I-130 RFE to prove Born in Wedlock

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bwong

Registered Users (C)
Hi all,

I would really appreciate your help on this! After a long 14 months wait, finally we heard from USCIS...

I'm US citizen and am appling GC for my Dad. We got RFE from CSC asking evidence to establish a qualifying relationship based on a father/child relationship.

My parents got married before I was born and they are still married till now. The problem is that they have lost their marriage certificate during the Culture Revolution in China. And the agency issued the certificate no longer exists. And we have no way from current city to locate the marriage record. So what evidence I can provide to prove that I was born in wedlock?

We have sent the following to USCIS and they think it's not enough:

- Notarial Certificate stating my parents have conjugal relations (that's the only thing the city can provide).
- Two affidavits from my Dad's friends to prove that they got married on a date before I was born.

I was thinking about also provide the following:
- Affidavit from my mom stating that she was married to my Dad on that date till now.
But the RFE letter says that affidavit can only be used as secondary evidence. What else can I provide? :confused:

Another option is to submit certification of non-existence of record. But I don't know how does it look like? Does anyone have ever submit such certificate? Could you please share yours as an example? You can erase all personal information on it and send to bumble.bee.9001@gmail.com. What else do you submit with the certificate?

We have waited a long time for the GC case and now is the most critical step. I'm so worried that we'll fail right here for a truth that we can not prove to uscis. I would really really appreciate any suggestion or help you could provide on this! Thanks!!!
 
As I understand it, they are asking you for proof that he is your father, NOT that your parents were married when you were born.

You need your full birth certificate showing your father's and mother's name on it.
Surely you can get that from your embassy?
 
Hi BornintheRSA,

I really appreciate your input.

As part of the initial application, I have already submitted my birth certificate which clearly shows my father's name and my mother's name. I believe USCIS has already reviewed it. Because in their RFE letter, they say:

The petitioner is seeking to establish a qualifying relationship based on a father/child relationship. It is not clear if the petitioner was born in wedlock. The petitioner has submitted a Notarial Certificate stating the natural parents have conjugal relations. As such, the evidence submitted is not sufficient to establish eligibility at this time. Therefore, the petitioner must submit the following:

Born in Wedlock: ... submit the marriage certificate for the petitioner's natural parents...

If any of you had similar experience before, could you please share with me? Our time is running out and I have no idea what to do here. It hurts even more to see my 70 years old father had few sleepless nights just because of this ... I don't know why it's so hard for us ...

Please help us out ... thanks!!!
 
Thanks Jackolantern for your reply!

I believe the birth certificate has proved that he's my natural father. The USCIS wants us to prove that my father was married to my mother before I was born and he has been involved in my life (like caring, supporting etc) when I grew up. We don't have any of those evidences mentioned in the I-130 instructions, like church record or school record. We only have some family photos taken at different point of time when I was younger.

So I'm hoping to get some suggestions from you guys. Thanks!!!
 
The wedlock issue is for proving paternity, because normally the husband is legally presumed to be the father, whereas they don't give the same presumption to an unmarried father, even if the birth certificate has his name. But if you can scientifically show that he is your biological father, you won't need the marriage certificate to prove the father-child relationship. With the combination of his name on your birth certificate and a DNA test proving the biological relationship, you won't need to show that he was "involved in your life".
 
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hi I read your post and maybe you can help me about my situation too.I am new to this forum and would really appreciate it so much.I just got my citizenship and getting ready to file a petition to my parents.but the question is my parents never married but they been together up to now.so If I file a petition to my dad is the baptismal and school record will be enough and birthcertificate to show that his my dad?
 
Based on my understanding, there are 3 categories:

1. born in wedlock
2. born out of wedlock but legitimated
3. born out of wedlock and not legitimated

Not sure if you belong to 2 or 3. I would suggest you to submit EVERYTHING you could think of with the original application, like baptismal and school record, birth certificate, other evidence to show that he supported you when you grew up. And you can also go for the extreme case: get a DNA test and send in the report to prove he is your biological father. I have found several resources referring to this kind of test for immigration purposes. But it's kind of expensive and it's much easier if your father is in US now.

Good luck!
 
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