Help! Permanent Residency Visa Document Confusion

08/16/23 The lawyers we engaged in late May to get a Permanent Residency Visa by Spouse is now asking my Brazilian wife to have her brazilin birth certificate notarized etc.
I was under the impression that my USA birth certificate needed to be notarized since my natural mothers name does not appear on my passport. In addition I am concerned because i changed my first name to the really cool "Roddie", my nickname that the whole family used from a Jr. Since my birth name was a Jr., I thought this may have to be notarized also.

This, however, is not the road the lawyers are taking. Am I missing something. Will my Birth Certificate have to be notarized in the future?.

Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

Good morning.  That depends on what the attorney means by having your wife's Brazilian birth certificate "notarized".  All Brazilian birth certificates come from a cartório, so they're all as "notarized" as they can be.  I can think of two possibilities:  (1.) you've presented a plain photocopy of her  birth certificate.  If so, getting the copy "authenticated" at the cartório that originally issued it may be enough.  They'll compare the copy to the original on file with them, put a stamp on it, charge you a fee, and it should be usable.  (2.) You presented an original birth certificate, but it's a few years old, and they want a new one.  This makes no sense to me (nobody I know was born more than once), but a lot of agencies do require it.  If this is the problem, then the cartório can issue her a new duplicate original, a "2a Via", and that should do the job.

As for you own birth certificate, if it has an apostille from the state where it was issued and a Sworn Translation, that should be all you ever need.

With respect to your name change history, if you've shared it with the lawyers and they're not worried, I wouldn't be too worried, either.

@abthree i won`t bother my wife with it, but I am sure you were right with #1 As for my own they have not seen it and it has not had anything done to it yet.

I have accepted that this will take awhile and as you know I recently had to go to the hospital, so I am hoping to go to Rhode Island in May, when the weather is 70 degrees. This should be done by then I hope.

This will allow me to renew my membership with Lynda.Com to brush up on my video editing, videography skills.

Roddie in Retirement

08/16/23 @abthree i won`t bother my wife with it, but I am sure you were right with #1 As for my own they have not seen it and it has not had anything done to it yet.
I have accepted that this will take awhile and as you know I recently had to go to the hospital, so I am hoping to go to Rhode Island in May, when the weather is 70 degrees. This should be done by then I hope.
Roddie in Retirement
-@roddiesho

How are you feeling?

@abthree Thanx for asking. My utmost gratitude to the doctors. There was no pain and in fact the recovery, I finally got to the 1week stage, has been harder, but at least I can plan for the future with my wife.

Roddie in Retirement