Birth Certificate

[muddy1112]

I've read on the visajourney website that fiancees with common chinese surnames often get RFE'd for not submitting a birth certificate with their i129F. First off, is this true?

 

Secondly, my fiancee changed her name when she was young because she was adopted into her uncle's family. i need to at least submit proof of this to verify the legality of the name change, but does anyone think I should also still submit a birth certificate with her original name? (this could be very difficult to find because she was born in a small town with bad records) or will that adoption decree satisfy whatever it is they are looking for?

[yave20b]

I sent in my fiancee's birth certificate with my I-129F after a friend of mine submitted his I-129F and got a RFE letter from the CIS asking him to provide his fiancee's original (not photocopied) birth certificate as he had done. Although not required by the "official" instructions of the I-129F, it seems some immigration officers in the CIS have taken it upon themselves to demand the birth certificate. He had heard about this and sent in the photocoy of it to be on the safe side. If you can get it better go ahead and provide it. Because when they sent my friend his RFE, they gave him only 10 days to provide the original to them...and it took 4 days for him to receive the letter. Thank God he had the vision to bring back to the US the original birth certificate from his fiancee in China. Otherwise they would have simply rejected his I-129F because it would have been quite impossible for his fiancee to get the original to him from China and for him to get it to the CIS all in 6 days.

 

My fiancee is almost in the same boat as is yours muddy. The Chinese government lost her birth certificate and records and she did not have a copy. She was born and raised in a very small farming town. So she had to ask her father to write a letter to the Chinese government offices, that handle the birth records, in that small town where she was born detailing the birth. Apparently this happens quite often in China so it is not that impossible to do. The government offices then created another birth certificate for her and gave it to us. We took the birth certificate to a Chinese government run English notary in the city where she lives now to have it translated into English and notarized.

[oregonknl]

Wow! Never heard of this before. Was it like this:

 

In this order?:

 

Chinese Notarial Certificate that your honey was born: specifc name, place, date (in Chinese)

 

...next page -- same in English

 

Then: (in Chinese) "This is to certify that the English translated copy attached hereto is in conformity with the Chinese copy"

 

Then: Same in English...

[oregonknl]

Muddy,

 

I can't be sure I have the right answer...

 

If you have an official adoption decree from China in the proper form, that should be enough, in my opinion, because as one who has adopted in China twice --- the Consulate deals with those ALL THE TIME....

 

..... but having said that, I would make sure to detail the specifics of your case very clearly --- to let them know why they are getting an adoption decree --- which is official, and that a birth certificate would be very hard to obtain....

 

(However, I would still try to obtain the original birth certificate ----- if at all possible)

[yave20b]

The official birth ceritifcate I brought back with me from China is rediculously simple looking. Just three pages. First page in Chinese with her name, place of birth, and date of birth. Second page is the English translation of this. Third page is in English stating who translated the Chinese page and that they are a legal notary. And of course the usual stamps.

[oregonknl]

Yeah, Al,

 

Not sure, but if thats all you have, think you may be missing a page --- the document needs this page (both in Chinese and English):

 

"This is to certify that the English translated copy attached hereto is in conformity with the Chinese copy"

[muddy1112]

wow, that story about having only 10 days to reply to an RFE is really scary, because I am currently living here in China with my fiancee (and have been for the past few months) and I think that it would take more than 10 days just to get back to me. thanks for the information, though.

 

the process hasn't even started yet and I'm already stressed out!

[Jim - Portland, USA]

For whatever it's worth ... I did not include a copy of my honey's birth certificate with the original I-129F petition. Our petition was succesfully approved without any RFE's (albeit in 170 days). Her family name is very common, her given name is rare. Hope that helps in some way

[Scott & Lai]

We did get an RFE for Lai's birth certificate. We included a certified translation, even though her BC had both Chinese and English. Got the approval shortly after we submitted that.

[yave20b]

Ooops! Yeh your're right oregonknl. I've got 4 pages on her birth certificate. Two in Chinese and two English translations of the Chinese pages. And the whole thing comes bound together in an official looking standard Chinese government folder.

[warpedbored]

Yup that sounds like the one. I sent in photocopies of everything since I had no faith they wouldn't lose it. I also included a statement that they were al copies of the originals and not altered in anyway.