Request for Evidence rant

[Johnnie Oz 0]

Got a RFE for the I-485 AOS. Received yday, 3/13, dated 3/5!!! Had the biometrics done on 3/8.

As seems to happen every so often: part of the application disappeared somewhere between the Chicago Lockbox and Missouri.

In our case, it was the applicant's birth certificate. And yes, it was submitted along with everything else!!!

So what gives? Perhaps they lost it. Or "misplaced" it. Man, I almost believe in conspiracies, e.g. like misplacing our documents buys them time...

But looking over the Swedish birth certificate, perhaps they just got confused. Wouldn't be the first time...

It is not called a "birth certificate" but an "extract of the population register" or a "personbevis" in Swedish. Moreover, it doesn't say "date of birth" anywhere, but instead uses the "personal ID nr". This Swedish creation is like a Soc Sec nr, but it includes a person's birthdate plus a few extra digits.

Maybe the officer got confused by this.

Finally, this official document is actually in English and not Swedish.

There are versions of the birth certificate (or other official docs) in English, Somali, Finnish etc in addition to Swedish. Again, maybe the officer got confused since there was no Swedish language document, and thought the original was in fact some kind of translation when it was not... it would be ABSURD if we have to get a Swedish language version, translate this ourselves and submit that. Do they not accept official English lang documents from non-English speaking countries???

This cuts to the heart of the problem with the RFE letters we get. They do not contain enough information. We cannot tell if they lost e.g. the birth certificate or if they simply weren't satisfied with what they received. A quick phone call or e-mail could resolve this, but that seems impossible via the MISinformation line.

Anyone had success with a service request? Just calling and getting some answers. Something like "please look at the evidence I sent you. OK, it's here in front of me. That thing called extract of the population register is actually a birth certificate. really? ok! You can verify this through the US Embassy in Stockholm or various other sources. Thanks."

Anywho, sending the birth cert again, along with a letter explaining that it IS a birth certificate. Also, we've included printouts from the State Department and Swedish authorities explaining this. Good grief....

[SpiritAlight 1]

Yucky news.

Sorry to hear of your plight.

Here's hoping it all gets back on track ASAP!

[KimS 0]

Thanks for this info. I was worried about the fact that our "birth certificates" do not exactly look like they would expect them to look.

I will include a letter explaining what that document is.

Any further information in this matter would be nice

Tackar för informationen

[greeneyedgirlfl 0]

Does the left hand EVER know what the right hand is doing?

Sorry about this...hope they get their act together!!!

[rebeccajo 14]

Send it again.

If you believe they are confused about the document, explain it to them like you did here (politely - lol).

It is unfortunately not uncommon for documents to get separated. It is also not uncommon for some documents to be misunderstood by those initially reviewing the file.

[Johnnie Oz 0]

thanks for your replies. Sent it again, with a State Dept document reciprocity printout (since the RFE TOLD us to look at State for acceptable birth certs - which we, of course, already did for this and police certs etc. ) and Swedish bureaucratic material in English, explaining the "Swedish model". I'm sure the officer on the case will be grateful...

we had no problems with this document, personbevis, at the Embassy stage. as some might know, the personbevis is a replacement for many things in Sweden: marriage cert, death cert, residency etc. This is a source of confusion, no doubt.

we used the english language one as instructed by the embassy. and then used that same document for the AOS. they probably "lost" it at MSC/NBC. whatever.

Or would they really prefer the Swedish version with a translation that could be done by anyone willing to sign it?? That would be absurd. Well, that's not what they wrote so...

Note to others: another option is to get a Swedish lang birth cert and then translate it yourself. then you can put BIRTH CERTIFICATE instead of the bureaucratic name "extract of the populaton register". Who knows.

Like I wrote, we don't know what happened: whether they lost it or just were confused by what we submitted.

another problem is that the State Dept website ONLY calls it by its Swedish name, personbevis. and since that word was NOT on the English version, maybe DHS got confused.

Lord knows why DHS suddenly references State, usually we're told that we shouldn't go by State guidelines since USCIS/DHS is in charge now.

Good luck!

[tanyakaraman 0]

We got RFE'd for the same thing. We just sent it again and all was well (with that particular RFE, anyway). Of course, they RFE'd us again later for something completely different...

Best wishes to you!

Tanya