Birth Certificate Problem

[Ben Rebach]

Hello.

 

My Chinese fiancee and I have been making good progress through the K-1 thus far, and my portion of her interview package was sent off last week. My fiancee has been working to arrange the documents she needs on her end. However, we do have a problem concerning her birth certificate.

 

She was born at home, and does not have a formal birth certificate. In order to obtain the certificate (or a valid alternative), she would need a document which is in her parent's possession, something akin to a household registration, if I understood properly.

 

Her parents, however, do not approve of our marrying, and are unlikely to help her. This is a problem we will need to face eventually, but we were hoping to simply go ahead with our plans, and work on gaining their approval/acceptance over time. We definitely do not want to give her parents leverage, especially a means to block the marriage completely.

 

My current advice to her is to work with the authorities in order to obtain the documents we need on her own. I'm not sure how China deals with individuals and families in their legal system. My fiancee is 26 years old, so I would assume she is capable of acting independently from her parents in the eyes of the law, but I cannot be certain.

 

Does anyone have any insight or advice which may be of help to us?

 

Regards,

Ben

[dnoblett]

Sounds like you are handling it as best you can, but yes you will need a few copies of household registration, and English translation of it. One for visa, and at least one to bring to the USA for future needs like marriage, and adjustment of status.

[dnoblett]

Some from DOS:

Birth Certificates

 

Available in the form of notarial certificates, which are secondary evidence. Notarial certificates of birth (Chu Sheng Gong Zheng Shu or Chu Sheng Zheng Ming Shu) for persons living in or recently departed from China are generally reliable, but are best used in conjunction with other evidence. They are most often based upon an AHHR, (Household Record) which is easily susceptible to fraud, especially in villages. Notarial birth certificates for persons long departed from China are most likely based merely upon the testimony of interested parties.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciproc...ocity_3537.html

 

More than likely the notarial office will need the household record in order to generate a birth cert and English translation.

[Tom and Ling]

Hi Ben Rebach,

 

Usually, if there is no birth certificate, You would go to the House registration book.

My Ling did the same thing since her place of birth, she did not want to travel there, so she got the city police to issue one based on her House registration book.

However, I have noticed the on Ling's National ID number that her birth date is in the number which would make me think the a notary in her city of residency might be able to issue a birth certificate based on the birth date which is in your lady's national ID number.....if her birth date is in the National ID number.

Sorry about her parents not giving out the House registration book, but maybe she could also get a copy of the House registration book, from the officials in her home town...just a thought.

But if at the least I would investigate the National ID number route...

 

Tom and Ling

[IllinoisDave]

Sounds like you are handling it as best you can, but yes you will need a few copies of household registration, and English translation of it. One for visa, and at least one to bring to the USA for future needs like marriage, and adjustment of status.

Whaaaaaaaaa?

That's news to me. Are you sure? We never got any translations of the Hukou. I've never seen this mentioned for AOS.

Edited July 9, 2008 by IllinoisDave (see edit history)

[jim_julian]

Just to answer another part of the OP's inquiry ... 18 is the age of majority in China.

 

However, interestingly I believe the Chinese Marriage Law of 1950 is still in effect and this established the minimum age to get married as 20 for women and 22 for men.

[dnoblett]

Sounds like you are handling it as best you can, but yes you will need a few copies of household registration, and English translation of it. One for visa, and at least one to bring to the USA for future needs like marriage, and adjustment of status.

Whaaaaaaaaa?

That's news to me. Are you sure? We never got any translations of the Hukou. I've never seen this mentioned for AOS.

 

Correction "Birth Cert" that is generated from the Household Book.

 

I-485 directions: (Page 3)

Translations. Any document containing foreign language submitted to USCIS shall be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English.

 

2. Birth certificate.

 

Submit a copy of your foreign birth certificate or other record of your birth that meets the provisions of secondary evidence found in Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 103.2(B )(2).

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-485instr.pdf Edited July 9, 2008 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[IllinoisDave]

Sounds like you are handling it as best you can, but yes you will need a few copies of household registration, and English translation of it. One for visa, and at least one to bring to the USA for future needs like marriage, and adjustment of status.

Whaaaaaaaaa?

That's news to me. Are you sure? We never got any translations of the Hukou. I've never seen this mentioned for AOS.

 

Correction "Birth Cert" that is generated from the Household Book.

 

I-485 directions: (Page 3)

Translations. Any document containing foreign language submitted to USCIS shall be accompanied by a full English language translation which the translator has certified as complete and accurate, and by the translator's certification that he or she is competent to translate from the foreign language into English.

 

2. Birth certificate.

 

Submit a copy of your foreign birth certificate or other record of your birth that meets the provisions of secondary evidence found in Title 8, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 103.2(B )(2).

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-485instr.pdf

Whew!! Thanks Dan. Had me goin there for a minute.

[Guest Rob & Jin]

Jin's advice is to go and speak to your notarty to see what she needs, it can vary by office.

 

But you may really need to get her houkou (household book) for this.

 

 

Go to local police office ask about getting new "book" may take a few months.

 

 

GOOD LUCK