Long form for birth and marriage certificate?

[ikaruga 1]

Just called the NVC and they told me I need the long form for the birth and marriage certificate. Is that standard practice?

[Malrothien 6]

If you're filing for DCF, why would you be calling NVC?

But yes, you must supply the long form birth certificate and the marriage certificate.

[ikaruga 1]

If you're filing for DCF, why would you be calling NVC?

But yes, you must supply the long form birth certificate and the marriage certificate.

Whoops, haven't changed the profile status. (Actually, I can't seem to figure out how to change it.)

No when you say "must" is that something official? As per here:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...08.html#docreqs

All it says is that the birth certificate must state the names of the parents (I'm assuming that's what a "long" form is). However, it doesn't say anything about the marriage certificate...

[Malrothien 6]

If you're filing for DCF, why would you be calling NVC?

But yes, you must supply the long form birth certificate and the marriage certificate.

Whoops, haven't changed the profile status. (Actually, I can't seem to figure out how to change it.)

No when you say "must" is that something official? As per here:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...08.html#docreqs

All it says is that the birth certificate must state the names of the parents (I'm assuming that's what a "long" form is). However, it doesn't say anything about the marriage certificate...

Yes, you just need to scroll further down the page to:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...8.html#marriage

And yes, the long form of a birth certificate includes the names of the parents.

[ikaruga 1]

As per Wikipedia, a long form is an exact copy of the birth/marriage certificate. In other words, it's a copy of the original. As per the official requirements page I mentioned above, this is what they want.

I seemed to have answered my own question :-) or am I missing something?

[Malrothien 6]

As per Wikipedia, a long form is an exact copy of the birth/marriage certificate. In other words, it's a copy of the original. As per the official requirements page I mentioned above, this is what they want.

I seemed to have answered my own question :-) or am I missing something?

All birth certificates are copies, so that does not matter. What they want is the birth certificate that lists the parents names on them.

[ikaruga 1]

All birth certificates are copies, so that does not matter. What they want is the birth certificate that lists the parents names on them.

Malrothien -- I think you are missing something. The birth certificate we sent already lists the parents names. (It also lists everything required on the official docs.) As per wikipedia, a "long form" is "an exact photocopy of the original birth record." What we sent them is not a copy of the original...

[Malrothien 6]

All birth certificates are copies, so that does not matter. What they want is the birth certificate that lists the parents names on them.

Malrothien -- I think you are missing something. The birth certificate we sent already lists the parents names. (It also lists everything required on the official docs.) As per wikipedia, a "long form" is "an exact photocopy of the original birth record." What we sent them is not a copy of the original...

No, I am not missing anything. There is most likely a translation problem going on here.

You also never mentioned that you had already sent a birth certificate that lists the parents name.

I'm not going to argue with you regarding what a long form birth certificate is. I know quite clearly what it is.

[speedracer2j 0]

Hey, I am in the same boat right now. Someone must have been having a BAD day in NVC last week. To my understanding, ok, my wife is from Panama, and we filed in the Embassy in Germany(where we were married...military). The birth certificate, yes, in fact the one I submitted contained both parents names, as well as all info, but is listed as the short version. Now, why is this not accepted. This "short" version, is simply the "court house" or whatever registry is called of the country, saying, yes, we have that record in our registry, and this is the info off it, digitally stored. What the NVC wants is that certificate in a certified copy version. Similar to when in the US you goto the court house and they pull out your birth certificate and make the copy, and stamp it. Pain in the ####, I know. I was so mad, it has an apostille and everything on it. Anyway, marriage certificate, got my mind blown. Maybe someone can chime in on this for me as well. Submitted my ceritifcate of marriage, that I recieved when I was married in Baumholder Germany. Its the internation certificate, meaning it comes in about seven languages right on it. Its the original, signed in blue ink, with the city stamp. However they still flagged it for the normal bs checklist they sent out. Its hard to send them what they want, when they don't even say what they need to begin with you know Best of luck with you, hope this helped a little.

[ikaruga 1]

Hey, I am in the same boat right now. Someone must have been having a BAD day in NVC last week. To my understanding, ok, my wife is from Panama, and we filed in the Embassy in Germany(where we were married...military). The birth certificate, yes, in fact the one I submitted contained both parents names, as well as all info, but is listed as the short version. Now, why is this not accepted. This "short" version, is simply the "court house" or whatever registry is called of the country, saying, yes, we have that record in our registry, and this is the info off it, digitally stored. What the NVC wants is that certificate in a certified copy version. Similar to when in the US you goto the court house and they pull out your birth certificate and make the copy, and stamp it. Pain in the ####, I know. I was so mad, it has an apostille and everything on it. Anyway, marriage certificate, got my mind blown. Maybe someone can chime in on this for me as well. Submitted my ceritifcate of marriage, that I recieved when I was married in Baumholder Germany. Its the internation certificate, meaning it comes in about seven languages right on it. Its the original, signed in blue ink, with the city stamp. However they still flagged it for the normal bs checklist they sent out. Its hard to send them what they want, when they don't even say what they need to begin with you know Best of luck with you, hope this helped a little.

