Birth Certificare altered with pen - what to do?

[andreamo 1]

I discovered last night that my husband's birth certificate was altered with pen by his mother because the agency that issued it made a mistake with his birth date. It's in Arabic and she added a small line to make a '1' into a '7'. I really want to scream. We had everything ready to send to the NVC. My husband claims he told me about this about a month ago and I said it would be ok. (This absolutely can't be true. If I had seen the birth certificate, I would have immediately told him we needed to figure something else out. My husband's English isn't perfect and I think this was something that was lost in translation.)

My husband is Syrian, so getting another BC from his country is out of the question. Plus, the Syrian embassy is doing limited services because the Ambassador was kicked out of the country. (We live in the United Arab Emirates.) They cannot issue him a new BC.

So, we need to get an affidavit (or two?) of birth. The problem with this is that both of his parents are dead and getting in touch with his one uncle that lives outside Syria is next to impossible.

He has a brother and a sister whom are U.S. citizens. Right now, they are the only immediate family members from whom we could realistically get notarized affidavits. But will this be enough? Does he need one or both of them to do this? And does anyone have a link to the form(s) that need to be used because I can't seem to find it online.

Thank you very much for any and all advice!

[andreamo 1]

He has now told me that there are other copies of his birth certificate that are unaltered and translated. But they also show the same mistake in his birth date as the one his mother changed.

Can we submit one of these and explain that they don't keep accurate records in Syria? Or submit all of them to show the problem has persisted through time? (Two of them were obtained and translated in 2008 and the other in 2010.) That is, that it isn't a problem we created in trying to falsify documents? We can also send canceled passports to show that his passport birth date has not changed since he got one.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

So his passport shows the altered date? I think it will almost certainly cause delays either way, because either you have a passport and birth cert with different dates, or you have a passport with the same date as a birthcert that was clearly altered, thye even if they accept it, they will need to do extra background checks on both birthdates.

Can you get other records maybe, such as directly from the hospital or from the doctor that delivered him?

[nnandrr 1]

if your husband has a proof of his correct birth date he should authorize any one in syria or relative to correct it and send him the new qayd nofos. it is easy. then he can issue byan welada from embassy in uae, it is issued in the same day.

[andreamo 1]

So his passport shows the altered date? I think it will almost certainly cause delays either way, because either you have a passport and birth cert with different dates, or you have a passport with the same date as a birthcert that was clearly altered, thye even if they accept it, they will need to do extra background checks on both birthdates.

Can you get other records maybe, such as directly from the hospital or from the doctor that delivered him?

His passport shows July 2, 1978. His birth certificate shows Jan 2, 1978. Syria is basically embroiled in a civil war right now. Even if my husband felt it was safe to go back to get a new birth certificate, he cannot for political reasons. Nor can his family members there get new documents for him or get affidavits. Two of them are in hiding from gov't forces. We can only do things outside of Syria.

[andreamo 1]

if your husband has a proof of his correct birth date he should authorize any one in syria or relative to correct it and send him the new qayd nofos. it is easy. then he can issue byan welada from embassy in uae, it is issued in the same day.

The UAE Embassy doesn't do anything for people not born in the UAE. He must get his byan weleda from Syria, unfortuantely.

[nnandrr 1]

he can authorize a lawyer in syria by making POA. he can do this thru the syrian embassy in uae. it is simple.

[Noah Lot 391]

I would expect a LOT of problems fixing this....and incredible delays

[Noah Lot 391]

I would expect a LOT of problems fixing this....and incredible delays...this sort of thing might be viewed as an attempt by him to avoid AP or other security checks...but now, those checks will be carried out in a very slow painstaking manner, and it's doubtful that anyone (such as an overpriced immigration attorney) can rectify this with some silly affidavit or notarized letter from a relative...did he say why he decided to make this alteration???? (makes no sense unless he is trying to hide something...)

[Cathi 5,757]

he can authorize a lawyer in syria by making POA. he can do this thru the syrian embassy in uae. it is simple.

it isn;t that simple, he would have to give power of attorney to a lawyer in Syria. Getting that done won't be easy, Syria is in the middle of a civil war right now.

he can authorize a lawyer in syria by making POA. he can do this thru the syrian embassy in uae. it is simple.

Syrian visa applications are done through Amman, Jordan, not UAE.

[nnandrr 1]

why jordan ? he is living in uae. read the post carefully.

he still can authorize a lawyer. should contact syrian embassy in uae.

[andreamo 1]

why jordan ? he is living in uae. read the post carefully.

he still can authorize a lawyer. should contact syrian embassy in uae.

I will ask him to call them tomorrow about this. The Syrian ambassador is no longer in the country and the Embassy is performing only limited services.

Anyways, we've worked something out that will hopefully be ok...

[andreamo 1]

I would expect a LOT of problems fixing this....and incredible delays...this sort of thing might be viewed as an attempt by him to avoid AP or other security checks...but now, those checks will be carried out in a very slow painstaking manner, and it's doubtful that anyone (such as an overpriced immigration attorney) can rectify this with some silly affidavit or notarized letter from a relative...did he say why he decided to make this alteration???? (makes no sense unless he is trying to hide something...)

First of all, why are the affidavits of birth silly? I don't know where you come from but there are places on earth where they don't keep careful birth records, or any birth records at all. Secondly, he didn't make the alteration. His 65-yr old mother made it in an attempt to fix the problem of his birth cert birth date not matching his passport birth date. He is not trying to hide anything at all. He's never needed to worry about this alteration until now.

And immigration attorneys may be overpriced but fortunately for me, I am from NH - where the NVC is located. And where congressional influence on a state level might actually mean something.