Certified copies of birth certs and marriage cert

[kins 0]

Reading the checklist in Packet 3 I see I need certified copies of birth certificates and marriage certificate.

I took them all to my bank, and they said they no longer have a certified copy stamp, so instead they stamped the copies with a stamp that just says their sort code, the town name, and a number, then wrote over the stamp COPY OF ORIGINAL.

Do you think this will be adequate for interview purposes? If not should I go to a solicitor to get the copies done? Any other suggestions?

Thanks...

[lucyrich 20]

A bank can't issue a certified copy of a vital statistic record (marriage, birth certificate, etc.)

You can't have the original of that kind of record. The original is kept in a government vault somewhere. If they gave you the original, the government would have no record of the event.

A certified copy is a copy that has some sort of seal and/or signature of a government clerk that certifies that it's an accurate copy of the original record that's in the vault. In order to be suitable for immigration purposes, the certification seal must be issued by the government agency that's responsible for maintaining the records. In the US, that would usually be a county clerk, but different jurisdictions may vary on this point.

Probably, the thing you're calling an "original" is a certified copy.

For the interview, you'll need the certified copy, plus it's probably advisable to bring an ordinary photocopy (no notarization, certification, or other fancy stuff needed). They'll look at your certified copy, verify the seal on it, compare it to the photocopy to make sure they match, and keep the photocopy for their records. You don't HAVE to bring a photocopy, but if you don't, then they'll have to keep your certified copy for their records. Since certified copies are usually expensive and/or difficult to obtain, most people would rather give them a photocopy.

[kins 0]

A bank can't issue a certified copy of a vital statistic record (marriage, birth certificate, etc.)

You can't have the original of that kind of record. The original is kept in a government vault somewhere. If they gave you the original, the government would have no record of the event.

A certified copy is a copy that has some sort of seal and/or signature of a government clerk that certifies that it's an accurate copy of the original record that's in the vault. In order to be suitable for immigration purposes, the certification seal must be issued by the government agency that's responsible for maintaining the records. In the US, that would usually be a county clerk, but different jurisdictions may vary on this point.

Probably, the thing you're calling an "original" is a certified copy.

For the interview, you'll need the certified copy, plus it's probably advisable to bring an ordinary photocopy (no notarization, certification, or other fancy stuff needed). They'll look at your certified copy, verify the seal on it, compare it to the photocopy to make sure they match, and keep the photocopy for their records. You don't HAVE to bring a photocopy, but if you don't, then they'll have to keep your certified copy for their records. Since certified copies are usually expensive and/or difficult to obtain, most people would rather give them a photocopy.

Great, thank you!

[meauxna 15]

lucyrich, thanks again for the great answers you give. I wanted to answer, but couldn't say it as well as you do.

Thank you!

[ChinaDavid 0]

I ran into this same problem and received an RFE. I had sent in copies of our marriage certificate along with a certified translation, but what was required was a notarized, signed official COPY of our marriage certificate, issued by a government agency. In our case, we also needed a certified English translation of the certficate. We needed to do this also for her divorce decree. I had sent in a copy with translation, but it did not have the notarization by the government agency. Interestingly, they required TWO copies of each document. Maybe that is because we filed both an I-130 and I-129F petition. I don't know. Don't care. One week after responding to the RFE, both petitions were approved.