ledo1611

Yeah it's a bit tricky. I just got a new "computer-generated" marriage certificate from my home country. working on getting it translated and will send this to the USCIS office with a cover letter stating that this is the "civil marriage certificate or record" that was issued to us. Will see what happens! so I guess worst case scenario they deny the N400 based on ineligbility then I would re-apply under the 5-year rule.

Yes I know it would have been better just to do the US marriage certificate but I didn't know better back then. The marriage certificte is the official one my country issues, just location is in the embassy/consulate. I am working on getting a new certified copy of the certificate from my home country since that is now a computer-generated document (rather than the old hand-written document I originally submitted) then i would get a new translation (hopefully more accurate) for that and will see if that will make a difference!

Now worst case scenario, if they don't accept these documents (or if I can't obtain them) and deny my application, would that have any impact on my new N400 application which would be based on the 5-year rule?

Thanks for the replies guys. so as I mentioned in my original post, we didn't get married overseas, we actually got married here in the US but it was done in the embassy/consulate of my home country, simply because I was still not a US resident at the time (was visiting on a tourist visa for some training), while my wife and her family were living here. so we chose to do the marriage certificate in the consulate. the USCIS are questioning that and saying that we were here in the US so should have dobe a "US marriage certificate" not the one we did in the consulate. is this true? should I just send them the original marriage certificate again (they do have it already!) with a new translation?

I got my green card through work about 4 years ago, have been married to my wife for about 10 years, when we got married we did so in our home country's consulate/embassy here in the US but we didn't do the local US marriage license/certificate, my wife had a green card at the time (through her family), now she has been a citizen for a little over 3 years. so I applied for citizenship on the basis of being married to a US citizen for 3 years, used the original marriage certificate from our embassy with a translation. after passing the English & history test, the officer told me he is not sure that a foreign marriage certificate would work for this purpose since we were physically present in the US and should've gotten a local marriage certificate. anyway he said he will send it for review, they called me a few months later to say the case has been approved, gave me an N-652 approval notice and said to wait for the oath ceremony scheduling. However, a couple of weeks later I received another letter again saying they won't accept this marriage certificate and they need a local US certificate as a proof of our legal marriage to proceed with the case!

I believe part of the problem might be the quality of the translation which probably confused the USCIS because it did state in the translated copy that "this is to certify the marriage certificate" rather than stating that it is simply a translation of the actual marriage certificate. so I guess the USCIS got confused and thought that I submitted a certifying document from the consulate without sending the actual certificate, that is what they mentioned in the last letter they sent me.

should I just go ahead and withdraw my N400 application, then reapply later on the basis of being a permanent resident for 5 years? I would be eligible to apply under the 5-year rule in about 7 months or so. or is it better to let them deny the case then re-apply under the 5-year rule? it seems easier to forget about this N400 then re-apply later but was wondering if there would be any issues that would affect my future N400 if I withdraw my application now after the interview vs. let them deny it?

I thought about sending a new (more accurate) translation of the marriage certificate but to me it seems messy at this point and might be even more confusing for the USCIS to send more documents for this N400. what do you think?

Thank you.