Help! I-130 form question!

[jivany 0]

Hi all

Important question..my wife sent me all of her documents. However, she sent me her ORIGINAL birth certificate with the apostille. In El Salvador, once you get married, your birth certificate is ammended to show that you have been married. Was she supposed to get the new birth certificate apostilled or are we ok with the original? Pls advise ASAP!!! Thanks!!

[Scott and Mhay 57]

Your wife's BC is not needed for the process. Only the USC BC or passport copy is needed. What point in the process are you guys? Please fill in your timeline if you have filed already.

[Done--Really 331]

You will need her original or the amended version certified meaning that it comes directly from the government with all the appropriate stamps, seals, etc when you send the DS-230 to NVC in a few months. NVC will not accept copies.

Edited August 26, 2011 by magical

[jivany 0]

Your wife's BC is not needed for the process. Only the USC BC or passport copy is needed. What point in the process are you guys? Please fill in your timeline if you have filed already.

Huh???? My wife doesnt need her birth certificate? Thats the first time I have heard that. I am almost quite positive that we DO need it. We are about to file the I-130 form, but trying to get all of our ducks in a row. A little speed bump we just hit, so we are trying to figure this out asap! Pls advise if that is a sure thing, that my wife does NOT need her birth certificate....

You will need her original or the amended version certified meaning that it comes directly from the government with all the appropriate stamps, seals, etc when you send the DS-230 to NVC in a few months. NVC will not accept copies.

Wait...so can I send the I-130 form with a copy of her ORIGINAL birth certificate? She sent me the one without the amended version. I thought that we need the one WITH the amended version. Again, we are just starting out and about to file the I-130 form...pls advise.

[caly 48]

The beneficiary's birth certificate does not need to be submitted with the I-130 petition. You will only need it a few months down the road when you are submitting the DS-230 immigration visa application at NVC.

Edited to add: I'm not sure which version of the birth cert you would need later on though. But I would submit the I-130 now and worry about this after.

Edited August 26, 2011 by caly

[Scott and Mhay 57]

You do not need the beneficary's BC to file the I-130. Check out the guide here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

and the instructions for the I-130 here: http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-130instr.pdf

And the above replies are correct...the BC is not needed until the DS-230 package and it does have to be the original "long form" BC. Check out the Wiki here:

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/DS-230

I cant comment on your guy's embassy, but if there is an annotation for her marriage that they do in their country...then I suggest to have her get it and send it to you before the NVC stage. So, no worries at this point. You can still send in the I-130 package.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Scott and Mhay

[Scott and Mhay 57]

I'm sorry if I caused any confusion...I know I was not clear in my first reply.