Wife's divorce decree was rejected by NVC

[WEDO 5]

The issuing country is Colombia. 

And I only got this vague message.

 

Please replace this with an acceptable marriage termination document from a correct issuing authority. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines.

 

And I see nothing on the website that would give me a clue as to what is unacceptable about the document.

Edited January 20, 2021 by TBoneTX
remove attachment with personal info

[Crazy Cat 41,884]

You should delete that attachment.  It has personal information.

[payxibka 10,045]

27 minutes ago, WEDO said:

The issuing country is Colombia. 

And I only got this vague message.

 

Please replace this with an acceptable marriage termination document from a correct issuing authority. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines.

 

And I see nothing on the website that would give me a clue as to what is unacceptable about the document.

 

 

 

 

Certified Translation of Jess divorce-compressed.pdf 1.25 MB · 7 downloads

Really?

 

Divorce
 

Available

Fees: There may be a fee for this service.  Consult with the applicable civil registry office.

Document Name:

• Divorce Decree are processed:
  • by the Notary Publics (mutual consent divorces), and
  • by the "Juzgados de Familia" (divorces by cause).
     
• Annulments are issued by the “Tribunal Eclesiastico” of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Birth certificate (Registro de Nacimiento) or Marriage Certificate (Registro Civil de Matrimonio), with the appropriate divorce amendment.

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format:

• Both types of divorce decrees are  issued on plain white paper.
• Annulments are issued on letterhead paper.

Issuing Authority Personnel Title:

• Divorce decrees are issued by Notary Public or judges in the Family Court.
• Annulments are issued by the "Tribunal Eclesiástico" of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Birth or marriage certificates, with divorce annotation are issued by the Civil Registry.

Registration Criteria: There are no registration criteria.

Procedure for Obtaining:

• Catholics who do not want to process a divorce can get an annulment of their marriage (“cesación de efectos civiles”). The embassy will accept an annulment issued by the "Tribunal Eclesiástico" as proof of an official annulment of the marriage.
• All divorces, whether civil or religious, must be registered with the civil authorities (“La Oficina de Registro Civil”) to be legal.  Proof that the divorce was registered with civil authorities (either an annotated birth certificate or marriage certificate) is required in addition to the civil divorce decree or religious annulment decree.  

Certified Copies Available: Yes.  By default, all Colombian divorce certificates are certified/notarized copies of the original.  The original version is kept in the Civil Registry office of the city/municipality where the divorce was registered.  The marriage or birth certificate with the required divorce annotation is also a certified copy, issued by the Civil Registry in the city/municipality where the birth or marriage was registered.

Alternate Documents: There are no alternate documents.

Exceptions: None

[WEDO 5]

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

Really?

 

Divorce
 

Available

Fees: There may be a fee for this service.  Consult with the applicable civil registry office.

Document Name:

• Divorce Decree are processed:
  • by the Notary Publics (mutual consent divorces), and
  • by the "Juzgados de Familia" (divorces by cause).
     
• Annulments are issued by the “Tribunal Eclesiastico” of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Birth certificate (Registro de Nacimiento) or Marriage Certificate (Registro Civil de Matrimonio), with the appropriate divorce amendment.

Special Seal(s) / Color / Format:

• Both types of divorce decrees are  issued on plain white paper.
• Annulments are issued on letterhead paper.

Issuing Authority Personnel Title:

• Divorce decrees are issued by Notary Public or judges in the Family Court.
• Annulments are issued by the "Tribunal Eclesiástico" of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Birth or marriage certificates, with divorce annotation are issued by the Civil Registry.

Registration Criteria: There are no registration criteria.

Procedure for Obtaining:

• Catholics who do not want to process a divorce can get an annulment of their marriage (“cesación de efectos civiles”). The embassy will accept an annulment issued by the "Tribunal Eclesiástico" as proof of an official annulment of the marriage.
• All divorces, whether civil or religious, must be registered with the civil authorities (“La Oficina de Registro Civil”) to be legal.  Proof that the divorce was registered with civil authorities (either an annotated birth certificate or marriage certificate) is required in addition to the civil divorce decree or religious annulment decree.  

Certified Copies Available: Yes.  By default, all Colombian divorce certificates are certified/notarized copies of the original.  The original version is kept in the Civil Registry office of the city/municipality where the divorce was registered.  The marriage or birth certificate with the required divorce annotation is also a certified copy, issued by the Civil Registry in the city/municipality where the birth or marriage was registered.

Alternate Documents: There are no alternate documents.

Exceptions: None

Yeah I already read that.....the divorce decree was issued by the same notary where the marriage took place. All the signatures and seals are visible. 

