NotVeryCompetent

I feel sorry for the issues that you are having with NVC. My wife and I kept going back and forth with them this prior summer regarding the military document for her dad, they said they didn't have, they did. To make a long story short, we had to get one of our Senator's involved. Took almost two months for NVC to acknowledge they had it, but they never admitted error. Have you had any luck getting through to a supervisor? When we had our situation my wife spoke was finally able to speak with a supervisor after going back and forth for 3 weeks. The supervisor actually pulled the file, found the lost document and sent it to document review. However, document review can not be expedited. Another avenue you might want to consider is contacting the US Embassy where the interview would be held and submit a expedite request directly to them. If the Embassy approves the request then the file will be transferred to the Embassy as is and the Embassy will take on the responsibility for collecting all future documents and scheduling the appointment.

You say the divorce was in New York State? I see you can get a Divorce Certificate from NYS Department of Health. You might want to contact NVC and ask if a Divorce Certificate is acceptable. https://www.health.ny.gov/vital_records/divorce.htm

dhlunar,

Thank you so much for sharing your story and for the link.

It states that there are two different divorce documents:

First, there is the divorce decree. This is the document prepared by the court, setting forth the terms and conditions of the divorce. It is signed by the judge and filed with the County Clerk of the County where the decree was issued. This is usually the County where the plaintiff resided. For information about obtaining a copy of a divorce decree, contact the appropriate County Clerk. Please note that if the divorce was granted before January 1, 1963, the divorce decree is the only type of document available.

Second, there is a divorce certificate filed with the New York State Department of Health for divorces granted on or after January 1, 1963. The divorce certificate contains basic information about the spouses, and the date and place the marriage ended. For information about obtaining a divorce certificate copy from the New York State Department of Health, please continue.

That helps a lot. We definitely submitted the divorce decree with stamp and seal and it says in the DS-260 instructions that they want the divorce decree. I'm starting to wonder if they lost the document which is even scarier because how do we know that they'll get it the next time we send it. My husband sent it via FedEx. Should we try certified?

How can we prove that the document was sent, that they received it, and the document contained in the envelope is the divorce decree? This has been boggling our minds for days now. We want to nail them to the wall. Not literally of course.

Thanks, again!

You need to go to the court house where the divorce took place and collect a "True Certified Copy" and send to them. Do not send original since it's hard to determine where it is.

Hi amysummer13,

What do you mean by "Do not send original since it's hard to determine where it is"?

Isn't the "True Certified Copy" the one with the seal and stamp (which is what we submitted)?

Thanks,

Christina

Did the "original" copy you send in to NVC have a stamped or raised seal on it by the county courthouse, and/or was it verified a certified copy by the county recorder (ie signed and dated as certified) ?

Hi Zedayn,

It had a raised seal and had stamp with a signature certifying it (from the court). This is what is so confusing. Is there a different type of document we are supposed to request? Isn't a divorce decree a divorce decree (or certificate of marriage dissolution, whatever you want to call it) if it comes with a seal and stamp?

The unfortunate thing is that we don't even know if they have seen the original. They won't help by verifying that they have two documents (copy and original).

Thanks,

Christina

Hi All,

I need some advice regarding my FIL's pending I-130/DS-260 application. My husband and I have run into some extremely frustrating complications with NVC and now it's to the point where we feel like we've exhausted all of our options.

My FIL lives in Jamaica and would like to join us and the rest of the family here in the US (beneficiary). My husband (sponsor) filed for him last year. Everything went smooth with the I-130 and then the case was transferred to NVC for further processing and then suddenly we began having having issues with my MIL and FIL's divorce decree. When we initially filed the DS-260 and sent in the supporting documents, we accidentally sent in a copy of their divorce decree (they were married in Jamaica; however, my MIL filed for divorce here in NYS - bear this in mind).

We received notice from NVC that the paperwork wasn't the original document, so we followed up and submitted the original document that we had requested from the county court.

For three months now we've been going back and forth with NVC about whether this document is the original and valid or not. They won't tell us what is wrong; just that the document isn't original. Every so now and then we get an email from NVC stating that they have reviewed the document and it's not the original:

Every time we request a review and call back, we never hear from them (3x now). We just receive the above email without any explanation. We constantly ask if they have both the copy and original and they wouldn't answer the question and refer us to the review process.

1. If we send in another original divorce decree, how can we ensure that we don't end up getting the run around from them again?
2. How do we ensure that it arrives and gets into the right hands?
3. Is there an ombudsman we can involve?
4. Should we get a letter from the county court stating that this is the original divorce decree?
5. Can we drop off the document somewhere in person?
6. Is the reason why they are giving us problems because MIL/FIL were married in Jamaica and the divorce was initiated in NYS? Are they expecting a divorce decree from Jamaica?

Sorry for all the questions but we're trying to attack this from every angle. We're at our wit's end and don't know how to push this application forward. And advice is appreciated!

Thanks!

Christina