RFE Birth Certificate question

[paulmit 6]

Hi all,

I went to the hospital and got an English birth certificate which has my parents' name, BOD and nationality. And I filed it for my I-485.

However, I just got an RFE for birth certificate today. On the mail, it tells me to submit a birth certificate issued by the appropriate civil authority and also states that USCIS only accept long-form birth certificate which listed at list one parent. 

 

I don't understand what's wrong with my birth certificate that I sent..... Is it because I didn't send a Mandarin birth certificate? Or It is saying they need my birth certificate in long-form?  

Does anyone know what I did wrong? Thank you

 

[givionte 138]

English is fine, I don't know what could have been wrong.  The birth certificate is from a hospital in Taiwan, correct?  Includes all the important information below? I think they be confused, I'm not aware of Taiwan having different forms of certificates, though they do have birth registration records as an alternative if someone wasn't born in a hospital or records have been destroyed.

• Full name at birth
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Full name of both parents
• Name of issuing government body (In your case hospital)
• Date of issuance
• Seal or other certification and signed and dated by the attending physician

 

[paulmit 6]

3 minutes ago, givionte said:

English is fine, I don't know what could have been wrong.  The birth certificate is from a hospital in Taiwan, correct?  Includes all the important information below? I think they be confused, I'm not aware of Taiwan having different forms of certificates, though they do have birth registration records as an alternative if someone wasn't born in a hospital or records have been destroyed.

• Full name at birth
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Full name of both parents
• Name of issuing government body (In your case hospital)
• Date of issuance
• Seal or other certification and signed and dated by the attending physician

 

Yes it is from the hospital. It has all the information that you mentioned. 

Yeah, I have no idea. My friend who only sent English format got her green card without RFE. 

Strange......

[givionte 138]

I would try to contact them and re-clarify the issue.  Ensure they didn't miss it in your paper stack, and double check you sent it correctly with your petition.  Perhaps it was in error and they just need to check again.

[geowrian 22,337]

Here's what they are looking for. If this is what you sent and it was either entirely in English or included an English translation, then it may have been a mistake on their part.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Taiwan.html

Quote

Birth Certificates

Available

Fees: Free of charge, although there may be a small fee for the English version depending on the hospital

Document Name: Birth Certificate

Issuing Authority: Hospital of birth

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format: Should be signed and dated by the by the attending physician and the physician’s seal should be present in wet ink

Issuing Authority Personnel Title: Attending physician

Registration Criteria: Births of Taiwan nationals must be registered with the local Office of Household Registration.  Before February 9, 2000, only Taiwan national fathers could transmit Taiwan citizenship to their children.  Children of foreign fathers were not granted Taiwan citizenship and were registered with the consular authorities of their father’s country of citizenship.  Following the amendment of the Nationality Law in 2000, either parent can transmit Taiwan citizenship to their children.  Children born in Taiwan to foreign parents are not granted citizenship by the Taiwan authorities and are usually registered with their own consular authorities.

Procedure for Obtaining: Contact hospital of birth

Certified Copies Available: Certified copies are not available

Alternate Documents: Birth registration record (issued by the Office of Household Registration) together with the Household Registration Record

Exceptions: Records on Chinese who came to Taiwan from mainland China after World War II date back only to the date they first applied for registration with the local Office of Household Registration and are based on information provided by the applicant.

Comments: Immigrant visa applicants are required to submit a current Household Registration Record as well as a birth certificate.  Applicants who are unable to obtain their birth certificate – for example, those born in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation that ended in 1945, or those who came from mainland China following WWII — may provide their initial Household Registration Record as an alternative to the birth certificate.

 

[paulmit 6]

Thank you @givionte @geowrian ! 

I tried to call them just now but the customer representative cannot help me with this so she transfer to an officer

He basically says that because my birth certificate is from the hospital and not from the government so it is not valid..... 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by paulmit

[geowrian 22,337]

30 minutes ago, paulmit said:

Thank you @givionte @geowrian ! 

I tried to call them just now but the customer representative cannot help me with this so she transfer to an officer

He basically says that because my birth certificate is from the hospital and not from the government so it is not valid..... 

 

I would suggest that your RFE response include a printout of the link I noted above, highlighting the issuing authority for birth certificates.

[Plato123 26]

On 7/26/2019 at 12:31 PM, paulmit said:

Thank you @givionte @geowrian ! 

I tried to call them just now but the customer representative cannot help me with this so she transfer to an officer

He basically says that because my birth certificate is from the hospital and not from the government so it is not valid..... 

 

Hello! My husband is also from Taiwan and we filed for AOS in March. We have an update saying an RFE was issued and not sure yet, but might be due to the birth certificate as we submitted one from his birth hospital. I stumbled upon your post and was just wondering how you replied to your RFE? Thank you! 

[Ayrton 965]

6 hours ago, Plato123 said:

Hello! My husband is also from Taiwan and we filed for AOS in March. We have an update saying an RFE was issued and not sure yet, but might be due to the birth certificate as we submitted one from his birth hospital. I stumbled upon your post and was just wondering how you replied to your RFE? Thank you! 

According to the USCIS reciprocity webpage, the one you sent is the one they accept.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Taiwan.html

[Plato123 26]

7 hours ago, Ayrton said:

According to the USCIS reciprocity webpage, the one you sent is the one they accept.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Taiwan.html

Thank you 

[jryan2613 1]

I made a reply to this topic although that has disappeared. Basically in the same situation. But wife was born at a clinic. Not a hospital. And for that lots of confusion. Attorney keeps saying needs to be from hospital. State gov website says alternative documents can be household registration and registration of birth from household registry. From what we can tell there is no such thing as a birth registration record from  household registration however a regular household registration will list the date of birth as the day the Taiwan citizen is added to the household registry. Rather than start a new topic I thought it would be more useful to post here as it pertains to the rfe and confusion with Taiwan birth certificates as it’s possibly up to 25% of the Taiwanese aren’t born in hospitals and instead born in clinics. We plan on submitting the full household registry and the full birth certificate that is on file and came from the household registry. The clinic of course no longer has her birth certificate and even if they did it seems it would be of no value as they want everything from a hospital only.  I will update our progress here if we get a RFE.  Anyone else submitted a clinic birth certificate successfully? Thanks in advance.