Quote Quoting herman345
View Post
Hello!

My wife and I have been dating for over five years now. We met while I was living in China, and about two years ago she came to the US on a student visa so that she could earn a Bachelor's degree here. Well, last month we got married, and we are now in the process of filing the paperwork that's necessary for her to adjust her visa status so that she can stay here legally without attending school. It's actually been a surprisingly pain-free process so far, but we've just hit a major road-block: Her birth certificate has a different birthdate than virtually every other piece of legal documentation she has that references a birthdate for her, including our marriage certificate! She says that when her dad registered her by whatever process they're required to do in China, he purposely changed her birthdate for her to seem about a year younger. Furthermore, she's not even sure that it's possible to obtain any sort of birth certificate for her from China due to a slew of complicated reasons.

So, basically, my question is this: What can be used in lieu of a birth certificate? We checked the USCIS code Title 8 in the section pertinent to this situation, but it's confusing, to say the very least. Does anybody have any actual experience with this type of issue? I know that she has something that she calls a "Hukou Ben", which is what was used for her to get a passport and her student visa. It seems that in China the "Hukou Ben" is what they use when we in the US would use a birth certificate.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Give them the "Hukou Ben"...and see what happens. If the US consulate in China accepted the "Hukou Ben" when issuing the student visa its likely that it would be acceptable for immigration purposes as well.