DCF visa problem

[abcdefg]

Hello again community. I'm asking this because I want to know if it's common for administrative incompetence to get in the way of getting the visa for the spouse to go to America. My husband had his green card interview and everything seemed to go okay. According to my husband, he asked his interviewer if she needed the translations of all his police certificates and if everything was correct. She said she didn't need the translations, everything was correct, and the final words she said to him were "You're all set." Sounds like everything is good to go for the visa right? Well now, we get a letter saying he is unable to get the visa now because they need:

 

-two new visa photos taken within the past 6 months

-a notarized birth certificate

-a notarized marriage certificate

-a notarized police certificate (it is not specific whether this means a Chinese police certificate, even though we did all that needs to be done to get the white book and everything with it)

-notarized English translations of marriage certificate and police certificates from both the Netherlands and Spain

 

My husband brought all this stuff (and much much more) to the interview. His interviewer blew it off and acted like it was unnecessary, now we are here. We will try to call the embassy Monday to see what is going on. Would arguing this situation help and result in a "Sorry, just send what you have to us," or would it be better to just tediously gather up all these documents once more? I've read about administrative incompetence causing couples to not get the visa, but I would have never thought it would happen to us...

[Randy W]

The notarial version is what they need. The "white book" version INCLUDES a translation. The "notarial certificates" are standard Chinese documents for use overseas, and should be submitted INSTEAD of the original Chinese-language documents..

 

Yes, your interviewer had her head up her a$$ there, but it DOES sound like you're most likely good to go once you submit the needed versions.

 

The letter was most likely a form letter that they send out to cover ALL the bases.

[dnoblett]

Sounds like something got lost in translation.

Anyway the instructions provided when preparing documents for the interview do state any document not in English needs a translation.

http://www.ustraveldocs.com/cn/Immigrant%20Visa%20Instructions%20Sept.%202016.pdf

( page 4 )
http://www.ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-preparedocuments.asp

[Randy W]

Sounds like something got lost in translation.

 

Anyway the instructions provided when preparing documents for the interview do state any document not in English needs a translation.

 

http://www.ustraveldocs.com/cn/Immigrant%20Visa%20Instructions%20Sept.%202016.pdf

( page 4 )

http://www.ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-preparedocuments.asp

 

 

These instructions state that the documents must be issued by a "local notary public office", as does the Dept. of State reciprocity tables. Unless the accepting officer is in an especially receptive mood (as occasionally happens), you WILL need to submit the white book notarial certificates, which have the translation and certifications bound together with the original Chinese documents.

[abcdefg]

I should mention that my husband is not Chinese. He is Spanish (I am American) and we got married in Spain last summer. We both work in Guiyang, so that's why we are doing all the DCF stuff in Guangzhou. We did all the correct steps and whatnot to get the Chinese police certificate, and we gave the white book with the notarization, translations, originals, everything to the interviewer. We don't have that anymore, unless we do it all again. The only thing I can think is that my husband will have to go to Spain and Amsterdam and get all the stuff again. The only problem is that my husband said it takes about 4 weeks to get the police certificate from Amsterdam. I guess that's no big deal now, but our goal is to be in America by August and this really puts a dent in things because we have to worry about our jobs in Guiyang also.

 

My husband is also confused because the letter we received says a "notarized" birth certificate, marriage certificate, and police certificate. The police certificate has an apostille from Spain, but the birth certificate and marriage certificate don't have an apostille, but they do have a legal seal. Both of these certificates contain a "plurilingue," which is a page that says the translation of every Spanish word in many languages, one of them being English. The problem comes from this can be a never ending circle. If my husband has to provide a translation, the letter of the translator's language competency will have to be notarized. The notarization will be in Spanish and then that will have to be translated also. And so on and so on...

 

Then the problem happens with the police certificate from the Netherlands. The US Consulate in Guangzhou has my husband's original police certificate; we only have a copy of this and a translation and a letter guaranteeing the translation. We can do nothing without the original. Could an apostille be acceptable with the Dutch police certificate, or does it have to be a letter from translator person X saying "Person X is competent in Dutch and English?" The only thing that can be done is to maybe go to the Spanish consulate in Guangzhou and get all the Spanish documents notarized. But all this doesn't explain why the interviewer didn't want this stuff in the first place.

 

I don't know if this should be seen as a warning to other people doing DCF that not getting a visa can be the result of bad administration just as much as from not bringing enough or the correct information...

[abcdefg]

One thing I can think of is using an online translating/notary service to translate everything we have just in case. Does anybody know if these services are reliable?

 

Another thing my husband suggested is to go to a local notary in Guiyang and get everything we have notarized. But then the issue with that is the notarization will need a translation to go with it. What a mess...

[dnoblett]

In this case find someone conversant in English and Spanish and have them translate the documents and "certify" their translation by stating they are conversant in both languages, and provide their name date and contact info along with signing their transalation.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Supporting_documents.html

[abcdefg]

Both my husband and I are able to translate documents from Spanish to English. I did this during the I-130 stage of the whole process. I took a Spanish course, received a diploma, and translated the diploma and made a letter certifying my proficiency in Spanish and English. They accepted this and nothing was said about it so I guess it worked.

 

It should also be said that my husband had a friend translate the police certificate from the Netherlands. He included a letter certifying his proficiency in Dutch and English and signed it also. But they said they didn't need it during the interview...

[Randy W]

One thing I can think of is using an online translating/notary service to translate everything we have just in case. Does anybody know if these services are reliable?

 

Another thing my husband suggested is to go to a local notary in Guiyang and get everything we have notarized. But then the issue with that is the notarization will need a translation to go with it. What a mess...

 

I was assuming that you were talking about Chinese documents - NEVER MIND!

 

But the Chinese notarial offices CAN help with translations if you find one with the right skills - in fact, that is the only thing they would be able to "notarize" about a non-Chinese document. Notarial documents in China are generally testimonials as to the authenticity of the information presented.