US Immigration from Belarus

Hello all, I am confused about what evidence I need to prove I am a US citizen in the i-129f. Will the front picture of my passport be enough proof? I don't have a copy of my birth certificate handy.

Hi everyone,

You have all been immensely helpful to me already, so I am once again coming to you for help. At the advice of members of this forum, I have gone ahead and married my fiancee ( ). We are applying for a CR1 and will be filing the I-130 and I-130A online.

There is a section of the online application that requests the beneficiary's information in their native written language. The exact instructions are copied in an attached image for reference. The problem is that my wife is from Belarus where her native language is Russian and her birth certificate is in Russian, but she currently lives in Czech Republic. There are no documents with "her name and foreign address in their native written language" (i.e. Russian). Would a copy of her original birth certificate in Russian and a copy of her lease be suitable for this section? I only worry because her birth certificate does not contain her foreign address.

Thank you all in advance.

So my I-130 for my adopted daughter finally got a reply from the National Benefits Center. I got an RFE asking for additional evidence for my child. I came to Belarus from United States in 2013 to live while helping my parents there. I married and adopted my wife s daughter. I ve been her dad for the past 8.5 years. She s 15 now. I sent in all the required information to USCIS that was asked of me.

We left Belarus for Poland when Russia began the conflict with Ukraine. We cannot come back for the documents because of possible political prosecution of me and my wife. My father has the power of attorney in my name to get documents for me in Belarus.

In the RFE, I m requested to send in her original birth certificate which was issued upon her birth before she got her new birth certificate after her adoption by me in 2015. So basically the birth certificate with her original birth parents names.
Unfortunately, in Belarus, they take away the original birth certificate upon adoption and replace it with a secondary birth certificate in my name and my wife s. We do have a photocopy of the original birth certificate, but we're afraid to send it as evidence because it might be requested at the interview at NVC. So we'd rather go with getting an official letter from BY govt. Or would NVC accept such a copy?!

In this case, the RFE states I can submit:

Quote

If the beneficiary's original birth certificate is not available, you must submit:

1. An original written statement on government letterhead that establishes that the beneficiary's birth certificate is not available from the relevant government or other authority. The statement must indicate the reason the beneficiary's birth certificate does not exist, and indicate whether similar records for the time and place are available. See Title 8 Code of Federal Regulations, section 103.2(b)(2)(ii); and

2. Acceptable secondary evidence, such as church or school records listing the beneficiary's birth parents' names and the date of birth, hospital records of the adopted child s birth, etc.

I can get an official document for the 1^st request. However for the 2^nd one asking for secondary evidence, we might have issues finding a church record or schools records with both of her birth parents names. It would usually just be my wife s name and daughter s. She divorced 1.5 years after marriage and the father signed away his parental rights. We have a medical record book with both her birth parents names, but the whole book is handwritten with a bunch of ink stamps (this was typical in Soviet countries and still is). Does this count? Same goes for her baptismal records. It has a signature, name and stamp of the priest.

Another item the RFE requests which has us worried is the they commonly ask for all sorts of affidavits. Could someone with experience or knowledge clarify what these can look like? From what I understand, I don t need to have the notary public notarize these. Here s an example of such a request from the letter:

An affidavit detailing the exact dates and locations where you physically resided under the same roof with the adopted child outside the U.S. before or after the adoption, together with corresponding evidence.

Can this be hand written or types? Do I just sign my name, address, etc.?

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Another interesting item in the RFE is that it mentions a bedsheet-long list of requests for evidence in case of the I-130 application going through as Evidence that the child meets the definition of an Adopted Child under 101(b)(1)(E) . However at the end of the letter they say the following:

Quote

Evidence of Stepfamily Relationship - It appears that your child may also qualify under the definition of a stepchild under INA 101(b)(1)(B). USCIS may approve the Form I-130 if the child meets either the definition of an adopted child or a stepchild. A stepparent-stepchild relationship depends on the marriage that created the family relationship. To demonstrate that you are the child s stepparent, evidence you may submit includes: The child s original birth certificate issued by the appropriate civil authority and showing that your spouse is the child s biological parent.

So it seems like if we don t satisfy their request for the child going through as adopter, they can easily qualify her as a stepchild with just her original birth certificate or letter required?!?!

Any useful information greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone, my parent just received an I-130 approval. We are gathering documents to submit to NVC and the dilemma is whether we should wait or not to submit the documents given that my parent is in Belarus and he needs to apply for a Shengen visa to get to Warsaw for an interview... He is scheduled for a Shengen visa interview in May, so I wonder whether we should wait for documents to submit in order not to get a sooner appointment in Warsaw... Any recent experience as to how long it takes between the time when NVC reviews Affidavit of Support + Application package and schedules the interview in Warsaw? Any specific considerations for Belarusian citizens?

I see based on NVC timeframes and information above that it takes them about 1-1.5 months to review all documents and then I understand it may take 1.5-3 months for an interview since the parent needs to do the medical exam, prepare additional documents, etc. But any real life stories of Belarusian/Russian beneficiaries in addition to above sharing their experience would be of great help! Thanks so much for any insights!

Hi everyone,

Looks like a pretty niche community I've been lurking for the past few months. I asked my girlfriend from Belarus to marry me early last month, so we are beginning process together.

We were deciding between K1 and CR1, and the advantages of CR1 are obvious to me and don't need to be reiterated.

My question is, the CR1 application's examples for evidence of bona fide marriage are things like cohabitation, joint finances, or even children. The K1 evidence is just evidence of "having met in the past 2 years." We have been together every month in 2022 with photographic evidence and documented flights and everything, so this will not be an issue. We do not have evidence of the sort expected for a CR-1 Visa, so we have tentatively opted for a K1. The other advantage of a K1 in our opinion is the consolidation of all legal documents into a single location (the USA).

Everyone here seems pretty hell-bent on steering new applicants to a CR-1, but this issue has me a little nervous, because I would obviously hate to be turned down and restart this process all over again.

Thanks!