Difficulties obtaining a Chinese birth certificate

[Joseph14]

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask, but I found this forum after Googling information about getting a birth certificate in China, and it seems a few questions about this topic have appeared before. No one seems to have run into our exact issue, so I figured I'd ask. 

 

My wife needs a birth certificate to apply for a green card in the U.S. I'm a U.S. citizen; she is Chinese. She was born pre-1996, so there is no electronic record of her birth. She has a paper birth certificate, but the hospital didn't write her name on it, and her parent's names are misspelled (actually, they used the wrong character, but you get the idea...). So when we went to the notary's office, they said there was nothing she could do. They refused to issue a new one. And apparently the hospital doesn't have a record of her birth to use as evidence. I have read that USCIS accepts alternative documents to in lieu of birth certificates, but I haven't found an example of someone who successfully pulled that off. 

 

Has anyone had experience with supplying alternative proof, and if so, what did you do? Thank you, in advance. 

[889]

USCIS refers you to the State Department for specific information on Chinese birth certificates, and it says:

 

"Alternate Documents: There are no alternate documents.

"Exceptions: None"

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/China.html

[Wurstmann]

You need money and guanxi. Then you can maybe get a new certificate (from the hospital).

[889]

My recollection from reading Chinese board posts the last time this came up here is that everyone ultimately seemed to get a birth certificate from the notary, but that it was often an enormous and time-consuming hassle. Point is, you do need to resolve this from the Chinese end, not try to come up with something different that will satisfy the US consul.