Weird CR-1 RFE

[Thomas1988 2]

CR-1 - USCIS has issued us a RFE.TheRFE states that my previous marriage and respective divorce were processed at the same Notary abroad (they weren't)

The RFE Requests a "Sentence of Divorce" from a court (what I provided was "Certificate of Divorce" from a Notary, which is also eligible document as per travel.state.gov). Notary Certificates of Divorce are definitive proof of Divorce as per Federal Law 11.441 of April 4th 2007 in Brazil (divorce was in 2018). Just to be safe, we went online and got the "marriage certificate annotated to prove divorce" (which is also good as per travel.state.gov).

 

RFE also requests an original of my current marriage certificate (which I provided, I was married in the US, Certificate is in English) with my current (USC) wife, and they add the translated name of the document, so it seems that they would like me to send a (nonexistent) Brazilian Marriage certificate? We only have the US one, and have never even been to Brazil since we got married.

 

Can someone assist?

 

Thanks!

[payxibka 10,044]

1 hour ago, Thomas1988 said:

CR-1 - USCIS has issued us a RFE.TheRFE states that my previous marriage and respective divorce were processed at the same Notary abroad (they weren't)

The RFE Requests a "Sentence of Divorce" from a court (what I provided was "Certificate of Divorce" from a Notary, which is also eligible document as per travel.state.gov). Notary Certificates of Divorce are definitive proof of Divorce as per Federal Law 11.441 of April 4th 2007 in Brazil (divorce was in 2018). Just to be safe, we went online and got the "marriage certificate annotated to prove divorce" (which is also good as per travel.state.gov).

 

RFE also requests an original of my current marriage certificate (which I provided, I was married in the US, Certificate is in English) with my current (USC) wife, and they add the translated name of the document, so it seems that they would like me to send a (nonexistent) Brazilian Marriage certificate? We only have the US one, and have never even been to Brazil since we got married.

 

Can someone assist?

 

Thanks!

Not a CR1 RFE but an i130 RFE. 

 

If you are not in Brazil,  where are you?

 

Please post an image of the actual RFE (personal details removed) so we can read the exact wording 

[Thomas1988 2]

Thanks for your reply, I'm currently in Canada.

 

RFE Wording:

 

"ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE NEEDED

 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reviewed your Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative and supporting evidence. You submitted a copy of your marriage certificate and divorce decrees, which indicate that the marriage certificate and divorce decrees were registered from 1st Notary Public and Protest of Letters and Titles Office of Americana, District of Americana, State of Sao Paulo, Joao Batista De Sousa Notary. According to information currently available to USCIS, marriages and divorce such as yours appear to be in conflict with the laws of the country of Federative Republic of Brazil. In order for the legal termination of a marriage to be considered valid for immigration purposes, it must have been registered with a civil authority. Therefore, please submit the following:

 

• Submit proof of the legal termination of the marriage(s) of (BENEFICIARY) and (BENEFICIARY'S EX WIFE), such proof would normally be a final (absolute) divorce decree, death certificate, annulment, etc. The document must include the Divorce Sentence (Certidão de Sentença or Sentença de Divórcio) from a court.

 

• Submit a photocopy of the original marriage certificate for the marriage of (USC PETITIONER, MARRIED NAME) and (BENEFICIARY). The document must include the Marriage Certificate (Certidão de Casamento).

 

Please note: The Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) indicates that primary documents are generally available in Brazil, from Civil Registry (Cartório de Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais)."

 

We have already sent doc#2, unless they mean a Brazilian marriage certificate with my USC wife, (they translated the document name in the end) which we have absolutely never had, we got married in the US.

 

As for doc#1, their own website says my initially sent document is good, I will provide the print screen below.

 

[Thomas1988 2]

[Just Paul 4,591]

You would probably best served by asking to move this over to the Marriage Visa Forum or to the regional forum as this isn't a DCF case and most posters here won't have experienced this.. 

[Ontarkie 13,917]

~~MOved to IR1/CR1 P&P, from DCF - as this is not a DCF case.~~

[JKLSemicolon 327]

Instead of the screenshot I am going to copy text below from the DOS civil documents list:

 

Quote

Divorce Certificates

 

Document Name: Divorce Sentence (Certidão de Sentença or Sentença de Divórcio) from a court.

Issuing Authority: Civil Registry (Cartório de Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais).

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format: Certificates vary in form depending on the state where it was issued.

Issuing Authority Personnel Title: There is no issuing authority personnel title.

Registration Criteria: The divorce must be enacted by a judge or by a notary.

Procedure for Obtaining:  Available from Civil Registry (Cartório de Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais). Until recently it was necessary to visit a civil registry office in person or to send a personal representative in the state where the record is maintained in order to obtain a copy of the document.  Now some cartórios may be able to obtain records from other states, although this is not consistent for all documents and for all states in Brazil.  Marriage certificates may include annotations regarding previous marriages, divorces, and deaths of former spouses.  In order to have an annotated certificate, an applicant needs to go to a notary (cartório) and request a second copy – recently issued – of the marriage certificate.  If the marriage certificate does not have an annotation, it does not necessarily mean that there has not been a divorce or death.

