Birth Certificate Changes - AR

[robhankins 0]

There are many of us who are seeing new cases going to AR because of either late registration or certified changes on Birth Certificates from NSO on NSO Paper.

For those wanting to know about NSO security paper, it is colored (likely green) with small pattern in the background like water marks. In other words, it is not white bond paper. More like a bank check (old style).

I have seen two members whose fiancees had problems at their interview because of BC changes.

In my own case, Lilia's birth certificate had her first name misspelled as Lelia. She had it officially corrected two years ago. Her passport, NBI, school and college records, everything is in the name Lilia. She has never used the misspelled name for anything.

I called the USE today and was told it might or might not lead to AR. I was told it is solely at the discretion of the Consular Officer doing the interview.

As a precaution, I am having Lilia go to the NSO office and order a new copy on security paper to be mailed directly to the USE with our case number as part of the address. Hopefully, it will go directly to our file and be there for the CO when he does the interview. I will have her receive another copy via mail and take it along with her in an unopened envelope from the NSO. I don't know what else I can do at this point to avoid AR.

Please post your experiences and idea here. Let's share and see what we can learn from each other. We all want our ladies here with us as soon as possible. It has taken too long already.

[garya505 2]

I think some women in the Philippines who are actually married are getting "late registration" or corrected BCs to avoid the delay and cost of getting an annulment. She gets a new BC, a corrected baptismal, then gets a CENOMAR and a passport. A you may know, it's very difficult and expensive to get an annulment in the Philippines. There could be other types of fraud as well, but I think it's cases like these that may be behind the extra scrutiny at the Manila Embassy.

Rob, that's good info on the security paper. I think some people are getting BCs and CENOMARs with official-looking stamps and signatures from their local NSO offices. Unfortunately, with the right amount of cash you probably can get whatever you need from the local NSO, especially if you know someone.

Edited November 28, 2006 by garya505

[dims1 0]

Hi Rob,

Yes I hope others will post their experiences here.

My sweety never had a BC so we had to go through the process of applying for one so we could get a marriage licence. Took months but we finally were able to marry in May,2006

I'm really curious to find what others are going through... either pre-interview or post-interview.

I, like you Rob, have put so many hours and so much heart into the paperwork, trying to keep things going smoothly. Now to find out there might be a delay that is out of my hands.....amazing!

Also, if you can edit the topic line, it would be a good idea to add "Manila" as it appears that Manila is the place that is "bending" the rules.

Thanks,

Mike

[God is Good 0]

Hey guys, Im quite concern about the BC stuff. I will have my interview on Dec. 21 and the thing with my BC is that my mother's middle name was not that clear, instead of the I it was like typed E and then typed I again so it's not that clear. Im just hoping for the best that the Consul will not fuss over that thing.

You can get your NSO BC and CENOMAR from the local NSO office and they do give the same stuff they issue here in Manila. The provincial NSO offices are also online now adays. In my case there is an NSO office in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan and currently I am working here in Makati so what I did was just ordered there in puerto since it's easier to get one there than taking a day off here in Manila .

On a note: I also tried to correct or even ask for a clearer copy of my BC last year the local civil registrar who is responsible for the orignal BC made an appeal to NSO Manila for such correction on the first Middle name letter of my mother. I think that was in May 2005 and until now it's not yet on their system or i don't even know if they will take action on that!! Who knows!!!

What I have to do now is to pray a lot that you God will give us favor with the interview and also with the consul. That the interview will go well and the visa will be delivered without delay or AR.

For now, that's the best thing that I can do!! But for those who have still time to make changes but with the speed the government acts on an issue, welllllllllll!!!! go and do the thing you think will help your case.

I think it would be better also if you bring with you your mother's BC, father, and even their marriage certificate, I will even bring with me the original birth certificate from the local civil register other than the NC from NSO paper. Best of all just pray and pray and pray that God will give us favor and that the consul will be kind enough to overlook that!!

Elizabeth

[dims1 0]

Maybe you folks can tell me if this is similar to what your NSO certified BC looks like....

