Korean birth certificate not accepted

[hwandhw 7]

Hi, 

 

I have a special case and I was wondering if anyone had a similar problem. 

 

I did a joint filing of 485 and 130 from F-1 visa after marriage. I'm a Canadian but I was born in Korea, and my family forfeited our Korean citizenship prior to 2008. Since there are no birth certificates issued from Korea you need to submit the basic certificate (or family census register) and family relation certificate. However since I forfeited my citizenship prior to 2008, I submitted the Certificate of Removal from the Family Registry, which is exactly what the website states on https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/SouthKorea.html. I was worried so I paid a translation service to have it certified translated and even attached a letter to my application stating why I am submitting this document (lost citizenship prior to 2008, etc)

 

However, I just got an RFIE for my 485 saying that this isn't an acceptable document and just a secondary evidence, and I need to either submit the documents above or submit church/school/hospital records of my birth with a translation, and a document that says why I can't submit a birth certificate from a government official. 

 

The thing is, the document I submitted, the Certificate of Removal from the Family Registry, is the ONLY document I can get from the Korean government and it states exactly when and where all of my family were born, and when we all lost citizenship. I called USCIS and talked for half an hour with the lady, and after explaining all of the above she said that she needed to transfer me to a higher up but they had so many calls that they weren't allowed to transfer, so I need to call back on Monday. 

 

I have also submitted the same document for my birth certificate for the 130, but I haven't heard anything back about this application. 

 

It's kind of frustrating as I left Korea at age 6, so I have no church or school records (attended a private day care which is not there anymore), I'm not sure if I can find the hospital. 

 

Just wanted to know if anyone had any similar cases as I have no idea what else I can submit and just getting a bit antsy waiting for Monday morning..

 

Thanks!

Edited June 29, 2019 by hwandhw

[hwandhw 7]

This is an update after an hour and a half of calling and waiting for a call back today. I wanted to update the information on my case for other people in future situations. 

 

I called right at 8am, and I still got the frustrating "Thank you for calling USCIS... we are experiencing longer than usual call wait times" .. which means they just play it at any which time of day. 

 

The first lady was exceptionally unhelpful, telling me that being transferred to a higher-up would not help me and she said that I should find a immigration attorney instead. An immigration attorney not to prepare a form but JUST to submit one document (that was certified by a professional translator...)... She obviously didn't understand after a lot of back and forth she finally transferred me to the Tier 2 officer, which took another hour of waiting for the call back. 

 

The tier 2 officer listened to my case, and said that I should write as clear as possible in a letter exactly what I described to her (why this document is the correct one for my birth certificate, why I can't get any secondary evidences etc) and send it back with the original document. Also, I realized that the Korean government and the US government have different english translations of the title of the document I sent.The officer said this probably wasn't the case but still to be safe she told me to ask my translator to put in a note about this. 

 

I have seen other cases where people have sent in this exact document with this exact translation I have used, with no problems at all. So I have a hunch that this is a mistake that USCIS made... As soon as I get the letter from my translator I'm going to expedite this back to them and hopefully it won't take them a long time. 

[AK_2014 113]

Best of luck with your application! What a frustrating situation.