Visa Center

Case Number:0

Beneficiary's Name: JJ

Preference Category: IR5 - PARENT OF US CITIZEN

Priority Date: 11JAN2010ish

To Whom It May Concern (Visa Center)

I recently received a correspondence from the National Visa Center (copy enclosed), dated November 20^th, 2010.    The November 20 letter is identical to one I have received on two previous occasions and indicates that I need to provide my mother’s birth certificate and her marriage termination certificate in order that she be granted an interview as the next step in the visa process.  I am writing you with a plea that someone, anyone, actually read and consider my predicament and try to help me find a reasonable solution that meets the spirit of your requirements – even if conforming to the literal letter of the law may not be possible.   

On two separate previous occasions, I have forwarded to the National Visa Center the only two documents that I can obtain as proof of my mother’s birth record and her marriage termination.  The birth certificate I have forwarded is the actual copy that can be obtained from the Haitian National Archives with the actual stamp from the civic authority (Haiti is an extremely poor country and their archives are not electronic nor orderly by comparison to that of the United States – I have the only copy that the Haitian archives will produce – so I am at a complete loss as to what more I could possible give you).  With regard to proof of my mother’s marriage termination, my mother and father were never divorced but rather were separated by my father’s death.  As such, I have forwarded my father’s death certificate, obtained from the Haitian National Archives, signed by and with the stamp of the civic authority.  Again, this is the only type of death certificate that can be obtained from the Haitian National Archives and I am at a loss as to what more I could possibly provide.    

Despite the fact that I would simply be re-obtaining the documents I have already forwarded, in attempting to meet the demands expressed in your letters I have gone so far as to contact the Haitian National Archives to request additional copies of my mother’s birth certificate.  I explained to the Haitian clerk that the documents they gave me were rejected by the National Visa Center. The clerk explained to me that Haiti is in the process of updating the National archives subsequent to the catastrophic earthquake last January, and are dealing with an absolute mess – with some documents lost, misplaced, or destroyed.  The Haitian National Archives can only give me documents that are available and what they could give me is identical to what I have already submitted.

I have also been asked to submit original certified copies of my birth certificate and marriage certificate.  I have sent originals of both documents to the National Visa Center on several previous occasions– and they have never been returned to me (despite the fact that I have been asked again to send them in subsequent letters).  What makes this even more incomprehensible is that I had to forward originals of these very same documents to obtain my US Citizenship in 2007.  I sent the copies and obtained my citizenship – so I am 100% certain that CIS has copies of both these documents for me, and I am unable to understand why I would need to keep sending originals (of which I have a limited supply and which are dearly difficult to come by when you don’t live in the state you were married in or the country you were born in) when I have sent them on numerous occasions previously and they have not been returned, and I know with 100% certainty that they are already in your files as part of my citizenship paperwork.  

In the end, I dearly want to help my mother come here to visit her grandson – whom she has never met.  I am also highly concerned for my elderly mother’s health, given the sad state of affairs in Haiti, the lack of medical infrastructure and the recent outbreak of Cholera.  As such, I am pleading with you all that someone help me get past the veil of the letter of the law and find a reasonable, feasible way to meet your requirements that I prove where my mother was born and that she is no longer married (as well as the fact that I was born and am currently married).  I will do whatever I can possibly do to make this happen, and without further help from you all I don’t know what else to do put to send the same documents and hope that this letter finds someone willing to help us out in the understanding that we are meeting the principle of your requirements – even if not the literal letter of the rule. 

Please, sending me another boiler plate rejection letter with no further explanation will not help at all.  I can be reached night or day at 000-000-0000 or at the e-mail address

Shenanigan@gmail.com so please, if you have advice that could help me fulfill the requirements and help my mother get here let me know with a specific correspondence or phone call.  

Thank You!

Laurie

PETITIONER

GOOD LUCK  ALL. I've been there!