Interim Decision *3026 

MATTER OF LIN LEE 

In Visa Petition Proceedings 

A-27220692 

Decided by Board April 28, 1987 

An extract of household registration records is acceptable evidence of family relationships in Taiwan. 

ON BEHALF OF 11.111IONER: ON BEHALF OF SERVICE: 

Sam IL Chang, Esquire Steven R. Riemer 

1724 "H" Street, N.W. General Attorney 

Washington, D.C. 20006 

BY: Milholbm, Chairman; Danne, Morris, Vacca, and Heilman, Board Members 

In a decision dated November 12, 1985, the district director 

denied the visa petition filed by the petitioner to accord the beneficiary preference status as her adoptive sister pursuant to section 

203(a)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 

§ 1153(aX5) (1982). The petitioner has appealed from that decision. 

The appeal will be sustained. 

The petitioner, a native of Taiwan and naturalized citizen of the 

United States, claims she was adopted in Taiwan by the beneficiary's natural parents, Lee, Shi-Yen (father), and Lee Huang, 

Tsun-Chiao (mother), in November 1938 when she was 1 month old. 

She states that the beneficiary was born in Taiwan to Lee, Shi-Yen, 

and Lee Huang, Tsun-Chino, in October 1941. In support of her visa 

petition, the petitioner submitted an extract of household registration listing Lee, Shi-Yen, as head of household, which shows the 

beneficiary as first daughter and the petitioner as adopted daughter and states that the petitioner moved out of the household upon 

her marriage to Chang, Ann, in December 1955; a certificate documenting the petitioner's divorce from Chang, Ann, in January 

1970; certificates documenting the beneficiary's marriage in March 

1961 and the petitioner's second marriage in February 1971, which 

give their dates and places of birth as reported by the petitioner; 

and an affidavit executed by Lee, Shi-Yere, affirming that he and 
Interim Decision #3026 

his wife adopted the petitioner on November 1, 1938, when she was 

1 month old. 

In denying the visa petition, the district director cited the 

Board's decision in Matter of Lau, 1.6 I&N Dec. 115 (BIA 1976), for 

the proposition that "where no adoption papers were executed 

when the adoption took place, the Chinese documents which were 

submitted were conclusory in nature, and there was an absence of 

specific facts substantiating the claimed relationship, the evidence 

was not sufficient to establish that the beneficiary was the petitioner's adopted sister within the meaning of the Act" We agree with 

the petitioner that Matter of Lau, supra, is inapplicable in the 

present case. 

The petitioner correctly points out that in the instant case, 

nnlike in. Matter of Lau, supra, no papers were required to create 

the adoptive relationship since the petitioner was brought up as a 

child of her adoptive parents since infancy. See Article 1079 of the 

Civil Code of China; Matter of Lau, 10 I&N Dec. 597 (BIA 1964). 

Moreover, the Lau case cited by the district director was concerned 

with the documentary evidence available to prove a claimed familial relationship in the People's Republic of China,' not in Taiwan. 

The evidence of record, which is in all respects consistent with 

the facts claimed by the petitioner, establishes to our satisfaction 

that the beneficiary qualifies for the preference sought under section 203(a)(5) of the Act. The household registration offered by the 

petitioner is acceptable evidence of family relationships in Taiwan. 

See Matter of Shen, 16 I&N Dec. 612 (BIA 1978); see also Vol. 9, 

Foreign Affairs Manual, Part IV, Appendix B/C/E, "Taiwan." The 

affidavit of Lee, Shi-Yen, attests both to the fact of the adoption 

and to the satisfaction of the residence and legal custody requirements of section 101(b)(1)(E) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(b)(1)(E) 

(1982), which defines "adopted child" for purposes of the Act. That 

affidavit is corroborated by new evidence submitted on appeal, 

which the district director had an opportunity to review, namely, 

an affidavit executed by three persons claiming personal knowledge that the petitioner had been adopted by the beneficiary's parents at the age of 1 month and that she had lived with her adoptive parents until her marriage in 1955. The appeal will he sustained and the visa petition will be approved. 

ORDER: The appeal is sustained and the visa petition is approved. 

2 We note, too, that the Board recently reevaluated the position taken in Matter 

of Lau, 16 I&N Dec. 115 (BIA 1976), with respect to the weight to be accorded such 

evidence. Matter of May, 18 I&N Dec. 381 (BIA 1983); see also Matter of Chu, 19 I&N 

Dec. 81 (BIA 1984). 

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