Green Card and Citizenship News

What happens when you have no birth certificate?

Many immigrants face a problem of not having a birth certificate when applying to U.S. Immigration for their Green Card. People especially from several regions of India have never got birth certificate. We translated and certified non-availability of birth certificates from Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, and many other languages. Certificates issued by local governments for food supply contain information about the individuals and are used to prove the place and date of birth of the individual.

Many refugees do not have birth certificates

Modern-day tragedy still continues. Many people are being forced to leave their home country due to civil wars, riots, and political regime changes. These people leave their hometowns by leaving their belongings, including their valuable papers.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) accepts alternative documents for Green Card applications

In cases where our clients have no birth certificate, they try to find any official document that shows their place and date of birth, names of their father and mother, and any other relevant document. In many countries, civil registration offices, and in others, churches issue certificates containing birth certificate information. Certificates of baptism are common in many European countries.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security accepts certificates or some other official documents (driver’s license, passport, etc.) under different titles if the application does not have a birth certificate.

Embassy of your country can help you in getting your documents for immigration

If you lost your birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree, or any other document, then you can contact the consular section of the embassy of your country. All embassies are located in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital. Some embassies have consulate offices in major cities such as New York, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, and other cities and they ask you to contact the nearest consular office for your application. Many embassies have online system connected to their headquarters in native counties to facilitate issuance of birth certificates, marriage certificates, and other documents in a short period of time.

How can you get certified translation of your new certificate?

Any document that is not in English must be translated and certified for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly Immigration and Naturalization Service – INS). Certified translation is on professional translation agency’s corporate letterhead with authorized signature, raised/embossed corporate seal with a statement as required by the USCIS. This “Certification by Translator” document certifies that (a) the translation is accurate and true, and (b) the translator is competent in translating such document.

Certified translation of your documents must be submitted to the USCIS in hard copy as copies (electronic or photocopied) are not acceptable.