What to do when NVC rejects the correct document?

[welkin 16]

Hi all, my husband and I are very sad to see his "Marriage Termination Document" was rejected by NVC. We got a message that says

 

"Please replace this with an acceptable divorce, annulment, or death certificate from a correct issuing authority. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines."

 

but we did indeed double triple check the state.gov website and this is the exact document they wanted. We were baffled and I called the NVC and the person who received the call said they don't know why the reviewer rejected the document, and said we could submit a new letter saying "this is indeed the correct document". But even so she said that'd put us at the back of the line again. It is quite infuriating we are being made to wait for something that wasn't our mistake. Has anyone had this happen to them? How did you resolve it?

[Chancy 6,243]

*** Moved from IR1/CR1 Process & Procedures to NVC forum, where similar topics are discussed ***

 

[etrangais 949]

Call them back and ask for a supervisor review, if you are sure you submitted the correct document.

Supervisor review takes about 6 weeks at most

[welkin 16]

6 hours ago, etrangais said:

Call them back and ask for a supervisor review, if you are sure you submitted the correct document.

Supervisor review takes about 6 weeks at most

Thanks! I will give that a try!!

[SalishSea 18,017]

16 hours ago, welkin said:

Hi all, my husband and I are very sad to see his "Marriage Termination Document" was rejected by NVC. We got a message that says

 

"Please replace this with an acceptable divorce, annulment, or death certificate from a correct issuing authority. Please use our Document Finder at https://nvc.state.gov/find for acceptable documents guidelines."

 

but we did indeed double triple check the state.gov website and this is the exact document they wanted. We were baffled and I called the NVC and the person who received the call said they don't know why the reviewer rejected the document, and said we could submit a new letter saying "this is indeed the correct document". But even so she said that'd put us at the back of the line again. It is quite infuriating we are being made to wait for something that wasn't our mistake. Has anyone had this happen to them? How did you resolve it?

Was the document submitted actually terminating a 'life partner' or common law type of relationship?

[Family 4,110]

17 hours ago, welkin said:

Marriage Termination Document

1. Did you send THE SAME DIVORCE document to USCIS when you filed  the I-130 ?  Did you get RFE ( request for evidence that said Divorce paper is not acceptable ? ) 
 

2. What country is your husband’s divorce from? NVC knows what each countries divorce documents look like and what government/authority seals/stamps the divorce. They go by Reciprocity Table .. 
 

Many helpful people on VJ and they will send you links country specific threads / groups so you can look for others that had the same problem. 
 

 

[welkin 16]

8 hours ago, Family said:

1. Did you send THE SAME DIVORCE document to USCIS when you filed  the I-130 ?  Did you get RFE ( request for evidence that said Divorce paper is not acceptable ? ) 
 

2. What country is your husband’s divorce from? NVC knows what each countries divorce documents look like and what government/authority seals/stamps the divorce. They go by Reciprocity Table .. 
 

Many helpful people on VJ and they will send you links country specific threads / groups so you can look for others that had the same problem. 
 

 

We didn't have any problem with I-130. He's from South Korea and the website (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/SouthKorea.html) says

 

Quote

 

Divorce Certificates

Unavailable:  The Marriage Relation Certificate (Detailed) “Honin Kwankye Jeungmyongseo (Sang Sae)” provides information on marital status and also contains previous divorce information.  The Family Census Register “Jejeok Deungbon” also provides divorce records if the divorce was reported before January 1, 2008.

 

 

 

The "Honin Kwankye Jeungmyongseo (Sang Sae)" was indeed the file we submitted.

[Family 4,110]

36 minutes ago, welkin said:

The "Honin Kwankye Jeungmyongseo (Sang Sae)" was indeed the file we submitted.

You passed USCIS review when you sent in , you  are now a bit stuck at NVC ..where it was Rejected in Error and delay caused by Service Error , I assume is causing hardship . 
Sending an email to Ask NVC , not the speediest way to resolve. Try calling NVC , using terms above and if that fails, USC spouse asks for help w Congressman 

[welkin 16]

I thought I would post an update after so long, maybe this would help others who run into similar issues. So after I had posted the above, we requested a supervisor review, and two months later, they finally gave a very terse explanation. Basically my husband and his ex were living in the US and had divorced via the Korean consulate (because they got married in Korea). The NVC people must’ve expected the divorce be filed with a US court or something because they were living in the US at the time.

 

So we submitted a letter explaining the circumstances fully to show why the divorce was filed via the consulate. Another 2-3 months go by and we finally got DQ’d a few weeks ago! We were told that he should be expected to present his divorce documents for his consulate interview. Since it’ll be in Korea, we hope that the consulate people there have more experience navigating korean marriage/divorce procedures and not give us any more trouble about it.

 

It’s a longer process than we had expected but we feel like we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to all who have read my posts and gave me advice, I wish everyone the best!

Edited August 13, 2022 by welkin

[Family 4,110]

May I assume you got the response from NVC through the Congressional Liason ( email)…since NVC has effectively suspended the very limited help they were giving via telephone. 
Good news that it is resolved and do go to the interview with the printed “ terse” response, ready to anticipate any additional review by post.

[welkin 16]

5 minutes ago, Family said:

May I assume you got the response from NVC through the Congressional Liason ( email)…since NVC has effectively suspended the very limited help they were giving via telephone. 
Good news that it is resolved and do go to the interview with the printed “ terse” response, ready to anticipate any additional review by post.

No, during this time I was also unable to reach NVC by phone. The supervisor review had also rejected the document but wrote a couple more words in addition to their generic response (something like “US authority needed”), so that’s how we inferred that it was because the divorce wasn’t filed in US court. We called several lawyers (didn’t hire any, just the initial free consultation) and one of them said I should just submit a letter to explain the situation, so that’s what we did.

[Family 4,110]

20 minutes ago, welkin said:

No, during this time I was also unable to reach NVC by phone. The supervisor review had also rejected the document but wrote a couple more words in addition to their generic response (something like “US authority needed”), so that’s how we inferred that it was because the divorce wasn’t filed in US court. We called several lawyers (didn’t hire any, just the initial free consultation) and one of them said I should just submit a letter to explain the situation, so that’s what we did.

Nice leg work! Kudos on saving the Big Bucks on legal fees! 
The true and tried method “ paper with explanation “ in lieu of whatever NVC rejects or mistakenly keeps asking for! 
Teaches me that I failed to ask WHERE he was when he got divorced when you first posted. 😂 

 

Thank you for the update and response….some Congressional Inquiries have come back saying NVC does not and never did have “ supervisory review “ process….( not true of course) and even NVC errors must be reviewed by same staff that makes the error…brrrr
 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Family

[Kimgaba 8]

So i'm sorry, I just got a kind of similar situation today except they asked the petitioner's (me) my divorce. Which felt odd, but okay! anyways I got married else where but got divorce in a US supreme court. If i'm understanding this post correctly, by all accounts and purposes I was lucky enough that I did exactly what the NVC wants ? a signed and stamped US based divorce?

Edited September 29, 2022 by Kimgaba