RFE for documents accepted for I-130?

[Rain in Spain 0]

Help! My husband got an RFE on his IV package because of the Spanish birth and marriage certificate. In both cases it states:

"The document you submitted is not an original or certified copy of an original issued by the appropriate government authority. The document must be an original, or a certified copy of the original, bearing the original seal or stamp from the issuing authority."

We have no idea why. They are certified, stamped copies with faithful translations (and affixed note of faithful translation by the translator). The curious thing is that they accepted them for the I-130, but not now. The ONLY thing I can think of is that some documents in Spain are considered invalid after six months, but I did not think that was an issue with birth certificates. What are we missing? I saw that some people were thinking they might need the Apostille of the Hague for this stuff, but then other people said theirs had been accepted without it.

Already called, waiting the 10 business days for the review then calling again. Has anyone had any luck with bothering them sooner? Thanks!

[LilyR 7]

I have no authoritative info for you, so can only share my experiences:

1. Our lawyer was not happy with our certified copy of my husband's South African birth certificate (she said it looked like a copy of a cert copy and wouldn't accept it).

2. The officer at my standard interview said she was glad my lawyer hadnt sent original copies with the 130 because she didn't need them but that it was good we had them handy because she said the NVC might need them (rather than the cert copies).

[pushbrk 13,397]

It's important to understand that a photocopy can only be "certified" by the government agency that holds the original. USCIS will accept a photocopy of a certified copy. The actual certified copy is required by NVC.