Validity of notary of relation certificate

[csiq 0]

I'm planning to submit an application for my sister's sibling immigration. 23 years ago, we got notaries that prove our relationship with our (same) parents and an additional notary to prove our sibling relationship back to 2002. All these notaries was prepared by the city public office which was administered by the government. I'm wondering are these notaries still valid? My sister is a Canadian citizen and we have very few chances to go back to our birthplace. Thank you.

[portorusa 431]

Why a notary to prove the sibling relationship? Why not just the birth certificates listing the same parents?

[databit 328]

May be easier and less time consuming to get DNA testing.

[geowrian 22,335]

A notary generally verifies signatures, not relationships.

 

If the birth certificates show a common parent and were timely filed (not many years after birth), they alone are generally sufficient for demonstrating a relationship. If not, hoe stay I would just go the DNA route. Just make sure it is a properly certified lab (AABB I believe).

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

1 hour ago, databit said:

May be easier and less time consuming to get DNA testing.

But they can’t do this in advance - only after they get an RFE from uscis. 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

2 minutes ago, geowrian said:

A notary generally verifies signatures, not relationships.

 

If the birth certificates show a common parent and were timely filed (not many years after birth), they alone are generally sufficient for demonstrating a relationship. If not, hoe stay I would just go the DNA route. Just make sure it is a properly certified lab (AABB I believe).

AABB labs will only do immigration testing with a request and reference number from uscis/DoS (and the results are sent directly to uscis/DoS/embassy etc). At least as far as current policy stands, you can’t do this pre-emptively. So they would have to submit what they have, and then if it is not found to be satisfactory then the RFE will be used to get a dna test.

Edited August 1, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[geowrian 22,335]

5 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

AABB labs will only do immigration testing with a request and reference number from uscis/DoS (and the results are sent directly to uscis/DoS/embassy etc). At least as far as current policy stands, you can’t do this pre-emptively. So they would have to submit what they have, and then if it is not found to be satisfactory then the RFE will be used to get a dna test.

Good to know.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

Good to know.

Yeah, no point wasting money on something they won’t accept.

[csiq 0]

Thank you for all your responses. I think I didn't make it clear that I have the notarized Birth Certificate. My question is since it's very old, more than 20 years, will it be treated as a valid document or do we have to get an updated notarization to support my sister's application?

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

20 minutes ago, csiq said:

Thank you for all your responses. I think I didn't make it clear that I have the notarized Birth Certificate. My question is since it's very old, more than 20 years, will it be treated as a valid document or do we have to get an updated notarization to support my sister's application?

It depends, for my country, the older documents are handwritten and the US consulate will only accept updated computerized printouts. You probably need to check if any local specifics like this exist for your country.  If the format of the document is acceptable then it should be fine regardless of the age of printout/notarization.

Edited August 2, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[geowrian 22,335]

I would refer to the reciprocity website for validity of a birth certificate: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country.html

[csiq 0]

Thank you. I very appreciate all your responses.