Birth certificate question for my step son.

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Good day all and happy upcoming 4th of July!

I applied for my stepson's visa in February and received an RFE yesterday. Originally we submitted a copy of his birth certificate notarized by local agency in Moldova, along with a translation. Possibly the copy wasn't that great of quality, I do not recall. In this letter USCIS is requesting a legible copy of the birth certificate. I have a few questions in regard, hopefully someone will be able to answer:

1. The letter says "The certificate(s) must have been registered near the time of birth(s)." Registration and issuance are different things, but I am concerned since the certificate in my hands was issued just recently, the original is lost. It mentions, however when the birth was registered.
   
2. Do I need to submit the transalation again? In the top it, as always, says "All foreign language documents must be submitted with complete word-for-word English transaltions." USCIS already has a translation, should I do it again?
   
3. Since the certificate I have is an official copy issued by civil registry, maybe I should send it to USCIS, or is it safer to stick with photo copy?
   

Thanks, guys!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Good day all and happy upcoming 4th of July!

I applied for my stepson's visa in February and received an RFE yesterday. Originally we submitted a copy of his birth certificate notarized by local agency in Moldova, along with a translation. Possibly the copy wasn't that great of quality, I do not recall. In this letter USCIS is requesting a legible copy of the birth certificate. I have a few questions in regard, hopefully someone will be able to answer:

1. The letter says "The certificate(s) must have been registered near the time of birth(s)." Registration and issuance are different things, but I am concerned since the certificate in my hands was issued just recently, the original is lost. It mentions, however when the birth was registered.
   
2. Do I need to submit the transalation again? In the top it, as always, says "All foreign language documents must be submitted with complete word-for-word English transaltions." USCIS already has a translation, should I do it again?
   
3. Since the certificate I have is an official copy issued by civil registry, maybe I should send it to USCIS, or is it safer to stick with photo copy?
   

Thanks, guys!

You didn't send them any original documents, did you? You sent photocopies of the birth certificate and translation, right? You shouldn't ever send originals unless they specifically ask for them.

Is the original birth certificate clearly legible? If not then they won't accept it or a photocopy of it. If the original is legible and you can get a legible photocopy of it then send another photocopy and another copy of the translation. If you can't make a clearly legible photocopy then you may have to send the original.

If you send the original then include an extra photocopy of it for USCIS to keep, along with a letter asking that the original document be returned to you, and a self-addressed and stamped envelope they can use to return it. If you don't specifically ask for the original back then USCIS will keep it.