Parents I-130 - What are your thoughts?

[Ste&Velma 3]

Note to the Admins: I am re-posting this in the correct forum, feel free to delete the duplicate thread in the Permanent Residents' one. Thanks!

 

Hello to the wonderful community of VisaJourney! 

 

I am currently preparing I-130s for my parents and I do have a doubt about their marriage certificate. The thing is that under Italian law, effective January 1, 2012 all certificates released to citizens include a footnote stating that the certificate cannot be presented to government agencies, public administration officials and the like, according to the principle that certificates are only valid among private entities; when dealing with the government, instead, Italian citizens can just present a self-certification form along with a copy of a valid ID. Now, such law does have an exception when it comes to immigration matters, making the certificate valid in cases like mine; the problem, on the other hand, is that my parents' marriage certificate only states the part where it cannot be presented to government agencies. As I am in the process of translating the document, what are your thoughts and suggestions on this? I am thinking of referencing the law's number in my translation as a translator's note, do you guys think that would be acceptable for USCIS?

 

I don't like the idea of getting an RFE based on such a petty bureaucratic technicality. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this. 

[Going through 5,671]

7 minutes ago, Ste&Velma said:

Now, such law does have an exception when it comes to immigration matters, making the certificate valid in cases like mine; the problem, on the other hand, is that my parents' marriage certificate only states the part where it cannot be presented to government agencies

In my opinion, this is the most important:  "such law does have an exception when it comes to immigration matters, making the certificate valid in cases like mine."

 

Changes in law trump what is previously written on the document itself.   Even if your parents marriage certificate doesn't specifically STATE that law change (and why would it since they were married well before that change I presume?), the law HAS changed making it legal to present for immigration purposes.  That's all that matters, imo.

 

To put it another way, USCIS probably isn't going to concern themselves with looking up the laws of the originating country to ensure your parents are following Italy's privacy regulations when looking at the marriage certificate...