The best description seems to be Wikipedia (believe it or not! it's actually good for something). The main difference between a long form and a short form is that the long form is a duplicate of the original. That seems to be the key difference. As both our cases show, the short form can contain the same exact info as the long form. However, the long form is a duplicate, copy, whatever you want to call it of the original document. The long form is supposedly harder to counterfeit, that's why they ask for it I assume.

By the way, if you ever heard the "hubbub" over Obama's birth certificate, it's over the same thing -- his birth certificate is the short form. See here. Note that the short form of his birth cert. shows his parents' names, location of birth, every piece of info as the long form...

So no, @Malrothien@, I wasn't picking a fight. I was just confused by your comments....

[Think~Pink 0]

I think it differs.

My short version birth certificate doesn't have my parents names on it at all, so I had to order a long version for my filing.

BTW..to change your 'Filed For' settings in your profile..click 'my controls', then 'edit profile information'.

you can update which visa you applied for there.

Edited November 24, 2009 by Think~Pink

[ikaruga 1]

I think it differs.

My short version birth certificate doesn't have my parents names on it at all, so I had to order a long version for my filing.

BTW..to change your 'Filed For' settings in your profile..click 'my controls', then 'edit profile information'.

you can update which visa you applied for there.

Read the official doc requirements in the link mentioned above. It clearly states NVC wants a copy of the original certificate. A short form can contain the same type of info as the long form. Mine and the other commenter are exactly like that, yet they were still rejected. According to my lawyer, it depends on the official reviewing your case. He/she can let you "slide" with a short form. However, it doesn't seem to be the case for me.

Thanks for letting me know how to change my case.

[trailmix 77]

Actually the best description is not to be found in that Wikipedia page - I would venture to say that the best description/guideline to use is from the department of state.

You cannot say that they want a copy of the original - the reason you can't say that is that it does not apply to all countries. For instance in Canada we can get a copy of the original - however we also have another 'certified copy' that is not a copy of the original but has the parents names etc, here is it commonly called a 'long form' birth certificate. - NVC will accept either of these from a Canadian.

It is consulate/country specific and if you want the correct information just choose your country from the drop down box on the page below and go from there.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciproc...ocity_3272.html

[ikaruga 1]

Actually the best description is not to be found in that Wikipedia page - I would venture to say that the best description/guideline to use is from the department of state.

You cannot say that they want a copy of the original - the reason you can't say that is that it does not apply to all countries. For instance in Canada we can get a copy of the original - however we also have another 'certified copy' that is not a copy of the original but has the parents names etc, here is it commonly called a 'long form' birth certificate. - NVC will accept either of these from a Canadian.

It is consulate/country specific and if you want the correct information just choose your country from the drop down box on the page below and go from there.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/reciproc...ocity_3272.html

Ahh.. OK. Then I don't really know what a long form is.

In any case, I'm still scratching my head why NVC didn't accept the birth certificate we gave them. As per the link you provided, in Honduras, the birth cert. they want is:

Acta de nacimiento (birth certificate) may be obtained from any office of Registro Nacional de las Personas where birth occurred.

What we gave them (1) is from that office, (2) has all the information they require (parent's names, etc.), and (3) is certified. We could ask them to re-review it. However, in Honduras, you can get a "long form"... whatever that is ... and that's what we're going to do.

[M&ME 2]

Anyway, marriage certificate, got my mind blown. Maybe someone can chime in on this for me as well. Submitted my ceritifcate of marriage, that I recieved when I was married in Baumholder Germany. Its the internation certificate, meaning it comes in about seven languages right on it. Its the original, signed in blue ink, with the city stamp. However they still flagged it for the normal bs checklist they sent out. Its hard to send them what they want, when they don't even say what they need to begin with you know Best of luck with you, hope this helped a little.

This scares me. That's the same one that we sent in. (we're still in USCIS phase) I hope they don't reject mine when it gets to NVC as well. The other version we have would have to be translated... which makes no sense at all that they would want that one. Afterall, the same Standesamt signed both of them.