Family Based Green card for my Mother in India-NVC mumbai

[anureet22]

Hello All,

Hope all are doing well.

I have applied for my mother's green card (Petition I-130) which recently got approved after one year of waiting. Now the application is in the NVC Mumbai center and they have given us a CAEC website link to upload documents. We have gone through all the required documents and uploaded everything except for the marriage certificate, which I am not sure. As my parents were married in 1985 and they don't have any marriage certificates for them. Are we now required to get their marriage registered with the registrar for this requirement or we can have an affidavit made from a local authority (my grandfather who was present at their marriage can swear on it) or this particular document can be avoided?

Please advise. I would appreciate your guidance on this.

Best,

Anureet

[PAA]

Hello Anureet22,

See the I-130 page 8 and 9. If an official document is not available, submit a statement from the appropriate civil authority certifying that the document or documents are not available. You must also submit secondary evidence, which may include one or more of the following records listed below.

A. Religious record: A copy of a document bearing the seal of the religious organization showing that the baptism, dedication, or comparable rite occurred within two months after birth, and showing the date and place of the child’s birth, date of the religious ceremony, and the names of the child’s parents.
B. School record: A letter from the authority (preferably the first school attended) showing the date of admission to the school, the child’s date of birth or age at that time, place of birth, and names of the parents. Form I-130 Instructions 07/20/21 Page 9 of 12
C. Census record: State or Federal census records showing the names, place of birth, date of birth, or the age of the person listed.
D. If records like those described above are not available, then you may submit two or more written statements from individuals who were living at the time and who have personal knowledge of the event you are trying to prove, such as the date and place of birth, marriage, or death. The individuals making the written statements do not have to be U.S. citizens. Each written statement must contain the following information regarding the individual making the written statement: his or her full name, address, date and place of birth, full information concerning the event, and complete details explaining how the individual acquired personal knowledge of the event. Finally, each individual’s written statement must include the following declaration, “I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [date], [signature].”
E. For parent-child relationships only: If other forms of evidence have proven inconclusive, the petitioner may submit on a voluntary basis other evidence of a birth parent and birth child relationship to include deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing. DNA test results will only be accepted by USCIS from parentage-testing laboratories accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB).

Hope this helps.