What to do if USC family members refuse to provide copy of birth certificate?

[Eternal Spring 10]

We submitted letters from family, not their entire personal information. Sounds to me like overkill in an unnecessary privacy manner.

Letters signed and dated from your family members should be sufficient to prove family ties. Their personal information does not.

Won awards for what?! USCIS gives awards?

They received the highest award from the WA State Bar Association as well as various awards for their pro bono work. Everyone in my immediate family submitted letters, except for my sister and her kids (she would not allow the kids to write the letters, although they wanted to, they really love their uncle). The rest of the family provided copies of their own birth certificates along with their letters, since the attorney asked for that.

[LionessDeon 2,060]

They received the highest award from the WA State Bar Association as well as various awards for their pro bono work. Everyone in my immediate family submitted letters, except for my sister and her kids (she would not allow the kids to write the letters, although they wanted to, they really love their uncle). The rest of the family provided copies of their own birth certificates along with their letters, since the attorney asked for that.

Oh ok, well those aren't waiver approval awards, which is the pertainent issue here. Awards for pro bono work does nothing for a I-601a waiver. Just saying. So it's great but not impressive to immigration issues.

That is fine. I highly doubt your entire waiver hinges on your niece and nephew. Respect your sister's right to privacy. None of my nieces, nephews, wrote letters. Neither did all my siblings. Only one of them did. There is only so much weight that kind of evidence holds anyway.

Edited July 27, 2016 by LionessDeon

[lost_at_sea 995]

I love threads like this. Why ask VJ if you have a lawyer you trust more?

Anyway.

Why don't you ask your award-winning lawyer how to obtain birth certificates from people who don't want to provide them?

I agree with the others that you lawyer is asking for unnecessary documentation and I'm surprised that you would push your sister to provide documentation about herself and her children that she does not want to give you.

Edited July 27, 2016 by lost_at_sea

[Eternal Spring 10]

I love threads like this. Why ask VJ if you have a lawyer you trust more?

Anyway.

Why don't you ask your award-winning lawyer how to obtain birth certificates from people who don't want to provide them?

I agree with the others that you lawyer is asking for unnecessary documentation and I'm surprised that you would push your sister to provide documentation about herself and her children that she does not want to give you.

I don't appreciate the sarcasm, actually. I was asking for advice from other people whose lawyers might also have requested that they do the same thing for their I-601A. I just wanted feedback from fellow I-601A people, it's not about "trusting my lawyer more" or anything like that.

Who said that I would be pushing my sister? She said no, so I stopped pushing her.

I wish people on VJ would be less sarcastic. Common courtesy should not be so hard. Response I've received in the past on VJ have sometimes been sarcastic or rude. I was simply trying to explain that the lawyer does have an excellent reputation and is not going to steal anyone's identities, nor is he requesting the additional information in an attempt to pad the bill (since the bill is already paid).

[lost_at_sea 995]

I wasn't being sarcastic. Why didn't you ask the lawyer about the missing certificates and letters instead of VJ? Did you ask him? His opinion about whether that's an issue or not would be relevant to other I-601A people now and in the future.

[Eternal Spring 10]

I wasn't being sarcastic. Why didn't you ask the lawyer about the missing certificates and letters instead of VJ? Did you ask him? His opinion about whether that's an issue or not would be relevant to other I-601A people now and in the future.

Yes, that was my first step. However, he has not replied yet, so I thought I would ask for advice from other people who have done the I-601A.

[kris&me 572]

Lawyers getting awards???

from other lawyers and amount of money the guy makes and number of clients

already paid doesn't mean he didn't already charge you too much

and no way does immigration asks for these other ID"s

they need your children's birth certificate and at times in RFE ask to see death certificates of parents as they did for my friend to show why they did not attend a marriage cermony

tell your lawyer NO

not unless immigration asks for these as your sister doesn't have to give these to you

[Cathi 5,755]

Actually, the lawyer has won awards.

from who? awards do NOT equal a good lawyer. You came here asking for advice, and you were told over and over there is no need whatsoever to have birth certificates from family members and instead of being relieved, you are attacking the people who are telling the truth. Either accept the truth from people who have been there and done that, or go along with an attorney who has no clue what he/she is doing and continue to fight wit your sister over something that is NOT asked for or required. Your call...

