Hi all,
My situation is this.
My mother was born in Bhai virji bai hospital on Mohamamd Ali Road in Mumbai, India April 14th 1947. After Partition, her family moved to Karachi, Pakistan and her parents and herself became Pakistani citizens.
I am a US citizen who is in the process of sponsoring my mother for US permanent residency. One of the requirements of the sponsorship application is submission of the beneficiary's birth certificate. Her birth certificate was lost many years ago and never needed since she is now a citizen of Pakistan.
The U.S. Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual has the following information for obtaining a birth certificate from India.
"Available. Prior to 1970, reporting of births was voluntary. Birth certificates of Europeans, Anglo-Indians, Armenian Christians, Jews and Parsis born prior to 1970 may be obtained from the State Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. No standard or uniform certificate is issued by the several authorities. In addition, acceptable certificates can often be obtained from the municipal and rural registration records which are maintained under the state laws. Europeans, Anglo-Indians, and Indian Christians are usually able to obtain church baptismal certificates.
Under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act of 1969, births are required to be registered in almost all of the States and Union Territories of India. Birth certificates are available to any applicant born on or after April 1, 1970, upon payment of a nominal fee to the appropriate authority.
In cases where birth certificates from the authorities are unavailable or contain insufficient information regarding the birth or the parents, a sworn affidavit executed by either the parents, if living, or other close relatives older than the applicant, may be submitted. It should set forth the relationship between the deponent and the applicant, how well the deponent knows the applicant, date and place of the applicant's birth, the names of both parents, and any other related facts. Such affidavit, when a birth certificate is unavailable, should be accompanied by a document from a competent governmental authority confirming that the certificate does not exist, or no longer exists."
I have submitted two affidavits from my mother's brother and her father-in-law along with her permanent residency application which act as secondary evidence of birth but for the primary evidence of birth, USCIS wants her birth certificate or a "non-availability certificate" from an Indian governmental agency. On the Indian consulate general's website indiacgny.org, the form for requesting copies of birth certificate or a certificate of non-availability requires submission of copies of Indian passport.
What do you recommend is the appropriate course of action for us given that we have no family member residing in India that we can ask for assistance in obtaining a non availability certificate from the local municipality in Mumbai?
Appreciate all your help.
Frustrated
Ethin.
My situation is this.
My mother was born in Bhai virji bai hospital on Mohamamd Ali Road in Mumbai, India April 14th 1947. After Partition, her family moved to Karachi, Pakistan and her parents and herself became Pakistani citizens.
I am a US citizen who is in the process of sponsoring my mother for US permanent residency. One of the requirements of the sponsorship application is submission of the beneficiary's birth certificate. Her birth certificate was lost many years ago and never needed since she is now a citizen of Pakistan.
The U.S. Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual has the following information for obtaining a birth certificate from India.
"Available. Prior to 1970, reporting of births was voluntary. Birth certificates of Europeans, Anglo-Indians, Armenian Christians, Jews and Parsis born prior to 1970 may be obtained from the State Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. No standard or uniform certificate is issued by the several authorities. In addition, acceptable certificates can often be obtained from the municipal and rural registration records which are maintained under the state laws. Europeans, Anglo-Indians, and Indian Christians are usually able to obtain church baptismal certificates.
Under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act of 1969, births are required to be registered in almost all of the States and Union Territories of India. Birth certificates are available to any applicant born on or after April 1, 1970, upon payment of a nominal fee to the appropriate authority.
In cases where birth certificates from the authorities are unavailable or contain insufficient information regarding the birth or the parents, a sworn affidavit executed by either the parents, if living, or other close relatives older than the applicant, may be submitted. It should set forth the relationship between the deponent and the applicant, how well the deponent knows the applicant, date and place of the applicant's birth, the names of both parents, and any other related facts. Such affidavit, when a birth certificate is unavailable, should be accompanied by a document from a competent governmental authority confirming that the certificate does not exist, or no longer exists."
I have submitted two affidavits from my mother's brother and her father-in-law along with her permanent residency application which act as secondary evidence of birth but for the primary evidence of birth, USCIS wants her birth certificate or a "non-availability certificate" from an Indian governmental agency. On the Indian consulate general's website indiacgny.org, the form for requesting copies of birth certificate or a certificate of non-availability requires submission of copies of Indian passport.
What do you recommend is the appropriate course of action for us given that we have no family member residing in India that we can ask for assistance in obtaining a non availability certificate from the local municipality in Mumbai?
Appreciate all your help.
Frustrated
Ethin.