Original Birth Certificate needed?

[Deitrickatie 0]

Hi friends. Quick question, if my husband and I are applying for the CR1 visa. Will he need his original birth certificate? I am a US citizen, we live in Belize but he is from Honduras. I read somewhere that he wouldn't need his birth certificate anymore, that his valid passport would be suffice. Anyone know anything about this?

[deafguy72 99]

41 minutes ago, Deitrickatie said:

Hi friends. Quick question, if my husband and I are applying for the CR1 visa. Will he need his original birth certificate? I am a US citizen, we live in Belize but he is from Honduras. I read somewhere that he wouldn't need his birth certificate anymore, that his valid passport would be suffice. Anyone know anything about this?

valid U.S. passport? If not, he needs his original birth certificate as beneficiary

[bakphx1 791]

Unfortunately, that isn't true at all. They don't use the standard birth certificates, what you have to get is the folio del libro de nacimiento. They are a pain to get and you can only get them in Tegucigalpa or the city where he was born, it is the original registry from the births and it must be notarized. It is a pain because no one has them except to get a Visa. We ended up just having a lawyer get one for us.  

Edited May 2, 2018 by bakphx1

[ms_bobdog 501]

Which stage of the process are you at? If you are filing the i130 petition, the beneficiary's birth certificate is not needed. It is only needed at the NVC stage. 

[pushbrk 13,422]

1 hour ago, bakphx1 said:

Unfortunately, that isn't true at all. They don't use the standard birth certificates, what you have to get is the folio del libro de nacimiento. They are a pain to get and you can only get them in Tegucigalpa or the city where he was born, it is the original registry from the births and it must be notarized. It is a pain because no one has them except to get a Visa. We ended up just having a lawyer get one for us.  

This is needed at the NVC stage, so the OP has time to obtain it.  

 

To the OP, YOUR US passport can be used as evidence of your US Citizenship instead of YOUR birth certificate.  The visa applicant's birth certificate is required at the NVC stage for a different purpose or really more than one purpose.  (Not as evidence of citizenship)

[bakphx1 791]

1 hour ago, pushbrk said:

This is needed at the NVC stage, so the OP has time to obtain it.  

 

To the OP, YOUR US passport can be used as evidence of your US Citizenship instead of YOUR birth certificate.  The visa applicant's birth certificate is required at the NVC stage for a different purpose or really more than one purpose.  (Not as evidence of citizenship)

Agreed.  I took the question to mean it wouldn't be needed at any time in the process. I also found out by having to scramble that Honduras doesn't accept a birth certificate, but an actual photocopy of the birth registry which the average Honduran doesn't keep on hand. 

[pushbrk 13,422]

4 minutes ago, bakphx1 said:

Agreed.  I took the question to mean it wouldn't be needed at any time in the process. I also found out by having to scramble that Honduras doesn't accept a birth certificate, but an actual photocopy of the birth registry which the average Honduran doesn't keep on hand. 

In general, any "certified copy of a birth certificate".....IS....a photocopy of an official government registry of birth.  What that is or looks like, and how it is properly obtained varies with the jurisdiction.  It varies even by State, in the US.  

 

For Honduras, yes it is a "Copia de Folio del Libro de Nacimientos" from the RNP (Registro Nacional de las Personas) if the birth was registered during the first year of the child's life.

 

Information from this source.  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Honduras.html

 

[bakphx1 791]

8 minutes ago, pushbrk said:

In general, any "certified copy of a birth certificate".....IS....a photocopy of an official government registry of birth.  What that is or looks like, and how it is properly obtained varies with the jurisdiction.  It varies even by State, in the US.  

 

 

Also correct.  They have a regular official birth certificate, a long form and then the folio.  I just make it clear to any Honduran I find starting out the process that the birth certificate they use for everything else such as employment or passport won't work for NVC.  They also must travel to the town they were born in (if they've moved) or the capital to get it.  Not online like most countries, so you want all the lead time you can get.  It's an all day affair. 

 

As a bonus for us, they had the long form listed as a requirement when we filed with USCIS then changed it to the folio when it came to the NVC stage (it crossed to a new year). So we got the long form (involving a three hour trip) at the outset to have it on hand only to find it was useless later. Just hoping to save anyone from that problem.  The internet is still littered with the outdated instructions from pre-2017. Also, very general visa instructions say to present a birth certificate, so many may assume what they keep at home will work if they don't look at the Honduras embassy website in the beginning. It's oddly quirky on that document. 

 

[pushbrk 13,422]

3 hours ago, bakphx1 said:

Also correct.  They have a regular official birth certificate, a long form and then the folio.  I just make it clear to any Honduran I find starting out the process that the birth certificate they use for everything else such as employment or passport won't work for NVC.  They also must travel to the town they were born in (if they've moved) or the capital to get it.  Not online like most countries, so you want all the lead time you can get.  It's an all day affair. 

 

As a bonus for us, they had the long form listed as a requirement when we filed with USCIS then changed it to the folio when it came to the NVC stage (it crossed to a new year). So we got the long form (involving a three hour trip) at the outset to have it on hand only to find it was useless later. Just hoping to save anyone from that problem.  The internet is still littered with the outdated instructions from pre-2017. Also, very general visa instructions say to present a birth certificate, so many may assume what they keep at home will work if they don't look at the Honduras embassy website in the beginning. It's oddly quirky on that document. 

 

A similar issue arises in US States that call themselves a "Commonwealth" and ALL the current or former British Commonwealth including Canada and Australia.  Those folks tend to have short form birth certificates that do not contain the parents' names.  Each of them finds they need to secure a "long form" birth certificate to satisfy USCIS and NVC etc.

[Misspippin 2]

On 5/1/2018 at 7:13 PM, bakphx1 said:

Unfortunately, that isn't true at all. They don't use the standard birth certificates, what you have to get is the folio del libro de nacimiento. They are a pain to get and you can only get them in Tegucigalpa or the city where he was born, it is the original registry from the births and it must be notarized. It is a pain because no one has them except to get a Visa. We ended up just having a lawyer get one for us.  

Do you have a picture of what the correct one would look like?

[bakphx1 791]

2 hours ago, Misspippin said:

Do you have a picture of what the correct one would look like?

They’re filled in by hand, but the blank is this:

 

[Misspippin 2]

34 minutes ago, bakphx1 said:

They’re filled in by hand, but the blank is this:

 

And it HAS to be notarized?  Authenticated isnt enough?

Does it make a difference if it's for adjustment of status rather than for obtaining a visa?

[bakphx1 791]

6 hours ago, Misspippin said:

And it HAS to be notarized?  Authenticated isnt enough?

Does it make a difference if it's for adjustment of status rather than for obtaining a visa?

Just authenticated.  I haven’t looked at adjustment of status but I think it would be the same.