I have seen on multiple posts that all documents sent to NVC must be certified by the issuing authority … now I am from kerala and the birth certificate is issued by the marriage registrar and birth certificate is issued form the panchayath … now as far as I know the officers don’t have to authority to certify anything… what does “certified copy” means ? In India Notaries has more power because they are all lawers …. So do I just need to get it notarized??

HI anish and lijy,

Certified copies mean that the copies have to be issued from the original issuing agency. In India, even though notaries have more power, notarized copies are still different from certified copies. Certified copies usually bare the seal of the issuing agency, not the usual notary seal. I have read many posts on the Asia:South forum where the NVC has not accepted notarized copies & have sent RFEs for Certified copies.

PGM

How where you able to obtain certified copies ??

i have tried and as far as i know their is now such a thing "Certified Copy"

You can try getting additional original copies for Marriage Certificate from Marriage Registrar and Birth Certificate from Panchayat. My wife was able to get 3 original copies for Marriage Certificate from Marriage Registrar's office and 3 original copies for Birth Certificate from Panchayat. Make sure to ask them to be in English otherwise you need to get translation in English and attach original copy along with translation.

Ok, I have a doubt, what do you do about the certified passport pages?

And what exactly is a certified copy, call me dumb, but I have asked around officials but they are clueless too.

So what really I need to do to obtain a certified copy of say my birth certificate?

Do I take a photocopy of my birth certificate and then what? I take it to the municiple board and ask them to attest it? Attest it with the same seal which is already on my certified copy? Or, do I need to take the photocopy on some bond paper and then get it sealed and signed stating that this is a certified copy from the issuing agency.

Sorry folks, but I really am confused about the whole certified copy thing.

do we need to certify passport pages? This is disgusting i require.

Even i asked official but they were like they never heared certified word, for birth cert, you can apply to municiple for new certificate they will give you a new copy in few days.

The problem is with marriage certificate, if you have gone through Special marriage ACT of Soleminaziation of marriage then it is difficult to have second copy of it.

Getting three copy of marriage certificate is usual for those who registered their marriage from tehsildar or under normal hindu marriage act.

i agree with RoZA .... i have gone through Special Marriage Act and they will not give you a second copy ...... its written in 10Rs Stamp Paper ... and only one copy. marriage certificate i am concerned about the least ...... because i am get a marriage certificate easly in United States .....with common marriage law ......birth certificate is the key ..........

Another thing, how can you get multiple copies of birth certificate, I know if you lose your birth certificate or say your 10th pass certificate, you get duplicate of it, and once you attain a duplicate of any given certificate, the original is automatically discarded.

I think whenever the time comes for me, I will end up sending all the originals, except I don't know what to do about the passport part.

This is just a suggestion and an option that I explored for my SPouse. You can goto Chennai/Delhi/Mumbai consulate and take the originals and a set of photocopies along. What the consulate does is it can certify a true copy statement after verifying the originals provided the originals have atranslation incase they are not in English.
The consulate then bunches the photocopies together adds a cover letter with the Notary Seal - State Department - US Government etc and signs it as verified true copies. I think this should work with the NVC as its the same organization.
Note: The charges are steep like USD 30 for the first notarized signature and USD 20 for the next. But if you provide a bunch, they can attest the whole set for USD 30.

just a suggestion as it might save the headache of procurring a new set of originals.

best wishes
M
P.S. in mycase my I130 never got forwarded to NVC so just relying on K3 which requires submission at the consulate/VSF or VfC something.

Nice to Know that someone has done it .... seems like its the same way you do for an ITIN number

I just did it for 2 things
1. for TIN for my spouse
2. for affirming that I would be deferring my 2007 returns since I was in india for 2+ months

thanks
M

POINT

Well I am still a bit confused about it. NVC specifically states that the copies should be certified from the ISSUING AGENCY, which means if someone has got their birth certificate from the municipal board of Pune, they have to be certified from the same municipal board of Pune.

silent,

in my openion its not practical in India ... even if you go lie to the "officials" and say i need a duplicate one because the original is lost ... the time it take to obtain that is toooooooooooooo looooooooooonggggggg so .... send the originals and have VFS or the U.S Consulate in India stamp these are "certified Copies" ...... either way you looking at a 3 day trip + $30 for a doc .... or wait for ever

Hi anish,

I got married in kerala too and my marriage was registered under the Special Marriage Act and I had only one original true copy for the marriage certificate and birth certificate. For NVC purposes, I just send in the marriage registration certificate along with the pcc and birth certificate.

Ok, I finally figured out about the certified copy, say you have to get the certified copy of your birth certificate, in my case I got my birth certificate from Department of Health Services, Port Blair.

So get a photocopy of that and at the bottom write -->> Certified to the true copy, along with the Designation of the officer (in my case it was the superintendent), his seal and sign.

you can send an email to the embassy to verify the notary procedures before embarking on the trip. the other thing is they might ask for proof to the US citizen so might need to carry a copy of your passport or naturalization certificate to substantiate the married individual in marriage certificate and passport copy/naturalization cert. i would definitely recommend reaching out to the consulate for the procedures and limitations.

So anish what are you upto.........notarising from USEM or sending original?

sent them originals ..... scanning all documents for backup purposes and ... send them original

Sending orginals is better; i tried my luck with notorised documents but got RFE

when u make copies cant u get them attested that they are a true copy of the original? i know thats what they call it in pakistan instead of notary? or have i missed the point all together lol

That means original is decided

Hi,
I have gone through this process and my interview was on May 13th and i got the CR1 visa from chennai embassy.

You should send the original or cerified copies to NVC not notorised copies. All the document except PCC's will be returned to you at the time of interview.

Now regarding the certified copies : I too had the register marriaged as per special marriage act. one original marriage certificate was given to us at the time of marriage. now you can pay Rs500/- and request for another copy of the marriage ceritificate from the same office ( registrar office) this will be the excat replica of the original one and will be in the same stamp paper. I got it. this one is called the certified copy , since it is issued on a later date from the date on the original marriage certificate. Please note that this is not the attested photocopy of the original one. you just give a request and you will get it.

Then the birth certificate, original one we already have, now just give a request to the panchayath to give you one more copy of the birth certificate, this they will give in the exact replica of the original one, only the issuing date will be different. this is the certified copy, and not the attessted photocopy of the original BC.

Additional excat replica copies of the MC and BC issued on a later date from the original ones are the certified copies , it will contain the signature and seal of the issuing authority and not the sign and seal of the notary.

notorised copies are not accepted at NVC.

i think this is depends on city to city.

I am from Kerala

Ya thats why, Govt emplyees are more educated in kerala they know the fact.

I am from punjab, beleive me they gave me hard time for documentation.