When you are writing about your own husband, mother, sister or son, the difficulty is not finding something to say. It is that everything feels obvious. You have lived it, so you skip the detail an officer needs and write about how much you love them.
Love is assumed. Detail is what carries.
State the relationship precisely
Open with exactly how you are related, using full legal names as they appear on documents. Not my brother, but my brother, Samuel Adebayo Okafor, born 14 March 1991 in Lagos.
If names are spelled differently across documents, which is extremely common in families, say so plainly and explain why. Do not quietly use one spelling and hope nobody notices. See name discrepancies on immigration documents.
Show the relationship rather than asserting it
Officers assessing a family relationship are looking for the ordinary texture of shared life.
How often you speak, and by what means. Who was present at births, weddings and funerals. Money sent or received, and why. Holidays spent together. Who cared for whom during an illness. Children raised alongside each other. Property or businesses held in common.
Dates and places, wherever you can give them. A letter that says we speak most Sundays is fine. A letter that says we have spoken almost every Sunday evening since he moved to Houston in August 2019, usually while I cook is better, because it could not be about anyone else.
Structure
Who you are. Full legal name, address, occupation, and your citizenship or immigration status if you are comfortable stating it.
The relationship, precisely, with the applicant’s full name and date of birth.
The history. How the relationship has run over time, with specifics.
Two or three concrete episodes that show it.
What you are asking for, briefly.
Contact details, and a genuine offer to be reached.
Signature and date.
Download the free template, write it in your own words, then notarize it online in minutes from anywhere in the United States.
Be careful in two areas
Hardship. Some filings turn on the effect a decision would have on family members, and the standards are technical and specific. Describe your actual circumstances truthfully. Do not try to write to a legal standard you have read about online, because a letter that reaches for legal conclusions reads as coached and can undercut the case. Let the attorney handle the framing.
Financial support. Offers of housing or money can carry real obligations, and some support undertakings are legally enforceable. Do not put a commitment in writing before you understand what it means. Raise it with the attorney first.
Say the difficult things carefully
Families have complicated histories. If there is something in the record, an old arrest, a period of estrangement, a previous filing that went badly, do not pretend it does not exist and do not volunteer an explanation you are not qualified to give.
Tell the attorney about it. They will decide whether your letter should address it and how. What you must not do is state something you are unsure of, because one inaccuracy discounts the entire letter.
Write in your own voice
A letter from a mother should sound like a mother wrote it. Officers read a great many of these and coached language is recognisable.
If you are more comfortable in another language, write it in that language and attach a translation. Ask the attorney whether the translation needs to be certified, and whether the translator’s certification itself needs notarizing, because that adds a step.
Notarizing it
Whether notarization is needed depends on the filing and on what the attorney requests. Where it is wanted, it confirms that you personally signed, in front of an officer who verified your identification.
Bring valid unexpired photo identification and do not sign in advance, since the notary must witness the signature. Family members abroad or in another state can sign by online notarization over secure video, which is often the simplest way to get several relatives’ letters executed properly.
If the letter is going to a consulate or a foreign authority rather than to USCIS, it may also need an apostille.
Frequently asked questions
Does a family letter count for less?
No, but it is read knowing you have an interest. Specific, verifiable detail is what gives it weight.
How many letters should be submitted?
That is a decision for the attorney. More is not automatically better, and repetitive letters add nothing.
Can a relative abroad write one?
Yes, and it can be notarized remotely. Ask whether an apostille is needed.
Should I mention money I send home?
If it is true and you can document it, it is often relevant evidence of a genuine relationship.
Can you write or review it for me?
No. A notary cannot draft, edit or review documents for a legal filing. We notarize what you bring.
Documenting the relationship
Assertions carry further when something in the file supports them, and family members are often sitting on that evidence without realizing it.
Photographs across years rather than a single occasion. Flight itineraries and boarding passes. Money transfer receipts, which are among the strongest evidence of an ongoing relationship. Message and call logs showing regular contact. Joint accounts, joint leases, shared insurance. Cards, letters and school records naming both of you.
Mention in the letter what exists, and give it to the attorney handling the case so they can decide what to file. Do not attach a pile of material to your letter without asking, because what gets submitted is a strategic decision rather than a generous one.
When the family history is complicated
Estrangement, a long gap in contact, a period living apart, a previous marriage. These do not disqualify a letter, and pretending they did not happen does more damage than describing them plainly.
If there is a gap, say when it was and why, in one sentence, without dramatising it. A letter that acknowledges an awkward period and explains it reads as honest. A letter that presents an implausibly seamless history invites questions.
Tell the attorney about anything difficult before you write. They will decide whether your letter should address it at all.
Several relatives writing
Coordinate so the letters do not repeat each other. If four people describe the same wedding in the same words, that reads as one letter signed four times.
Better is for each writer to cover the part of the life they actually saw. A mother writes about childhood, a sibling about adolescence, a spouse about the household now. Different vantage points build a picture. Identical ones build suspicion.
Related reading
- Free immigration support letter template
- How to write a letter of support
- Letter of support for a family member
- Letter of support for a friend
- Name discrepancies on immigration documents
This is general information, not legal advice. Requirements depend on the specific filing. Consult a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ accredited representative about your case.