[TBoneTX 45,303]

An attachment containing personal information has been removed from this VERY public forum.

[WEDO 5]

Called NVC.....believe it or not the lady I spoke to claimed that I had the marriage certificate where the my wife's divorce decree was supposed to be 

 

So I changed the locate of the document.....how I was supposed to know that based on the form response of "unacceptable document" is beyond me.....but such is life when dealing government agencies. 

[WEDO 5]

It now appears that NVC wants an annotation of my wife's previous divorce on the marriage certificate....unclear which marriage certificate that it is that they want the annotation put on.....the marriage certificate of her previous marriage or our marriage certificate.....not sure it even matters.

 

Or they say they will take a copy of her birth certificate with an annotation of her divorce on it. 

 

I plan on giving them both....in an attempt to stop the run around. 

 

Keep in mind these requirements are specific to Colombia. 

[Troy B 223]

3 hours ago, WEDO said:

It now appears that NVC wants an annotation of my wife's previous divorce on the marriage certificate....unclear which marriage certificate that it is that they want the annotation put on.....the marriage certificate of her previous marriage or our marriage certificate.....not sure it even matters.

 

Or they say they will take a copy of her birth certificate with an annotation of her divorce on it. 

 

I plan on giving them both....in an attempt to stop the run around. 

 

Keep in mind these requirements are specific to Colombia. 

Have you looked at the state department's Civil Documents list?  That spells out what the US is expecting.

[WEDO 5]

2 hours ago, Troy B said:

Have you looked at the state department's Civil Documents list?  That spells out what the US is expecting.

Yeah I looked at the requirements....it still is ambiguous in that it doesn't say which marriage certificate should have the divorce annotation.

Probably not a problem for most guys to figure out....but we were married in Medellin and my wife was married to her former husband in Medellin as well. So it is anyone's guess which marriage certificate that NVC wants the divorce annotation on. Maybe it doesn't matter. 

I'm assuming the NVC wants our marriage certificate  with the annotation of her divorce.

I mean what if my wife was married to her ex husband in another country (her ex was chilean). Then it would be impossible for her have the divorce annotation added to her marriage certificate.

 

At any rate I'll have the translations back tomorrow and we'll see what NVC has to say this time. 

 

But it does beg the question.....why aren't divorce decrees acceptable proof of a divorce?

 

 

 

[Chancy 6,241]

41 minutes ago, WEDO said:

why aren't divorce decrees acceptable proof of a divorce?

 

The DOS page referenced by previous posters states why divorce decree is not enough --

 

All divorces, whether civil or religious, must be registered with the civil authorities (“La Oficina de Registro Civil”) to be legal.  Proof that the divorce was registered with civil authorities (either an annotated birth certificate or marriage certificate) is required in addition to the civil divorce decree or religious annulment decree.

 

[WEDO 5]

My wife was previously married and divorced at the same notary that we were married at. So all the documents come from this one notary office....the marriage certificate from her previous marriage, the divorce decree from her pervious marriage and our marriage certificate. How having the same notary put an annotation of my wife's divorce on our marriage certificate makes the divorce now registered is beyond me. 

Which is why I'm including my wife's birth certificate with the divorce decree as well....because at least the birth certificate comes from the La Oficina de Registro Civil ....which is a completely different place than the notary's office that all of the other documents came from.  In my case the birth certificate might lend some credibility to the divorce decree.....but according to the NVC guide lines either the marriage certificate with the annotation of divorce OR the birth certificate with the annotation are acceptable....both are not required. But since the having the same notary that produced the divorce decree...put the annotation of the divorce on the marriage certificate that the same notary also produced.....I thought I would also include my wife's birth certificate with the annotation as well....just to add a third party into the mix. hahaha

[WEDO 5]

One other thing that I over looked with the translations.

 

My wife's marriage certificate is blank on the back side of the document. There is nothing there to translate. 

 

But the NVC requires that you scan and send both sides of the document....so they can see that there is nothing on the other side.

 

Well I sent the document with the blank side as well to the translation service.....but when I get the translation back they didn't attach the blank page to the translation. 

 

I did my best to try and get them to attach the blank page to the official translation....but I was unsuccessful in that attempt. So I finally ended up sending both sides of the marriage certificate with the blank page in one file and sending the front page of the marriage certificate along with the certified translation in another file. 

 

We will see how that goes over. If it isn't approved I guess I can pay $20 to have the translation service add the blank page to the translation file......they like to charge $20 bucks per page even if there are no words on the page. 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by WEDO

[WEDO 5]

Submitted the documents last night....and wrote up to an email saying that my wife is now.....DOCUMENTARILY QUALIFIED!

 

I'll let you guys know how long it takes to get an interview in Bogota these days.