no original birth certificate

[Ngoc-Anh 1]

I got a question and I am not sure if somebody else is in the same situtation.

My parents were "Boat People" back in 1979 when they left Vietnam. I was born on the way to Germany when we stopped in Indonesia. Because of that I do not have an original birth certificate.

Here in Germany I got an notarized certificate that proves my birthday.

It worked out when we applied for the german citizenship but now I am concerned that the us embassy

won't accept it as a birth certificate.

It is absolutely impossible to get an original birth certificate. What should I do?

[Leasel7 0]

My husband's experience wasn't exactly like yours, but he was born on a remote island with no doctors or hospital. His parents never registered his birth with the government. Somehow he was able to get a passport, travel internationally, and even attend college in the US for four years without a birth certificate. But when we applied for the K1 visa, he had to get one. His father and brother signed some type of affidavit attesting to the facts of his birth, and on that basis the government issued a letter certifying his date and place of birth and also providing the names of his parents. When it came time for the K1 visa interview, the embassy accepted the government letter as a "birth certificate".

All that to say it may well be that the US embassy will be willing to accept the notarized certificate issued by the German government. Would it be possible for your fiance(e) (the USC) to contact the embassy and inquire about it?

[Ngoc-Anh 1]

thanks a lot for the information.

I myself tried to contact the embassy here in germany but there is no email adress so that I can send an email. You only got the chance to listen to a machine that is not really giving you the information you need.

I myself thought it should be ok because it worked for getting the german citizenship so why should it not work for the visa. But now I am a little bit worry that I might take it too easy!

[John24689 0]

HappyOne,

I found an e-mail address online. It says it is for Emergencies only, but this sounds like one to me. Try this one and see what happens. I bet you get an answer. Good Luck. John

Frankfurt

Fax: (069) 7535-2277

Email: FrankfurtSpecialNIV@state.gov

http://www.usembassy.de/germany/visa/index.html

[Leasel7 0]

I myself tried to contact the embassy here in germany but there is no email adress so that I can send an email. You only got the chance to listen to a machine that is not really giving you the information you need.

We found the embassy to be more responsive to the USC than the visa applicant, so I did all the communicating with the embassy. Fortunately I was able to get email addresses for the consular officer and consular assistant, and both were very responsive to emails. I also was able to call the embassy and be put through to the consular assistant, since I had her name. Perhaps you could post a new thread in the Foreign Embassy and Consulate forum to see if anyone else who has gone through the same embassy has a good email address or phone number for the consular section.

[caagirl 0]

You can also see if maybe they have a birth certificate clearance showing the birth certificate was never in their records along with that you need to have affidative and school papers showing his or her birthday good luck my fiance is in the same situation so we are just waiting to see what to do next....

Sincerly a fiancee in waiting,

Christina

[JenT 0]

I've phoned the Consulate in Frankfurt using the number 49 69 75350 and have been able to speak with a person in their visa processing department each time I've phoned...

Jen

[lak&ajm 0]

My finance is kind of in the same situation and I have been doing quite a bit of research in the Mumbai consulate web-site for India, so I thought maybe the German consulate web-site might also have this informaton. I did not find it quite like the Mumbai site but check out this link http://berlin.usembassy.gov/germany/visa/iv_processing.html

As I scrolled down I clicked on the link in "What do I do next?". This opened a pdf file where it stated what to do for an obtainable birth certificate. Maybe this will help you.

Good luck!!

Lori

[goldenheart 0]

It is so difficult to give advice on this forum, because the immigration rules/processes are not consistent.

I can only share my experience, however, my experience may not present the same outcome for you.

At our interview in Frankfurt, we were told we needed to provide them with the original birth certificate and they were not sympathethic to our reasonings for not having the original. A matter of fact, we were told to contact the Embassy of his country to receive a certified letter that an original birth certificate could not be obtain. Imagine how easy that would be?????

The Frankfurt Embassy information is the following:

Email address: consularfrankf@state.gov or FrankfurtSpecialNIV@state.gov

FrankfurtSpecialNIV@state.gov> Emergency only...I don't think your situation is an emergency, also, they will not answer your email if they feel your question is not an emergency.

Telephone number: 69 7535 8200 or 69 7535 2207

I wish you luck!!!!

[Ngoc-Anh 1]

thanks a lot.

you all are so nice!!

[Milka 0]

Hi Happy One,

did it work out in Frankfurt? What are you doing to do now?

Good luck.

[Ngoc-Anh 1]

Hello Milka,

I sent them an email because I did not have the chance to call them so far.

But no response yet.

[Milka 0]

Hi again,

with the notorized certificate you can not get one in Germany? I have just ordered 3 international one. You should call the "Standesamt" where you got the other one.

Hi Happy One,

nur zur Info. Wir haben übrigens auch einen deutschen Chat unter Regional Discussion/ Europe and Eurasia without Russia and Uk/ German people rührt euch. Da findest du ewig viele Fragen und Anworten die du sicherlich noch brauche wirst. Wir diskutieren das alles, was uns betrifft. Kanns ja mal vorbeischauen.

[Ngoc-Anh 1]

Hello Milka,

maybe it is easier if I write this part in german.

Also meine beglaubigte Urkunde, die als Ersatz fuer meine Gebursturkunde gilt wurde nicht vom Standesamt, sondern von einem Notar in Deutschland ausgestellt. Mit dieser Urkunde habe ich auch die deutsche Staatsbuergerschaft beantragt. Dies ging ohne Probleme. Daher bin ich bisher davon ausgegangen, dass dies kein Problem darstellen soll. Aber nachdem ich hier ueber so einige Probleme gelesen habe bin ich doch etwas verunsichert worden. Ich moechte naemlich vermeiden, dass aufgrund solcher "Kleinigkeiten" das ganze hinausgezogen wird (schliesslich dauert es ja schon lange genug!)

[Milka 0]

Hmm... das ist ja doof. Wie wäre es wenn du nochmal mit dem Notar sprichst. Oder du gehst mit der Urkunde vom Notar zum Standesamt und vielleicht können Sie aufgrunder der Urkunde ein internationales certificate ausfüllen.