Birth Cert.

[Chuck999]

I have filled for a I129 last November. I have not herd anything back from NCS yet so I am hoping they have all the required information.  While we were waiting for approvial my fiance was getting all the paper work done at her end. certifate of no marriage, NBI clearence, passport etc.  We discovered her last name is spelled wrong on her birth certificate. A letter P was used instead of the letter F. Come to find out it is also mispelled on her mothers birth certificate. From what my fience is telling me it will take months to get this corrected, and it will be quite expensive. I am hopeing that we will have the seond NOA soon.  Does any one know if there is another way around this problem. I hate to start the whole process over again and spell her name wrong.

Chuck

[Ray]

... in response to Birth Cert., posted by Chuck999 on Feb 14, 2002

Chuck,

That’s just another example of the “P & F Syndrome” :-)

Errors on birth certificates in the Philippines are actually quite common. They screwed up my wife’s birth certificate by misspelling her first name and checking the MALE box instead of FEMALE (LOL), but she had no problems at all with the visa. The NSO certified copy of her birth certificate had the errors, but she also submitted an affidavit by two people that attested to her true name and gender.

Is the birth certificate the only place where her last name is spelled wrong? If so, there should be no big problem. The INS also accepts secondary documents in lieu of or to support the information on the birth certificate (look at section 4 of the I-129F instructions). If she has a baptismal certificate and the name is spelled correctly, she can get a certified copy from the church where she was baptized and present it with her paperwork for the visa. She can also present copies of school records, etc.,  showing the correct spelling of her name. Also, she can submit a joint affidavit by two family members stating that the birth certificate is in error. A local attorney should be able to prepare the affidavit for a small fee. She could also submit a copy of her father’s birth certificate showing the correct spelling of her last name.

Your fiancée is correct in that it may take quite some time to have the official record corrected but it shouldn’t be very expensive. If she hasn’t done so yet, she should contact the local Civil Registrar’s office and find out what the procedure is to have the birth certificate corrected. But in the mean time, have her get the corroborating evidence together and write a letter explaining the problem in case she doesn’t have the correction made before her visa papers are submitted, which is entirely possible.

My wife didn’t even try to have her official birth certificate corrected at the NSO because it was too much of a hassle and the error was no big deal anyway. Whenever she submits a copy of her birth certificate, she simply includes a copy of the joint affidavit stapled to it. Again, the consular officer that interviewed my wife looked at all the paperwork and didn’t even question it.

Ray

[chuck999]

... in response to Re: Birth Cert. Errors, posted by Ray on Feb 14, 2002

That sounds like good adivce. But what she is running into is that she can't get her passport with her name spelled right. They will only use the name as it appears on her birth cert. All the other documents that she needed she has. Just passport because of birth cert. Once she gets here we will get married and her name will chnge anyway.

[shadow]

... in response to Birth Cert., posted by Chuck999 on Feb 14, 2002

From what I understand it is far from uncommon for mistakes on birth certificates, and the NSO knows this. It should not be that expensive nor troublesome to correct it. I believe she needs to contact the manila NSO office. They will be able to tell her how to proceed. Someone here will probably have gone through this proceedure already, if not, Ray Bacon of mag anak will have the answers.  Larry.