The Green Card Process: The Certificate of Non-Availability

A birth certificate is required to be considered within the green card process for an issuance of a green card. A birth certificate is needed to get a visitor visa, sponsor relatives seeking a visitor visa and sponsoring relatives seeking green cards.  In most countries people are issued a birth certificate document of some kind. The required birth certificate document must include the person’s name, the date of the birth, the names of both parents and an official seal from the authority issuing the certificate.  But in some countries and birth situations there just is no way to get a birth certificate document.  In that case the green card process applicant must obtain a “certificate of non-availability” of any kind of record of the birth. 

Secondary Evidence of Birth Allowed

The non-existence of the required birth certificate creates the presumption of ineligibility within the green card process to be issued a green card.  In addition to the certificate of non-availability [of birth] certificate from the appropriate issuing civil authority in the country of birth, the green card process applicant will need to provide some kind of secondary evidence of his birth.  Secondary evidence of birth may include:

• Hospital, doctor or midwife birth records naming the child and the parents
• Medical records naming the child and the parents
• School records naming the child and the parents
• Census records including the name of the child and the parents and the date of birth, place of birth of the child
• Ration cards naming the child and the parents
• Church records of a baptism or rite of birth document
• Adoption records for a child. 
• Passport, current or expired
• Drivers license
• Two sworn affidavits by people living at the time of the birth that had personal knowledge of the birth and the parents; a mother’s affidavit will have more weight than a fathers.

There are many problems that can affect the value of secondary evidence of birth sources and result in more green card process trouble.  In some countries it is the custom to include only the father’s name on a birth certificate and similar legal birth related documents.  The applicant would then need to explain the customs in a letter submitted with the documents.

Getting Legal Help

If you or a member of your family is applying for a green card and you cannot get a birth certificate documenting your birth it may be helpful to discuss the circumstance of your birth in your country of birth with an immigration lawyer.  There are steps that can be taken within the green card process to maintain eligibility and an attorney can provide help in understanding what secondary documentation is needed.