Difficult situation... no identity?

Hi guys,

So here's my bizarre story:

My parents came to the United States in 1997, leaving me with my grandpa because I was too little. 2 years later my grandpa passed away and I had no one left in my country of origin, so my parents arranged for me to be brought to the States with my aunt and uncle (since my parents were visa overstayers and couldn't return themselves).

The problem is that my aunt and uncle had a fraudulent passport made for me (with a different name & DOB) so that I could pose to be their son at the Visa interview. My aunt, uncle, and I were able to get a B2 (visitor) visa and came to the States in 2001. Ever since then, I have been going to school using just a birth certificate (my real one with my real name) and I have never been asked for a passport. I still have the passport, but its useless and expired a long time ago.

Now, from what I understand (and from what my lawyer told me), in order get an EAD, you need either a valid foreign passport or a government-ID for the biometrics appt. WHAT SHOULD I DO?? I am really nervous because I have no document to prove my identity other than my birth certificate & school records from 1st grade through college...

I spoke with my embassy, and they said that they can't make me a passport because I "don't exist in the system." My embassy said they can only renew a passport or reissue a passport if I lost mine, and the only way they do this is if I can prove my legal status (which i don't have).

Please help me... What can I do?

What?

You have an identity.

Yeah but my lawyer told me that you can't get your biometrics done with just a birth certificate... She said you need a government id or a passport, and i don't have either.

College ID? High school ID?

Technically you never had a passport from your home country so you're not getting a reissued/renewed passport, you're getting one for the first time. In that case, don't be discouraged from trying just based on what someone told you over the phone. Have you looked up the requirements online for getting a passport (for the first time) from your home country's consulate? What are the requirements? Your birth certificate can definitely help in proving your identity....

First of.. what country? Someone in the forums might share the same origin and might be of more help.

Second.. you have your birth certificate correct? Identity right there.

School records, bank transactions, etc. use those too.

I just renewed my passport recently, before the whole announcement and what not. And the consulate did not ask for a legal status in the US.

Don't panic yet. We need more information. What's you country of birth? Almost all the countries in the world will consider you a citizen if both of your parents are born there. Maybe you can go to the embassy and use your birth certificate and your parents' passports to prove your citizenship.

*sigh*......I hate hearing about situations like this,but your lawyer is correct.When I got my Biometrics done I had to come with a Government issued ID and they give a list as to what is acceptable to bring to your appointment.

There are many issues to cover in your original post so will cut it down for a better understanding.

You came in fraudulently but it shouldn't count against you under this process!

There is an issue here.You HAVE a birth certificate therefore you should have an identity........unless the Birth Certificate being used is also fake!!!

There is ONLY 1 think that can be done and that is something more important than gaining documentation......finding out who you really are.There have been many people who have had nothing but fake documentation all their lives and not know it and the parents refuse to tell them and I think you maybe another statistic of this harsh practice.The irony in this is only your family truly knows who you really are and how you may gain documentation to prove such unless they are too afraid to say who you maybe.
This is double the trouble.......but the most important thing is finding out who you really and get that done.If the country you're from is stating that you,"don't exist in the system." sorry to say but you're effectively stateless which is a much larger problem than proving legal status for the time being.Let's deal with settling for you getting your identity first THEN talk about other issues.

I do have my college ID and all of my High School IDs with my real name.

Oops sorry guys, I forgot to mention that I was born in India.
The embassy’s not really willing to help me at all since I don’t have any legal status or proof that I left the country legally. I went to the Indian Embassy in New York myself, and they were asking for a lot of information (like the passport I came with, my parents passport) that I didn’t have. My dad told me not to tell them about the fraudulent passport I came with… obviously, since I would get in a lot of trouble at the embassy for even mentioning that. The lady working there told me that I have the option of filing a police report stating that my passport was lost, and then applying for a lost passport (which would be difficult since it asks for previous passport #, & visas, etc). She said that even after doing this, I wouldn’t be able to get a passport because they can’t issue brand new passports without approval from India… so this was all pretty much useless.

I’m pretty confident that my birth certificate is real because I have been using it my entire life, and I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t… Am I still stateless…? ahhh

I’m not really worried about filling out the deferred action part because I think the birth certificate should be enough to prove my identity. I’m only worried about the Biometrics part for the EAD and whether I should put EWI on my application or visa overstay… If I put overstay, they would ask for my i-94 (which I have but its not in the right name :/).

One of my friends told me to try getting a Washington ID card. Is this my only option?

Thanks for all the input guys!

For many cases, you just go to your country's consulate office and ask them that you need to get a passport, since you basically never had one. In my experience, me being Peruvian, they make the process extremely easy. you just need to show your country's ID, and in order to get one of those you just need a birth certificate.
I will advice you to go to your country's consulate office and just tell them you need a passport, since you have your original birth certificate.