By Victoria
Today in the mail I received a I-797E Notice of Action form (dated September 19) with a Request for Evidence from USCIS.
It seems that the proof of citizenship documents I provided in our original application packet didn't fit the bill. I included a copy of my birth certificate as issued by my hospital in South Carolina, as well as a birth certificate card from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). The note I received back from USCIS explains, "If the petitioner was born in the U.S. and will be submitting a birth certificate as proof of U.S. citizenship, such must be a civilly registered long-form certificate. Abstracts of Birth and birth documents issued by hospitals are not sufficient."
In hindsight, I suppose I should've realized that I needed a full DHEC document (not the card) or looked into it more...but at the same time, it would've been nice if the I-129F Petition form instructions would've clearly stated that they needed the long-form birth certificate issued by a civil authority (i.e., my birth state government). The only thing the original instructions say is: "If you were born in the United States, submit a copy, front and back, of your birth certificate."
So I feel kind of dumb, and also ticked that I may have delayed our process a little bit longer. Since I imagine I would have to wait a while to receive my long-form DHEC birth certificate if I put in a request, I've decided I'll go the route of submitting a copy of my U.S. passport for proof of citizenship instead. I've already made the copies and will be putting the new evidence in the mail tomorrow (Friday). Hopefully approval won't be long after that.
UPDATE: Our online case status shows that the USCIS California Service Center received our response to the Request for Evidence on September 29, 2014.
Dealing with the US government is certainly frustrating. Had to expedite a certified copy of my birth certificate last year for the Passport application . . . the first time that the 54-year old copy I've always used was not sufficient.
ReplyDeleteThat's right . . . if you want to marry some stranger from a foreign land you MUST submit the "civilly registered long-form certificate. Abstracts of Birth and birth documents issued by hospitals are not sufficient."
ReplyDeleteThis stuff is very important. It's not like you're running for some office like President of the United States or some other thing where a lesser version might be good enough.