Only one copy of Birth Certificate-- Submitted w/ K-1 Visa Application

[coloradaninperu 0]

So my husband and I have found ourselves in a bit of an unfortunate situation.

He came from Peru on a K-1 Visa in December. I didn't know about visa journey when we first started the application process and was really sick with a parasite when he was actually going through the interview portion, so I just left that part up to him to take care of. It was really a challenge for him to get a birth certificate because he had to send someone up to his birth town (12 hours north of his city) to retrieve it and then bring it himself to Lima (15 hours south) so it could be made official. He didn't think to make another copy of it because he didn't know that he would need one further in the process.

He gave his birth certificate to immigration with his packet at his point of entry in Ft. Lauderdale in December.

When we were applying for adjustment of status last month, we realized we needed to send in his birth certificate and freaked out. So we called a few people in immigration, and just got a bunch of employees telling us "they couldn't give us any advice," but we finally found someone who told us we could retrieve the original birth certificate from the government by filing a G-884 form to get the original copy back. When we went to our field office in Denver to file the G-884 form in person, a field worker told us not to worry-- that immigration already had his original copy of the birth certificate in storage and would be able to see it when they re-opened his case (when they received our AOS application). He asked one of his co-workers to make sure, and the second field worker agreed that we didn't need to file the G-884 form as long as we added a letter explaining to immigration that the only copy of the original is already with immigration.

So we did just that-- filed our AOS papers and included a letter in lieu of the birth certificate explaining the situation and mentioning we had talked with a field officer who told us to write the letter. We even put a copy of our InfoPass appointment confirmation in there.

So I was shocked today when we got a letter from Immigration requesting initial evidence, saying that we will be denied if we do not provide it in 87 days. And that they're holding the processing of my husband's work permit/travel doc until they receive the evidence.

If we had filed the G-884 when we initially wanted to, we would have it in our hands right now and would be able to send it in right away. So now we're stuck trying to get it worked out within the time period. It will be nearly impossible for us to get another copy from Peru.

Has a similar situation happened to anyone else with an original birth certificate? Any advice?

We're planning on returning to talk to a field officer about it but can't get an appointment until Monday.

Thank you in advance!

[KayDeeCee 4,891]

~ Moved from K-1 Process to AOS from Family Based Visas - topic is AOS, not K-1 ~

[baron555 934]

You can obtain certified BCs from the county clerk in which a person is born. Usually they send you a form and you mail it in with the fee.

[coloradaninperu 0]

You can obtain certified BCs from the county clerk in which a person is born. Usually they send you a form and you mail it in with the fee.

In Peru, you have to pick the birth certificate up from the county you're born in and then bring it to the capital to get it notarized (they take your fingerprints, etc.) so that's not an option for us at this point.

[Fabian&Rossy 120]

Hello,

My humble suggestion is for your husband to do the same thing he did the first time. Get a relative or a friend to travel north and get not just one, but a couple more certified copies of his BC. It's always good to have extra copies because chances are, he will need it again in the future for something else (school, some contracts, social security, etc.)

You can do a search here in VJ about the G-884 and you will see it takes several weeks for uncle Sam to respond and sometimes the response is negative. I don't doubt the answer given to you by the field officer is correct, but the immigration process is so segmented in this country that every gov. office can easily have their own rules and procedures. Save yourself the headache.

Good Luck!

[Gosia & Tito 199]

In Peru, you have to pick the birth certificate up from the county you're born in and then bring it to the capital to get it notarized (they take your fingerprints, etc.) so that's not an option for us at this point.

If you had it translated...there is a chance that your translator or translator office has a copy.

If you did not, I think the most expedient way to handle it is by having someone do the errand; as dificult as it mightbe, perhaps paying a relative for his/her time plus expenses??