Greetings to all, I hope you are well,
tldr: My wife no longer has her Chinese Birth certificate and is no longer a Chinese citizen, and she never had a National ID, so we are struggling to get a Notarial Birth Certificate to satisfy the State Department requirements for a Green Card. What can we do?
DETAILS
My British-Chinese wife and I are in the process Consular Processing to obtain an IR1 visa (green card, post 2 years marriage). Our I-130 was approved by the Department of Homeland Security and we have moved on to working through the State Department National Visa Center (NVC). We have nearly all the paperwork needed to file except my wife no longer has her Birth Certificate from China. Apparently, this was lost at the British embassy in Beijing decades ago when she and family immigrated England in the 90s, when my wife was 10 years old.
According to the State Department's Civil Document reciprocity schedule for China, my wife needs a Notarial Birth Certificate (Gong Zheng Shu: 公证书) from the Local Notary Public Office (Gong Zheng Chu: 公证处).
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/China.html
We have attempted to hire a Taobao agent (www.taobao.com) to handle the matter of procuring a Notarial Birth Certificate (Gong Zheng Shu: 公证书) and were told that we need the following documents:
Hukou (户口)
Single Child Certificate (独生子女证)
The marriage certificate of my wife's parents -- to establish a familiar relationship -- (父母结婚证)
National ID/Resident ID Card (身份证)
We have everything listed above except the National ID (身份证) because my wife left China at 10 years old, before turning 16, so never had one issued. Furthermore, she is no longer a Chinese citizen so there is no chance that see can get a National ID (身份证) now. The three Taobao agents we spoke with say they cannot help us. We really do not know what to do at this point.
Is it not possible to get a Notarial Birth Certificate (Gong Zheng Shu: 公证书) because she is not a citizen with a National lD? That does not seem right. I'm sure more complicated cases have been resolved then ours so there must be away through this beureacratic mess.
If it is not possible, how do I get a notarized statement from the Chinese government saying they will not issue a Notarial Birth Certificate (Gong Zheng Shu: 公证书), so I can demonstrate good faith effort to the State Department and send in that "its hopeless" document instead?
Has anybody on this forum ever had to struggle with replacing a birth certificate as a former citizen/resident of China or know someone who has conquered this challenge? What should we do?
Thank You for time and consideration.
