USCIS issued a policy memorandum regarding sibling-to-sibling DNA test results, entitled “DNA Evidence of Sibling Relationships for Service Centers, Domestic and International Field Offices.” , PM-602-0106 (Oct. 17, 2014). The memorandum stated, among other things, that the USCIS “may not afford any evidentiary weight” to sibling-to-sibling DNA test results and will only consider parent-child DNA test results for each claimed sibling with a claimed common parent.
USCIS “learned that there is no universally accepted standard for relationship probability in sibling-to-sibling DNA testing” through consultation with its scientific resources, including the DHS’s Science and Technology component, the National Institute of Science and Technology, and the AABB.
However, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) found in Matter of Nejat Ibrahim RUZKU, direct sibling-to-sibling DNA test results reflecting a 99.5 percent degree of certainty or higher that a full sibling biological relationship exists should be accepted and considered to be probative evidence of the relationship. The BIA did not hold that sibling-to-sibling DNA test results reflecting any particular percentage probability will alone be sufficient to establish a claimed full sibling relationship. Rather, the BIA would generally expect that other evidence of the sibling relationship would be submitted and that all the evidence, including DNA test results, would be considered in its totality. The weight to be accorded any particular DNA test results will depend on the degree of certainty that is reflected in those results.
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