Follow the genuine communication and seek appropriate clarification. Preserve the original request rather than inventing a requirement or assuming it can be ignored.
Keep records tied to the correct case
Identify the reference and person concerned. General information can provide context without replacing applicant-specific instructions.
The complete original message including sender information, every attachment unedited, the account details supplied, the identity claimed, and a dated note of anything said by telephone. The official source describes further USCIS instructions being issued after an initial payment step, so confirm the current version before assuming another applicant's checklist applies unchanged. Reconciliation means checking each answer against the supporting record before a new representative repeats it: identity and travel documents, employment history, relationship records, prior immigration history, notices, portal messages and receipts should tell the same story. Save the dated official terms, payment instructions, receipts, identity documents, civil records, and source-of-funds material, then obtain advice on what any linked immigration filing additionally needs. Gather each child's identity and civil records, and raise anything unusual — a separated parent's consent, an adoption, a guardianship order — with a qualified adviser before filing rather than after.