Birth Certificate

[WeatherEmperor 21]

Hello,

I was born in Suriname. Unfortunately I lost my original birth certificate. I understand that the birth certificate is required when my fiance goes to the interview. I went to the Embassy of Suriname in Washington D.C's website (www.surinameembassy.org) and found that you are able to request your birth certificate with them. They mention on their website that they can only issue a "certified true" of the original birth certificate. Do you think that if I request this from the Embassy of Suriname, that the HCMC Consulate will accept it? Or will they still demand the real original? Thanks,

<CARRICK>

Edited July 5, 2010 by WeatherEmperor

[payxibka 10,045]

There is only one original and the "real" original is maintained on file by the government... the best you can ever hope for is a "certified" true copy of the original... this is true everywhere

Edited July 5, 2010 by payxibka

[WeatherEmperor 21]

Thank you for your help. But I was just wondering from those that have gone through the HCMC Consulate, if the Consulate would be willing to accept a certified true copy of the original since I lost the original.

<CARRICK>

[Dai. 7]

There are plenty of Vietnamese Americans that petition for a Vietnamese national that go though HCMC consulate without the original birth certificate because they lost it during the war whenever the came to America as refugees. They will accept a certified copy.

Edited July 5, 2010 by Dai_Tx

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

There is only one original and the "real" original is maintained on file by the government... the best you can ever hope for is a "certified" true copy of the original... this is true everywhere

It's a little different in Vietnam. In many cases, there never was an "original" birth certificate. The birth was simply recorded in the household book. In some cases, it was registered with local authorities. I've seen several VN birth certificates. The ones issued in the war years were often just hand transcribed by a local government official from whatever records were available. In essence, they actually ARE original documents. My wife's uncle has three different birth certificates, each an original form with hand written entries, and all have slight differences from each other. He had to submit the originals for ALL of them in response to an RFE he got when petitioning for his sister. These things feel like tissue paper, and are VERY fragile. He also sent copies, and politely asked that USCIS return the originals after inspecting them. They did.

In some countries, getting a photocopy of an original government file document is a relatively new innovation.

[WeatherEmperor 21]

I called the Embassy of Suriname in D.C and they said that I can order the certified true copy of my birth certificate. It may take a couple of months but that should be okay. This is the best I could do since the original was lost. I blame my parents for losing it

Anyways I am hopeful that the HCMC Consulate will accept this certified true copy since I got the Embassy of Suriname involved in making it for me. Thanks guys!

<CARRICK>

Edited July 6, 2010 by WeatherEmperor

[vietazn 1]

Because you do not have the original, you should also consider having her bring along secondary birth records such as

school records, church records, and state-issued ID card. It couldn't hurt.