Filing for Citizenship with Questionable Birth Certificate

[d0n_the_dragon 0]

Hi all! My wife is about to file for her citizenship and we just saw that there is a question on the form asking:
Were your parents married before your 18th birthday? We're not really sure how to answer this question because of an issue with her birth certificate.

Here's a background to the issue.

My wife just recently found out that her mother was married to another man before entering in to a relationship with her father. She didn't legally separate with her husband (did not get their marriage annulled). She just left her husband and started a new relationship with her father. A short time later my wife was conceived. My wife's mother and father told the hospital that they were married and came up with a date of marriage in order for my wife to be able to use her father's last name. My wife's birth certificate shows that her parents were married at the time of birth and she was a legitimate child. My wife's mother and father eventually decided to get married (when my wife was in high school--before her 18th birthday). Obviously this marriage would be null and void because she was still married to another guy. To this day my wife's mother has had no contact with her first husband. Although a family member informed her that her first husband already passed away. She hasn't verified whether this is true or not. She doesn't know when or where her first husband died. Therefore can't check or ask for a death certificate. My wife's mother went to the National Statistics Office to get a certificate of marriage and she saw that there were two records of marriage. The first one with her first husband and the second one with my wife's father.

My wife's been using the erroneous birth certificate all this time. She used it starting from her K1, Adjustment of Status, and Removal of Conditions. My wife had no idea that there was an issue with her birth certificate until recently when her mother divulged this information to her.

Now comes the question of what my wife should answer for the question if her parents were married before her 18th birthday. All of her previous USCIS applications used her erroneous birth certificate showing she was a legitimate child. Should my wife answer "yes" because this is what's on her birth certificate on file which she's used previously? Or should she answer "no" because she just recently found out that she might be an illegitimate child? Does her illegitimacy have any bearing on her citizenship application? We obviously want to answer truthfully and avoid any misrepresentation.

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Are you filing to Citizneship - the N400 or a K1 - your profile shows K1

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Part 5 - Information about your parents:

It is specifically asking whether her biological or adoptive mother or father is a US citizen by birth or naturalized before her 18th birthday - most of this section isn't required unless the answer to that is yes. Is her answer yes?

The question is 'Were your parents married before your 18th birthday' - if the 2nd husband is considered her father than I guess the answer is yes.

Her US citizenship isn;t reliant on whether she was legitimate - I wouldnt; worry about it

Edited February 5, 2014 by Udella&Wiz

[aaron2020 11,651]

Are you filing to Citizneship - the N400 or a K1 - your profile shows K1

The OP has stated that his wife is filing for US citizenship.

Look at their timeline, you will see that they have already gone through the K-1 and remove the condition on the green card.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

The OP has stated that his wife is filing for US citizenship.

Look at their timeline, you will see that they have already gone through the K-1 and remove the condition on the green card.

Thanks - The 'Filed for' option below their profile pic shows K1 - hence my question

Edited February 5, 2014 by Udella&Wiz

[bob.sansmal 14]

Like Udella&Wiz mentioned above, this point for this section seems to be that IF your parents were married before your 18th birthday AND at least one of them was a US citizen THEN you might already be a US citizen. If neither parent was a US citizen, then I doubt the answer here really matters.

Your birth certificate may contain some errors on it about your parents' marital status, but it is your actual legitimate certificate, and the discrepancy is neither material (in my opinion) nor is it something of your doing. I wouldn't worry about it. I WOULD, however, answer any question on any form as truthfully as my current knowledge allows.

[d0n_the_dragon 0]

Part 5 - Information about your parents:

It is specifically asking whether her biological or adoptive mother or father is a US citizen by birth or naturalized before her 18th birthday - most of this section isn't required unless the answer to that is yes. Is her answer yes?

The question is 'Were your parents married before your 18th birthday' - if the 2nd husband is considered her father than I guess the answer is yes.

Her US citizenship isn;t reliant on whether she was legitimate - I wouldnt; worry about it

Hi- thanks for the reply. My wife's mother's 2nd husband is her father. The caveat is that my wife's mother was still legally married to her first husband when she got married to her second husband (my wife's father). Logic tells me that my wife's mother's marriage to her father (2nd husband) would be null and void since she was still married to the first. Rendering my wife an illegitimate child.

[d0n_the_dragon 0]

Like Udella&Wiz mentioned above, this point for this section seems to be that IF your parents were married before your 18th birthday AND at least one of them was a US citizen THEN you might already be a US citizen. If neither parent was a US citizen, then I doubt the answer here really matters.

Your birth certificate may contain some errors on it about your parents' marital status, but it is your actual legitimate certificate, and the discrepancy is neither material (in my opinion) nor is it something of your doing. I wouldn't worry about it. I WOULD, however, answer any question on any form as truthfully as my current knowledge allows.

Thanks, bob.sansmal! So do you think the best course of action is to answer "yes" and stick with the erroneous birth certificate?

Can we really view the erroneous birth certificate as actual legitimate certificate even though there's an issue with their marital status? My wife's parents weren't really married at the time of her birth. They did eventually get married before she turned 18 but would have been null and void since her mother might still be married to her first husband. Making her still an illegitimate child?

[Harpa Timsah 13,260]

You can always affix a note explaining the situation. As it stands, it appears they were married before the 18th b-day, but that that marriage was not legal.

[bob.sansmal 14]

of course IANAL, but the birth certificate was issued by the competent authority, and it was issued to your wife at her birth. I wonder, does a discrepancy like this really make the certificate "invalid"? Does someone out there better educated than me about such things know?

I would be inclined to answer NO (as that is what you now know to be true) and stick with the "erroneous" birth certificate. I really think his is a molehill, but that's just my opinion (and I do completely understand your desire to answer everything correctly and get everything perfectly in order.....omg this whole process is so stressful and unnecessarily complex at times... but so worth it)

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Thanks, bob.sansmal! So do you think the best course of action is to answer "yes" and stick with the erroneous birth certificate?

Can we really view the erroneous birth certificate as actual legitimate certificate even though there's an issue with their marital status? My wife's parents weren't really married at the time of her birth. They did eventually get married before she turned 18 but would have been null and void since her mother might still be married to her first husband. Making her still an illegitimate child?

The point of the section is to establish whether the person applying (your wife) might already be considered a citizen through one of her parents. If both her parents were non American (Filipino I assume?) this isn't relevant.

As an aside - If they married before her 18th birthday the answer is yes - that's the truth, right? Her birth certificate isn't null just because her parent's marital status was in question - she was still born that day to those people.

[ppihtr123 68]

I agree with the above points. Also just because it MIGHT be an invalid marriage, you have no documents saying it is so you can only answer based on the documents that exist. To invalidate their marriage, it would take some process which it doesn't sound like has happened. I would just not listen to the "hearsay" of ether until they documents that confirm their statements. it is up to her parents to fix her "erroneous birth certificate" IF IT IS what they suggest.

[NickD 203]

Wow, I see the USCIS finally changed the N-400 form, was 10 pages, now 21 pages!

Would think your wife's birth certificate should be history by now, already got through the AOS state with it. Only time my wife had to show her birth certificate. At her citizenship, just had to show her green card. But for marriage, they still wanted to see mine again, either this or a US passport.

Didn't take the time to read over all over 21 pages, Just a quick glance, seems far more redundant than the old form. Even questioned when looking at the old one, how in the heck did my wife get through her AOS and ROC stages and get her green card in the first place. Wanted all the same information again.

But the first few lines still said you have to be over 18 before you can use it, so why asking questions if you were under 18? Didn't take the time to look that up. But with a new form, sure there will be a lot of new questions.