K1 Fiance has both spanish and czech birth certificate, which should be used?

[trvs 0]

My fiance was born in Spain to a British father and a Czech mother, and has a certificate from Spain. But a divorce led to her mother moving her to Czech, where she has lived nearly all of her life. Her mother evidently obtained a birth certificate for her in Czech at some point (Czech law requires notification within 3 days of birth but am unsure if this has always been the case or what special exceptions may have existed at the time). The Spain birth certificate lists both parents and uses her father's surname. The Czech birth certificate lists only her mother and uses her mother's divorced name. Later in life, her mother remarried, resulting in a surname name change in Czech. She has since (as an adult) moved to the UK to live with her father and obtained British citizenship and has been employed and taxed there for going on 2 years now. Her Czech and UK passports reflect the surname of her Czech mother's second marriage. My question ultimately is which birth certificate should be used for the K1 requirements? The Czech certificate is legally valid, and her british citizenship speaks to her being the legitimate child of her father, so would USCIS care about the Czech cert not showing the father's name?

[OldUser 6,724]

She was born in Spain, hence Spanish birth certificate should be provided. It was also the first birth certificate ever issued to the child.

 

I know some countries in that region of the world issue birth certificates based on parent's nationality, but it is super confusing.

 

Essentially, USCIS tries to determine the person's origin. As they were born in Span, Spanish older birth certificate should be provided.

 

I may be wrong, but in the eyes of USCIS that is the valid birth certificare that was generated shortly after child's birth. Not a certificate from some other country generated at some point.

 

I bet, the moment US official hears / learns she was born in Spain, they'd expect to see Spanish certificate and would be very confused by Czech one, without father etc.

 

~ This is not a legal advice ~

 

P.S. I'm curious to learn what is the place of birth on Czech certificate.

Edited March 10 by OldUser

[trvs 0]

4 minutes ago, OldUser said:

She was born in Spain, hence Spanish birth certificate should be provided. It was also the first birth certificate ever issued to the child.

 

I know some countries in that region of the world issue birth certificates based on parent's nationality, but it is super confusing.

 

Essentially, USCIS tried to determine the person's origin. As they were born in Span, Spanish older birth certificate should be provided.

 

So is it of no issue that her current name does not match her original birth certificate? Her current surname matches that of her stepdad's from Czech, so legally it matches her mother's current surname, but not her father's. Thank you for your quick reply by the way!

[OldUser 6,724]

11 minutes ago, trvs said:

So is it of no issue that her current name does not match her original birth certificate? Her current surname matches that of her stepdad's from Czech, so legally it matches her mother's current surname, but not her father's. Thank you for your quick reply by the way!

Many people's name change over the course of life for various reasons.

 

For example, if your fiance was married before, her current legal name could have been of her ex husband.

 

When you fill the forms for visas and immigration, there's often a question about current name and any names used in the past. She'd have to list her name at birth in the "other names used" field.

 

I was also born in country X, lived for a while in country Y as a child and country Z as an adult. I was coming to the US from country Z. My birth certificate was from country X even though I'm not a citizen of that country don't even speak their language!

 

Wasn't an issue in my case.

 

Let's hear from others and their opinions.

Edited March 10 by OldUser

[Lemonslice 4,859]

11 hours ago, OldUser said:

Many people's name change over the course of life for various reasons.

 

For example, if your fiance was married before, her current legal name could have been of her ex husband.

 

When you fill the forms for visas and immigration, there's often a question about current name and any names used in the past. She'd have to list her name at birth in the "other names used" field.

 

I was also born in country X, lived for a while in country Y as a child and country Z as an adult. I was coming to the US from country Z. My birth certificate was from country X even though I'm not a citizen of that country don't even speak their language!

 

Wasn't an issue in my case.

 

Let's hear from others and their opinions.

My documents/birth certificates are similar to OP's situation, but with less variation in last names.  I only submitted the birth certificate from the place I was born (as described on the reciprocity schedule), and then wrote a note on why the name on my passport was slightly different [birth certificate lists me as Anna Barbara Christina Daniella Estella WHITE SMITH (not my real name, obviously, but similar structure with 5 first names), but my passport and my all IDs are only displaying Anna SMITH, and have been for all my life].
Also listed all names on the forms under other names used, when required, and requested my police certificate with all names being checked.    

Never shared with them the other birth certificate, since it was not required, and might have created more confusion.  