[Usagi_tsukino 89]

That's just weird and suspicious I'm on your sister's side.

[Mrs. Wild 87]

1. In Washington state, anyone can get birth certificates of anyone born there. You don't need permission from the person it belongs to. Only parents or the person the birth certificate belongs to can change info on it, but anyone can request copies.

2. You don't need to show your relatives birth certificates for the hardship waiver. Proving close family ties is kind of at the bottom of the list of importance in regards to evidence. Their personal information does not need to be a part of your case. Their letters will suffice and really don't carry too much weight. Close ties to US citizens is actually for the immigrant spouse and it would fall under the "discretionary" part of the waiver. Aka it's up to the officer assigned to your case whether they think your case merits discretionary approval--the guidelines for that are very vague.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Mrs. Wild

[JFH 12,190]

Yes, that was my first step. However, he has not replied yet,

So he didn't win an award for customer communication?

[Eternal Spring 10]

from who? awards do NOT equal a good lawyer. You came here asking for advice, and you were told over and over there is no need whatsoever to have birth certificates from family members and instead of being relieved, you are attacking the people who are telling the truth. Either accept the truth from people who have been there and done that, or go along with an attorney who has no clue what he/she is doing and continue to fight wit your sister over something that is NOT asked for or required. Your call...

Thank you for your feedback.

Just to clarify, at no point did I "attack" anyone. I have simply tried to answer people's questions without insulting them, in order to explain the situation. When someone became overly sarcastic without even providing any advice, it was not an attack on my part to state that I don't appreciate their sarcasm.

In the interest of privacy, I did not provide the complete list of awards the attorney has won, but since my comment regarding his firm's awards is a continued target for mockery, I will add that one of the partners at the firm was given the Ohtli award from the Mexican government (the highest award that a non-Mexican can receive from the Mexican government), and he is the attorney consultant for the Mexican consulate here.

At no point have I "continued to fight" with my sister over this. She said no, I had to accept that.

[Eternal Spring 10]

1. In Washington state, anyone can get birth certificates of anyone born there. You don't need permission from the person it belongs to. Only parents or the person the birth certificate belongs to can change info on it, but anyone can request copies.

2. You don't need to show your relatives birth certificates for the hardship waiver. Proving close family ties is kind of at the bottom of the list of importance in regards to evidence. Their personal information does not need to be a part of your case. Their letters will suffice and really don't carry too much weight. Close ties to US citizens is actually for the immigrant spouse and it would fall under the "discretionary" part of the waiver. Aka it's up to the officer assigned to your case whether they think your case merits discretionary approval--the guidelines for that are very vague.

Thank you, I appreciate this. Out of respect for my sister, I won't go behind her back to get copies of her birth certificate, and the attorney will simply have to accept the very detailed info provided by all my other relatives.

So he didn't win an award for customer communication?

Was this comment at all helpful, or just intended for your own entertainment? Why must you be sarcastic?

[EmilyW 1,437]

I think people are genuinely trying to help, OP. Your lawyer has asked for information that is not relevant for your case. Why that is, no-one can say for certain. Perhaps he's trying to justify his bill and having you chase around getting information makes it look like this is very complicated and aren't you glad to have him navigating this for you.

Just make sure you yourself know what is required to process your case. And, if he turns around and says that, in the absence of your sister's details the price goes up, don't pay it. At that point, you'll know he's not acting appropriately.

[Loki_Go 126]

Well, to answer your original question it's unlikely you'll receive an RFE for non-essential information like that. And I'm happy to hear you'll be respecting your sister's privacy.