UKC Passport with USC Spouse visa app

We are preparing the visa application for my husband and I have a quick question about my (UKC) passport.  I've found a few other threads on the subject but I just want to clarify I'm understanding them correctly.

I have a confirmed job offer back home, hence the visa application.  I have to be there to start work the first week of December and, as we have to send our application to L.A., I am concerned about processing time.  Nobody seems to have a very fast response from them even with the premium processing option.  We have my full English birth certificate to send with the app - my understanding was that I also had to send my full passport, but a few threads on here seem to indicate I can send a copy as long as I'm sending an original BC.  Could someone please confirm this?  It would help greatly to know I could go ahead and book my flight for me and my son and then just add my husband as a passenger if his visa gets approved in time.  I didn't think I could do that as I assumed they'd also have my passport.

Thanks in advance.  Getting so very nervous now!!!

You don't have to send in your original passport.

You can make a certified copy and send that.  I gather from your post (and recall from previous posts) that you're still in the US, right?  My local UPS Store does certified copies for $7.00/page - if you have one near you, that might be an option.

You only need to send your birth certificate if you do not send your passport - you won't have to provide both of them.

As far as I am aware, you have 3 options:

1) Send your actual British passport (not recommended if you're going to need it for travelling though!), but not your birth certificate
2) Send a certified copy of your British passport, but not your birth certificate
3) Send a normal photocopy of your British passport (not certified), along with your long form birth certificate.

Option 1 requires just the passport, option 3 requires just the birth certificate and option 2 doesn't require either of them.

Yes am in the U.S.

I was just wondering about certified copies - as somewhere I read that if I send my full long birth certificate a regular photocopy (no certification) would be ok.  If I do get it certified does it have to be the full document or just the details page (everything else is blank as they've never stamped it on my last 2 visits in and out).  Can it be notarized or is certification something different - my secretary is a notary!

Don't bother with a certified copy.  If you have your original, long-form birth certificate, you can send that with an uncertified copy of your passport information page.  That's what we did for my visa.