Certified Copies Available: Certified copies are available

Alternate Documents: Divorces may also be obtained by registering at the Civil Registry and procuring a divorce certificate (certidao de divorcio). This is legally valid and equally acceptable as a Certidão de Sentença.  In addition to the Divorce Sentence (Certidão de Sentença or Sentença de Divórcio) and the divorce certificate (certidao de divorcio), the original marriage certificate may be annotated as an amendment certifying divorce.

 

Having no familiarity with these documents from Brazil, I am just trying to interpret that information as literally as possible which is how I imagine anyone reviewing the case would also do.

 

You said:

Quote

what I provided was "Certificate of Divorce" from a Notary

 

Which of these was that?

• Certidão de Sentença or Sentença de Divórcio from a court
• Certidao de divorcio

And is the document you provided registered/obtained at the Cartório de Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais?

 

Quote

Just to be safe, we went online and got the "marriage certificate annotated to prove divorce"

 

Where did you do that online? And did you also do this part?

Quote

In order to have an annotated certificate, an applicant needs to go to a notary (cartório) and request a second copy – recently issued – of the marriage certificate.

 

With respect to the second item on the RFE (the marriage certificate), you obviously can't send in a Brazilian marriage certificate if you were married in the US and you would probably want to include that clarification in a cover letter for the RFE. What state were you married in? I ask because in my case we sent in both a copy of the original marriage certificate as well as a certified copy that we got from the County Clerk. The two documents look very different and for example, the certified copy has typewritten names for us as spouses as well as the officiant and witnesses, whereas the original has only handwritten signatures. So depending on where you got married it's possible that you could obtain and provide something different than what you sent in originally.

[Thomas1988 2]

45 minutes ago, JKLSemicolon said:

Which of these was that?

• Certidão de Sentença or Sentença de Divórcio from a court
• Certidao de divorcio

And is the document you provided registered/obtained at the Cartório de Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais

Certidão de Divórcio, it was obtained from the Notary that enacted it.

 

46 minutes ago, JKLSemicolon said:

Where did you do that online? And did you also do this part?

At the Cartório de Registro de Pessoas Naturais online.

 

48 minutes ago, JKLSemicolon said:

What state were you married in?

Washington State. We'll double check tomorrow, but we have the State document with handwritten signatures and County Seal, clearly staying "Certificate of Marriage".

 

I have also updated the Original Post with the exact wording of the RFE.

 

THANK YOU FOR THE REPLIES!

[Thomas1988 2]

"ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE NEEDED

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reviewed your Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative and supporting evidence. You submitted a copy of your marriage certificate and divorce decrees, which indicate that the marriage certificate and divorce decrees were registered from 1st Notary Public and Protest of Letters and Titles Office of Americana, District of Americana, State of Sao Paulo, Joao Batista De Sousa Notary. According to information currently available to USCIS, marriages and divorce such as yours appear to be in conflict with the laws of the country of Federative Republic of Brazil. In order for the legal termination of a marriage to be considered valid for immigration purposes, it must have been registered with a civil authority. Therefore, please submit the following:

• Submit proof of the legal termination of the marriage(s) of (BENEFICIARY) and (BENEFICIARY'S EX WIFE), such proof would normally be a final (absolute) divorce decree, death certificate, annulment, etc. The document must include the Divorce Sentence (Certidão de Sentença or Sentença de Divórcio) from a court.

• Submit a photocopy of the original marriage certificate for the marriage of (USC PETITIONER, MARRIED NAME) and (BENEFICIARY). The document must include the Marriage Certificate (Certidão de Casamento).

Please note: The Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) indicates that primary documents are generally available in Brazil, from Civil Registry (Cartório de Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais)."

[carmel34 3,531]

Did you provide the translation of the divorce certificate in English, and how did you or the translator interpret the term "cartorio?"  In my experience, getting married in Brazil and dealing with the offices and bureaucracy there, "cartorio" has two slightly different equivalents in English: notary, and civil registry.  From the RFE, it looks like either you or the officer translated cartorio to mean notary, when it also means civil registry, the offices recognized by the federal and state governments to record all births, marriages, divorces, etc.  If it was an official cartorio, it clearly meets the document classifications that are recognized by US immigration--Civil Registry (Cartório de Registro Civil das Pessoas Naturais).  I suggest that you write a letter to explain this and to make it very clear that the divorce certificate was issued by the Civil Registry, not by a notary.  They perform both functions, but the officer may have misunderstood your translated divorce certificate when he/she saw the word "notary," and assumed it was equivalent to a notary public in the US.  In Brazil official cartorios are notaries, and notarize documents, etc., but they are also civil registries, very different from a US notary.  I believe that this is a simple translation misunderstanding.  Maybe include a corrected English translation of your Brazilian divorce certificate with the letter of explanation.  Good luck!

Edited June 10, 2021 by carmel34