Does an embassy keep all your personal documents?

Question

I went for my visa and they said that they have to keep my documents such as bank statements etc. permanently. Is that normal?

Answer 1

Normally, if the consulate does NOT request the originals, you are suppose to get "certified copies of the originals" done by a public notary or lawyer with a seal that can notarize documents.  for example, if you have a passport, see a notary, they copy it and stamp it,as a certified true copy of the original, and usually this is what is required.

Answer 2

Documents for visa applications are kept for purposes of encoding important data on the computer but these are disposed after a required period of time.

Answer 3

YES.  Are you talking about immigrating to the U.S., perhaps?  If so, the embassy may request the documents but they will not keep them themselves.  

They will become part of your permanent file, which will be stored in the U.S. by the CIS or Citizenship and Immigration Services.  

If you are seeking a U.S. benefit, request duplicates of all of your relevant documents.  One set is for you and your records, and another set will become permanent additions to your file.  You will not get these back for this reason.

This is 100% normal, and I hope I have answered your question.  Good Luck!

Answer 4

Make copies of everything, then let them verify and stamp them.

Leaving original documents there is not a good idea, you may never get them back. Lots of things are not normal in such places, since they can do whatever they want.