Only through a USCIS online account. The Policy Manual lists a “Signature captured electronically through a USCIS online account when prompted during online filing” as acceptable, and a “Signature created by a typewriter, word processor, software program, stamp, auto-pen, or similar device” as not acceptable.[1] Everything else needs a handwritten signature, which you may then photocopy or scan.
This is one of the few places where USCIS is specific about technology. The rule lives in Chapter 2 of Part B, Volume 1 of the USCIS Policy Manual, the agency’s own guidance to its officers. The version we read is marked current as of October 2, 2026.[1]
01What counts as a valid signature
The manual starts from a simple definition: “A valid signature consists of any handwritten mark or sign made by a person”.[1] It does not have to be pretty: “A valid signature does not need to be legible or in English and may be abbreviated as long as it is consistent with how the person normally signs his or her name.”[1]
The manual’s summary table lists these as unacceptable:[1]
- “Typed name on signature line”
- “An image of a handwritten signature that is subsequently and separately affixed to the benefit request by either physical or electronic methods (for example, cutting and pasting a picture of a signature onto an unsigned benefit request)”
- “Signature created by a typewriter, word processor, software program, stamp, auto-pen, or similar device”
- “Signature otherwise captured electronically outside of a USCIS online account”
A signature drawn with a mouse or pasted from a saved image is still a signature made by software. For USCIS, the pen has to touch the paper you file, or the screen inside your USCIS account.
Our reading of [1]
02Copies and scans are fine
What USCIS cares about is how the signature was made, not whether you send the original sheet. “Unless otherwise specified, USCIS accepts a copy (photocopied, scanned, faxed, or similarly reproduced) of paper forms.”[1] The I-765 instructions say the same in form-specific words: “USCIS will consider a photocopied, faxed, or scanned copy of an original benefit request with a handwritten signature as valid for filing purposes.”[3] The manual adds that USCIS “may request the original documents, which must contain the original signature”,[1] so keep the signed paper.
03PDF upload still needs ink
Some forms can be filed by uploading a completed PDF through a USCIS online account. That route does not turn the PDF into an electronic-signature filing. USCIS tells attorneys and representatives that they “must make sure the benefit requestor’s valid wet-ink signature appears on the PDF before submitting the form through PDF upload.”[2]
04What happens if the signature is wrong
USCIS treats this as a filing defect, not something it fixes later. The manual says USCIS “may either reject a benefit request with an improper signature and return it to the requestor or deny the benefit request”, and that it “does not provide an opportunity to replace, correct, or cure a deficient signature.”[1] The mail-filing tips are blunter: “We will reject or deny any improperly signed form.”[4]
05A safe way to do it
- Fill the form on the edition USCIS accepts today (the form page on uscis.gov lists it).
- Print the pages and sign each signature box by hand, in ink.
- Scan or photograph the signed pages: Scan to PDF does this in your browser.
- If you are uploading evidence online, keep each file under the USCIS limit: see the USCIS online record.
This guide quotes USCIS’s published guidance. It is not legal advice. pdfnex is not affiliated with USCIS or any government agency.