South Africa Long Form Birth Certificate required for CR-1 visa interview

[T3G 26]

Hi all, 

 

Thought I'd post this in case it is of use to any one else born in South Africa going through the i-130 application for a CR-1 or IR-1 visa. 

 

Submitted all paperwork back in June of last year, DQ March 2020 using only my short form (abridged) birth certificate and my British birth register.  I never had my long form one but had read on the USCIS website that the long form South African birth certificates (unabridged) would be required as they are considered "available", and in January had applied for the long form birth certificate.  Of course, COVID hit and all operations in SA shut down, along with the rest of the world.  Having not had any issues with being DQ'd with only my short form birth certificate and my British birth register, I assumed that not having the long form birth certificate wasn't an issue.  This was confirmed by the first chap I saw for my interview in September  - he took took all the originals of my docs and when I told him I didn't have the long form birth certificate he said it was fine, that they weren't giving me a visa based on my parents names anyway.  

 

Go to the second window once all my docs have been verified and the second chap tells me he doesn't think he can issue my visa without the long form birth certificate.  He can't verify this though, it's a bit of a grey area and it needs to be checked by his manager who is out.  Lets me know that my visa is refused for administrative processing and that I'll hear back in a week or so.  In a week I get a notification that it is in fact refused and can't be issued until I present the long form birth certificate.  South Africa authorities tell me there is a huge backlog due to COVID and it could be anywhere between 6 months and 3 years (!!) before I get my long form birth certificate.  

 

Waiting another 6 months to 3 years wasn't really on option for us and probably wouldn't be for anyone in a long distance relationship to be honest.  Husband is the USC so we reached out to his congressman's office who kindly managed our expectations by letting us know that in cases of administrative processing, they usually don't have much sway.  Luckily for us though, about 10 days later we received another response from the Congressman's office letting us know that the US Embassy had agreed to issue the visa without the long form birth certificate.  

 

We did manage shortly after this to get my long form birth certificate using an expedite agency in SA and alls well that ends well, but I thought it might be useful to make this post to remind people of their local Congressman/woman's office in these cases and also give the heads up to other South African's who may not already have their long form birth certificates to get them ASAP.