Birth certificates

Okay, let's talk about birth certificates.

I was on a mission yesterday to send out the I-6ooA, which is the request from US Citizenship and Immigration for permission to adopt a foreign-born orphan. (For Russia I can still use the I-600A because they are not Hague-compliant for adoption.) When glancing at the instructions last week, I saw a listing under ID for a passport, so I figured I'd use copies of our passports for ID. I went downtown to get a certified copy of our marriage certificate and didn't get a birth certificate because I didn't figure I would need a certified copy. So far, Russia is okay with our marriage license and passport copies. If I wasn't married, I'd have to supply a birth certificate.

So yesterday I went to put it all together and read the instructions in detail (there are five pages of instructions on submitting the I-600A) and realized the passport copies won't work unless BC's are unavailable and then you have to have an affidavit, etc. I needed birth certificates. A search of C's filing system proved fruitless. I know he found some a few months ago but he's got files all over the damn house and I couldn't find the right one, so he came home early from work and went on the hunt.

We have multiple copies of my birth certificate, too, only they are the "short form". Did you know there is a "long form" and a "short form"? I found this out when I ordered BC's for the China paperchase. I ordered both before I read somewhere that the short form is not always qualified to provide proof of identity. The long form is the hosptial record...it list the details of the birth and parents, including the physician signature and the whole thing. The short form is a computerized certificate that basically affirms that the long form exists and it lists limited info on parents, etc.

So I drove downtown this morning to request a long-form from the county records building only to discover that although they had a box to check to request it, I could only get a short-form at the county offices. I have to apply to the state for a long-form. That takes time.

So I purchased another short-form, with the embossed seal and all on it, and sent that off along with C's long-form (that doesn't have a seal...I don't get that. It is on the thick paper, though, so it looks certified except that it doesn't have the seal, which worries me because they may require the seal.) I'm also a bit concerned that they won't accept my short-form. A long-form is required to obtain a passport, so I am wondering if all the federal govt. offices require the long-form. I can't figure out what the short-form is for. Maybe for when you enroll your kid in school? I don't know. I can't figure out why we have two forms. Can't we have one universal form? Honestly, why does this crap have to be so complicated?

I'm hoping that even if they don't like THESE PARTICULAR birth certificates, that they will at least start the I-171-H process, because that can take 3 months. I sent the homestudy and the marriage certificate and the properly filled out I-600A, so maybe they will get started processing us even if they come back and say the birth certificates are no good.

So now I am off to print the forms to request more copies of the long-form for both C and I just in case USCIS requires them. I didn't order extras when I did the China paperchase because they were time sensitive for China...they had to be NEW copies and not OLD copies. :rolleyes: And it's not like we thought we needed tons of BC's laying around the house. And we didn't know at the time that we would be going to Russia. I'm tempted to order a whole slew of them to have on hand, but they are $23 apiece, so maybe I'll just order 3 each. We will probably never need them again, but then, I never thought I'd spend two years providing birth certificates left and right. I'm so over the birth certificate thing. I was obviously born. You'd think my passport would suffice as evidence of citizenship.

But that's a whole different topic altogether.....