beginning at the top:
Photos (if included)
When providing photos, provide your name and A-Number (if any) on the back of each photograph;
Payment (Form G-1450, Form G-1650, or payment with Form G-1651) or fee waiver form;
Form G-1145, Request for e-Notification (if included);
Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative (if applicable);
Forms being filed;
Form supplements being filed (if applicable); and
Supporting documentation.These are repeated in forums, older guides and law-firm blogs. None is USCIS guidance for a lockbox filing. The damage is not in following them: it is that the day a preparer finds out USCIS never said it, everything else we said becomes suspect.
“Do not staple anything.” USCIS says this on none of its current mail-filing pages. The only thing it says about staples is not to use heavy-duty ones.
Searched in: Tips for Filing Forms by Mail · Five Steps to File at the USCIS Lockbox · Lockbox Filing Information
What USCIS does say:
When you prepare your packet, remember:
Do not use binders or folders that we cannot easily disassemble.
Do not use heavy-duty staples.“Two-hole punch at the top.” That is immigration court (EOIR) practice, not USCIS. It appears on none of USCIS's mail-filing pages.
Searched in: Tips for Filing Forms by Mail · Five Steps to File at the USCIS Lockbox · Lockbox Filing Information
“The cover letter goes first.” USCIS places the cover letter in neither of its two assembly orders, and never says one is required.
Searched in: Tips for Filing Forms by Mail · Five Steps to File at the USCIS Lockbox
What USCIS does say:
Mark the envelope and the cover letter with the type of submission. For example, Original Submission, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (Form I-485).
Mark the envelope and the cover letter with the form number. For example, Form I-129, Form I-360, Form I-485.“No staples, no clips, no folders.” This one does exist, and it is the source everyone cites — but it sits on a page USCIS marks as archived and out of date, and its own first clause limits it to service centers, not the lockbox, which is where most of these forms go.
Searched in: Recommendations for Paper Filings to Avoid Scanning Delays
USCIS marks this page as archived and says, on the page itself, that the information is out of date.
As we move toward an increasing electronic environment, we now scan and upload many documents into electronic database systems. If you are filing your form with a USCIS service center, we recommend that you do not:
Hole punch, staple, paper clip, binder clip, or otherwise attach documents to one another.The forms that travel together
What USCIS publishes about which forms go in one envelope, quoted and dated.
The forms that travel together