My wife ordered it from local civil reg and they were supposed to get it from NSO. Now I'm wondering if she really got a certified NSO BC.

Its not a good pic. I just scanned my photo copy of the real NSO BC I sent with the 230.

Does this look like yours?

Thanks, Mike

[God is Good 0]

Maybe you folks can tell me if this is similar to what your NSO certified BC looks like....

My wife ordered it from local civil reg and they were supposed to get it from NSO. Now I'm wondering if she really got a certified NSO BC.

Its not a good pic. I just scanned my photo copy of the real NSO BC I sent with the 230.

Does this look like yours?

Thanks, Mike

Yes that's real I think it's because your wife has no BC that's why you have a yellow BC. If i am not mistaken the regular color would be something like blue/green.. It's a BC issued by the NSO.... nothing more nothing less!!! That's the thing that you will submit during the interview!!

Mine's a different color since I was not registered late- i think.

[DaveHorton 0]

I'm going thru the I130 petition process right now in Manila (DCF) for my two step children, so have become intimately familiar with the NSO procedures and forms.... Here are some things I found, offered here as background info if it is not directly on-topic....

I have the 2 original civil registrar birth certificates for both my step-kids, one of which has an annotation due to a paternity issue.

I have several originals of the kids' NSO Birth certificates. The NSO security paper that the BCs are printed on are different colors, orange and green, but i cannot work out if there is some specific rule that caused the color change, perhaps the date of request caused it. Whatever the reason I am certain that the background color is not significant as it is different from one certificate to another, for the same person, requested only days apart.

The NSO certificates are simply scanned versions of the original civil registrar documents, printed on the security paper, so handwritten changes made to the original registrar versions show up on the NSO versions.

In the case of the annotated civil registrar BC, the NSO version was scanned prior to the annotation, so the NSO version is actually the older version. The reason is that it is the reponsibility of the requestor (who succeeded in getting the annotation onto the registrar copy) to request that the registrar forward the annotated version to the NSO for updating. That was never done, so the copies differ.

My wife's NSO birth certificate is a very badly scanned version of her registrar certificate, but having submitted many times to many authorities including the USE, I guess the clarity of the scan is less important that the background security paper it is printed on.

Same rule applies to nullities: if the petitioner in the nullity does not request that the registrar forward the amended marriage certificate to the NSO, the nullity will never make it onto the NSO marriage certificate. No amount of waiting will be fruitful.

Regarding data reliability, the NSO search algorithm must be rather inneficient as I have both a cenomar and a marriage certificate for the same person requested on the same day.

With the USE, I believe that a belt and braces approach (that's belt and suspenders for you yanks out there) would be advisable: get BOTH the NSO authenticated certificate, AND the original (OR a certified Xerox Copy of the original) registrar or court document behind the NSO document. For nullities, you would need the DECISION and the certificate of FINALITY from the court, also as certified xerox copies.

Do I know this to be necessary? No, but given the pain and anguish of the journey so far, I for one am trying to get all my bases covered...

Good luck to you all....

[cguytx 0]

My wife's bc had been corrected and reissued by CSO a few years ago. The embassy put us in AR today and said they needed to verify her bc with NSO. They asked her to obtain a new one and wait for a letter before she can go back. Oh, and to pay delbros on her way out.

I have no idea how long we will be in AR over this but I am preparing for the worst because of this delay.

[dims1 0]

Elizabeth,

Thanks a lot that makes me feel better about the color of my wife's BC. You are very kind!

Dave,

nice post! This is real helpful to read your thoughts on your experience.

My wife does have the original BC since she received it only soma months ago after applying for her BC she never had.

So I will use your advice and have her bring the original(the people at Civil Reg signed it in ink so its very original.) along with the NSO BC on security paper. and her baptismal cert. and anything else i can think of....

Thanks alot this helps alot!

Mike

[God is Good 0]

You are very welcome!;-) any time i could help - well this is really stressful situation for all of us who are going thru the visa process!!!

