Q: I am preparing for my immigrant visa interview. Are there different requirements if I lived overseas at some point in my life?

In most cases, Guyanese citizens who have lived outside of Guyana for extensive periods of time must provide extra information, in addition to the same documents required for those who have lived in Guyana their whole lives. Applicants are required to have official birth, marriage, divorce, and police certificates (for those over 16 years old) and, in some cases, military or other records if they lived abroad and/or if any of the above mentioned “major life events” occurred overseas.

For example, you must present a police certificate for every country where you have resided for a period longer than 12 months. If you have lived abroad in another Caribbean country for over a year, you may have to obtain a police certificate from that country as well as one from Guyana. Police certificates are valid for one year from the date they are issued.

Q: How do I obtain documents from another country?

Each country has different requirements for obtaining their documents. Certain countries will allow you to apply for documents such as police records, birth, marriage, or divorce papers at their Embassies abroad. Other countries, however, require you to apply for the police certificate by mail. In some cases, you might have to appoint someone in that country to obtain the document for you. Some countries require that the United States government ask for the police records directly. In those cases, the U.S. Embassy will request the information directly on your behalf. Other countries do not issue certain documents, such as police certificates, so you would not have to obtain it in these cases.

In order to find out how to obtain third country documents, visit the State Department website to look up the countries you have lived in: http:// travel.state.gov/ visa/reciprocity/index.htm

Finally, if a particular document is required, you must provide an official translation of documents not written in English.

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“Ask the Consul” is a weekly column from the U.S. Embassy answering questions about U.S. immigration law and visa issues. If you have a general question about visa policy please email it to us at AskGeorge@state.gov. We select questions each week and publish the answers in Stabroek News and on our website at http://georgetown.usembassy.gov/guyana/ask_con.html. For more information about visas please see http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov or http://georgetown.usembassy.gov/.

Other than the questions we select, we DO NOT respond to questions sent to Ask the Consul. Please contact the visa inquiries unit (email visageorge@state.gov or call 225-7965 between 8 am- 4 pm Monday through Friday) if you have questions about a specific case.