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KFT Resource Directory

The Vance Center’s Keep Families Together initiative supports legal service providers assisting immigrant individuals and families in the United States by helping them obtain official records—such as birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates and police records—from countries of origin or transit. These documents are often essential for immigration proceedings and family reunification.

In addition to connecting legal service providers with in-country pro bono counsel to assist with obtaining these records, the Vance Center’s KFT team works with law firms and other legal professionals to produce guidelines and other resources for topics related to KFT cases.

In late 2025, we organized two pro bono “sprints” with teams from two Vance Center Committee law firms. These sprints brought together dozens of lawyers and professionals for short, focused sessions of multi-jurisdictional legal research on issues and questions that we frequently field from KFT service providers. The sprints resulted in two extensive resources, available below.

We hope these practical resources will support attorneys, legal service providers, advocates, and others working with immigrant communities in the United States and around the world.

This page will be updated with additional resources as they become available.

RESOURCES

Accessing Vital and Official Records in Latin America: A Guide for Immigration Practitioners (jump to section)

Over the last few years as cases have increased, our KFT team noticed that immigration attorneys often encounter some of the same questions and procedural barriers: how to notarize documents abroad; how to obtain, correct, or amend birth certificates; how to secure death certificates; how to access police, criminal, court, medical, or military records; and how to navigate passport requirements from outside the issuing country.

While it may technically be possible to get many of these documents online, the relevant information about how to do so is often fragmented, difficult to navigate, or not immediately accessible to practitioners, who have limited time to devote to these proceedings. This information gap has critical consequences – we know that delays or uncertainty in obtaining such documentation can materially affect the pace and outcome of immigration proceedings.

In response to this gap, the Vance Center, working with law firms and Pro Bono Network of the Americas clearinghouse partners, has developed this practical reference tool covering 14 Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela.

The Guide seeks to address the most frequent questions our KFT team receives about vital and official records in these 14 jurisdictions. When applicable, it also includes information about available digital or remote procedures that can enable practitioners to more efficiently assist migrant clients.

Access to Vital Records: Birth, Marriage, Divorce, and Death Certificates & Police Records (jump to section)

This guide is intended to complement the previous resource, Accessing Vital and Official Records in Latin America: A Guide for Immigration Practitioners. While that guide focused on 14 jurisdictions in Latin America and covered a broader range of procedures related to obtaining and correcting official records, this new version expands the geographic scope significantly and narrows the focus to the official documents most frequently requested in immigration matters.

This practical reference tool covers an initial group of 31 jurisdictions for which we frequently receive requests, including countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The chapters for three countries (Brazil, India, and Mexico) contain sub-sections with state-level information for a selection of states.

The guide covers procedures to request and obtain birth, marriage, divorce, and death certificates, and guidance about locating and obtaining criminal, police, or arrest records. Each country chapter includes information about the appropriate authorities or agencies responsible for these records, the processes to request them, timing and associated costs, and other relevant information. When applicable, it also includes information about available digital or remote procedures.

Care for Migrants (jump to section)

In the fall of 2025, almost 100 pro bono volunteers came together to research sources of care for migrants being removed from the U.S. to countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. Baker McKenzie, in partnership with the Vance Center, organized a unique Justice in Action sprint opportunity specifically designed for volunteer lawyers and business professionals from different companies and public interest organizations to unite to help in Latin America.

The “Care for Migrants Removed to Latin America Project” aimed to assess the legal and support frameworks for individuals forcibly deported from the U.S. to Latin American countries. Together, the participants identified available sources of aid and support organizations, examined access to belongings and benefits, and analyzed data on deportation trends to create a more complete picture of what individuals can expect and where they can turn for help.

This initiative produced a resource covering 23 Latin American and African countries. Thanks to all the volunteers from Baker McKenzie and other firms and companies who reviewed and finalized the work after the sprints, the extensive research is now available in this practical, accessible guide.

International and Regional Standards (jump to report)

The ongoing efforts by the U.S. government to expand and expedite mass deportations of immigrants present grave concerns around the rights of refugees and migrant populations, as well as the responsibility of the United States and other countries to protect these rights. This report provides an overview of the relevant international and regional legal frameworks on the rights of refugees and migrants and the obligations of States to protect them at different stages of migration pathways.

VITAL AND OFFICIAL RECORDS IN LATIN AMERICA

Accessing Vital and Official Records in Latin America: A Guide for Immigration Practitioners

This extensive guide for legal service providers covers how to obtain notarized documents, vital records, police and criminal records, access passports, and identify available pro bono legal assistance in 14 Latin American countries.

The Guide seeks to address the most frequent questions our KFT team receives about vital and official records in these 14 jurisdictions. When applicable, it also includes information about available digital or remote procedures that can enable practitioners to more efficiently assist migrant clients.

Updated March 2026

Full Resource: Download PDF
By country

ACCESS TO VITAL RECORDS - GLOBAL

Access to Vital Records: Birth, Marriage, Divorce, and Death Certificates & Police Records

This practical reference tool covers an initial group of 31 jurisdictions for which we frequently receive requests, including countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The chapters for three countries (Brazil, India, and Mexico) contain sub-sections with state-level information for a selection of states.

This guide is intended to complement the previous resource, Accessing Vital and Official Records in Latin America: A Guide for Immigration Practitioners, published in March 2026. While that guide focused on 14 jurisdictions in Latin America and covered a broader range of procedures related to obtaining and correcting official records, this new version expands the geographic scope significantly and narrows the focus to the official documents most frequently requested in immigration matters.

Updated May 2026

Full Resource: Download PDF
By country

CARE FOR MIGRANTS

Resources for Migrants Removed from the US to Countries in Latin America and Africa

Covers legal and non-legal resources available to migrants facing removal from the U.S. to 23 jurisdictions in Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean.

The research identifies sources of aid and support organizations, examines access to belongings and benefits, and helps provide a clearer picture of what individuals removed from the U.S. can expect and where they can turn for help.

Updated February 2026

Full Resource: Download PDF
By country

REPORTS

Protecting the Rights of Migrants and Refugees: International and Regional Standards

This report aims to respond to some of the recent sweeping changes in U.S. immigration policy by providing an overview of relevant international and regional legal frameworks on the rights of refugees and migrants and the obligations of States to protect them at different stages of migration pathways. It offers guidance for policymakers and legal actors in the United States and throughout Latin America by addressing high-level questions on:

(1) The international and inter-American legal obligations of the United States and host countries when receiving, processing, and deporting migrants and refugees;

(2) Due process, access to justice and reasonable duration of detention in migration-related processes under international law; and

(3) Additional international legal standards applicable to protected or vulnerable populations, including women, children, and members of the LGBTQI+ community.

Read the report in English

Lea el informe en español

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