AOS - Birth Certificate Requirement - Peru - Reniec?

[Ricyyuly 0]

Hi,

My wife came on a k-1 fiancee visa from Peru. We got married June 12th and sent our AOS on June 14th. We received the NOA and await further information. We are a little concerned about the birth certificate requirement. We didn't plan ahead and bring copies so now we're trying to get that document from family in Peru.

The question is, does the birth certificate (required for the AOS interview) need to be certified (legalized) by Reniec or can we bring the copy from the original that was received from the municipality in Cusco? Her family has the copy from the municipality already but apparently it takes time to get it legalized properly by Reniec and we would like to avoid putting them through that if it isn't necessary.

Thanks in advance for any information from those that have been through the process already.

[lacolinab13 86]

What did you send in the AOS packet? No birth certificate? A copy of the birth certificate with translation? If you didn't send at least a copy of the one from the municipality with an appropriate translation then I would imagine you'll be getting an RFIE as a birth certificate is a required document, and you will need to produce one much sooner than the interview.

I can't speculate as to what USCIS will accept, though my hunch is that they will have no idea about Reniec and accept the one from just the municipality.

However, to get a birth certificate that has been endorsed by RENIEC in Cusco is a very simple process - you go in the morning, pay something like 20 soles and get it back the same afternoon. I know because my fiance's sister recently (March) got one for him . If it were me, I'd go ahead and get a few of those for all future processes as well.

[Ricyyuly 0]

We sent a copy of the one from the municipality with our AOS packet.

We're getting the document legalized but it might take time I understand. She thinks it will take time because she is from an area outside Cusco. If she were born in Lima it wouldn't be so difficult apparently.

What other occasions will we need a legalized birth certificate copy? Now I'm worried we should have asked for more than one to be legalized.

[lacolinab13 86]

We sent a copy of the one from the municipality with our AOS packet.

We're getting the document legalized but it might take time I understand. She thinks it will take time because she is from an area outside Cusco. If she were born in Lima it wouldn't be so difficult apparently.

What other occasions will we need a legalized birth certificate copy? Now I'm worried we should have asked for more than one to be legalized.

Did you also send a translation?

I think that will be fine for USCIS. I doubt they know anything about RENIEC.

That being said, when my fiance had his interview in Lima, they asked for a birth certificate that had been legalized by RENIEC, so I'm surprised your wife didn't get one for the interview.

Has her family been to RENIEC in Cusco to inquire? How far outside of Cusco are they? It's an exceedingly easy process. We also thought it could take forever and then couldn't believe how easy it was. The turn-around was the same day. It's easy to get as many copies as you want as they basically have just scanned in birth certificates and then print them out on RENIEC stationery. I'd be surprised if your wife's wasn't already in the system.

You need birth certificates for AOS, ROC and naturalization, could need them to register your marriage with your local Peruvian consulate or get Peruvian citizenship for any children, you could potentially need them to get other IDs. We chose to get a small stack as they're pretty cheap and just look a bit more official than the municipality paper, especially since in Peru there is no such thing as an "original" birth certificate to present. (The RENIEC would count as a certified copy).

I wouldn't stress too much about it but I probably would at least send someone to RENIEC to inquire just in case.

[Ricyyuly 0]

Yes we did send a translation with the copy sent in with the AOS paperwork. I'm hopeful that paperwork will get processed smoothly.

She used the legalized copy during her interview in Lima but wasn't aware she needed another and of course they retained the copy we had from that interview. She doesn't understand this process well and of course I don't get how things work in Peru.

Her family will get us a legalized copy to be safe.