[Ryan H 3,812]

13 hours ago, trvs said:

My question ultimately is which birth certificate should be used for the K1 requirements?

 

The certificate issued in Spain.

[trvs 0]

My fiance was born in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and has a literal birth certificate containing her name, date, place, time of birth, and her parents' and grandparents' names and countries of residence. But her cert is stamped with a blue stamp from the civil registry that cites Article 30 of the Civil Registry Law: "The literal birth certificate shall state that it is issued for matters in which it is necessary to prove parentage, and is not admissible for any other purposes." Is this still usable for visa purposes? The translation we obtained also includes a translation of this stamped text. It is otherwise a normal literal official copy, but I can't find any references to this in relation to birth certificates online, especially in relation to K1 or other US immigration.

 

Followup question! We were able to get a digital birth certificate issued by the Spanish Ministry of Justice per recommendation on the reciprocity guidelines. 1) This certificate is not translated, but there are options to issue an English certificate, although we haven't tried it yet because the certificate is a photocopy of a handwritten document. Do we need to have this translated? 2) How do we provide this document to USCIS? The PDF has a verified signature with EU security certificate, but it's in Spanish; if we have it translated, a translator's file would destroy the digital signature, no? I'd appreciate any guidance!

[snailyote 6]

I had something similar on my Brazilian birth certificate. I had to go to the civil record office and they issued me a new birth certificate without the condition. Not entirely sure if it applies to your fiance since it’s a different country, but it might be worth looking into.

 

For translated documents, you need to include a copy of the original, a translated copy, and a statement from the translator showing that they’re capable and able to translate that language to English. The verified signature can be on the copy of the original document but it would’t need to be on the translated version since they know it’s not an original copy of the document.

[Lemonslice 4,859]

You can look up which documents are acceptable on the reciprocity schedule:

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

[trvs 0]

9 hours ago, snailyote said:

I had something similar on my Brazilian birth certificate. I had to go to the civil record office and they issued me a new birth certificate without the condition. Not entirely sure if it applies to your fiance since it’s a different country, but it might be worth looking into.

 

For translated documents, you need to include a copy of the original, a translated copy, and a statement from the translator showing that they’re capable and able to translate that language to English. The verified signature can be on the copy of the original document but it would’t need to be on the translated version since they know it’s not an original copy of the document.

 

 

 

This is very helpful, thank you! So were you required to obtain a new birth certificate - did you receive a Request for Evidence? Or is this something you decided to do just to be safe?

I really appreciate your insight!

[snailyote 6]

1 hour ago, trvs said:

 

 

 

This is very helpful, thank you! So were you required to obtain a new birth certificate - did you receive a Request for Evidence? Or is this something you decided to do just to be safe?

I really appreciate your insight!

Sorry, this wasn’t required for this visa petition, it was an unrelated situation where I needed to renew my Brazilian passport. In order to renew it, I had to prove citizenship by submitting my birth certificate but they wouldn’t take it unless that condition was removed. So I had to get the condition removed first.

 

Before submitting anything to the embassy, I would recommend that your fiance reaches out to the embassy to make sure that a condition like that wouldn’t cause any issues. I think it would needlessly delay the process if they deem the certificate invalid because of that condition. Best of luck!

[mialzbeta 0]

I was born in Spain, meaning my first and original birth certificate is Spanish. I have also had a Czech birth certificate generated 2 years after my birth, as it allows me to have naturalisation through my Czech mother. Is it smart to submit both and explain the situation, or should I just submit the original, Spanish one? Both have been translated and certified by a translator. Any experience and advice with dual birth certificates would help appreciated.

[Crazy Cat 41,904]

You were born in Spain......

[OldUser 6,724]

No need to submit Czech birth certificate.

You were born in Spain and have proof of it. Anything generated later in life, especially from a different country you were born in, is a bit funky to say the least. I know some countries do it, but it may be frowned upon in many countries.

Edited Tuesday at 03:26 PM by OldUser

[mialzbeta 0]

I have had 2 name changes in my life time. Name 1 was obviously at birth - name 2 was changed very briefly when I was 8 years old, and name 3 is my current name, which was changed when I was 9 years old. I do not possess any legal documentation with name 2, but remember using the name at school. Would I have to declare all 3 of these names, or only name 1 which is on my original birth certificate, and name 3 which is on all of my current documentation? I do not have access to any change of name documents - so if I have to declare all 3, would a notarised statutory declaration suffice? Thank you in advance for any response.