Let's just have faith that God is good all the time and He knows the desires of our hearts!! He is GOOD ALL THE TIME!!!

[garya505 2]

Maybe you folks can tell me if this is similar to what your NSO certified BC looks like....

My wife ordered it from local civil reg and they were supposed to get it from NSO. Now I'm wondering if she really got a certified NSO BC.

Its not a good pic. I just scanned my photo copy of the real NSO BC I sent with the 230.

Does this look like yours?

Thanks, Mike

Yes that's real I think it's because your wife has no BC that's why you have a yellow BC. If i am not mistaken the regular color would be something like blue/green.. It's a BC issued by the NSO.... nothing more nothing less!!! That's the thing that you will submit during the interview!!

Mine's a different color since I was not registered late- i think.

Ah, but my fiancee's BC is NOT a late registration and she says it's yellow!

It does look like that one though.

[God is Good 0]

DOn't worry it doesn't matter!!!:-) Look at my last post on the Manila EMbassy!! Everything is under control!!;-) She has the right BC /CENOMAR in her hands!!!

[robhankins 0]

My wife's bc had been corrected and reissued by CSO a few years ago. The embassy put us in AR today and said they needed to verify her bc with NSO. They asked her to obtain a new one and wait for a letter before she can go back. Oh, and to pay delbros on her way out.

I have no idea how long we will be in AR over this but I am preparing for the worst because of this delay.

Windchaser's fiancee just got her visa after (I think) a September interview for this very same reason. This is a real problem.

[robhankins 0]

QUOTE(cybernutguy @ Nov 28 2006, 01:53 AM)

I wanted to post regarding our AR because of an amended bc on NSO paper issued by NSO to my wife. I called and spoke with the embassy this morning and they told me my wife just needed to provide another NSO copy of her bc because the consulate officer was not happy with the copy she provided in the interview, no reason given just wasn't satisfied with it.

My wife went to the NSO office in Quezon City today and she will pick up another copy of her bc at 10am tomorrow morning. She was instructed by the consular officer to bring the new bc to the embassy at 1pm tomorrow. The part that gets me is, the embassy will still take 4 to 6 weeks to complete their internal investigation where they may request their own copy of the bc from the nso to complete their review. Embassy said once the review is completed they will release the visa to delbros for delivery. Now we are back to playing timeline games and my wife is going to live with her aunt in Makati city and wait on delivery or a letter from embassy because she beleives the visa will be released in a matter of days. She said the consulate officer (lady) was very nice and smiled and laughed with her then stuck it to us..ha

We did this by the book, paperwork was perfect, it just blew up in our face over her father's name being changed several years ago on the bc. If I had any advice I would say to include a visit during the medical to the NSO office in Quezon City to request several copies of your BC, CENOMAR and/or marriage certificate so that your wife/fiance can pull extra nso copies out if her bc or any other document is challenged. In the end, if they want to put you into AR, it is their perogative.

You can also request by web, pay with cc and have it delivered in 9 to 12 days locally according to their site.

https://www.ecensus.com.ph/Secure/frmIndex.asp

wish us luck,

You guys can tell me if you think this will work or not. I am ordering one copy of Lilia's birth certificate online and having it delivered directly to the USE in NSO envelope with our MNL file number on the address. Lilia will order one additional copy (other than the one she currently has) from NSO on NSO paper in unopened NSO envelope. Hopefully, the one mailed from NSO will find its way to our file prior to the interview. We will have one additional copy from NSO in unopened envelope from NSO PLUS the one she already has in her file. I will also attend the interview. These are all the measures I can think of to head off what appears to be almost automatic AR.

[BJZags 17]

Of course, the non-conspiracy part of me suspects we are blowing this ALL out of context and it really isn't that big of a problem. On VJ, we are dealing with two maybe three instances of this BC-gate. When compared to the hundreds of interviews conducted over this time and likely no problems, maybe we are stressing over a problem that simply does not exist. While it sucks for the few individuals affected and I pray the situation is resolved quickly for them, I still think that if you provide what is requested in the K1 packet, chances are you will be approved.