Crazy but true, my son's Passport Experience

[Dancing David]

The following tales is true, and I am sure others have similar tales.

In 1993 my wife married her first husband, who meets the standard definition of anti-social/psychopath. They stayed in central Illinois for a while, while she worked and he mostly didn't. He was a canadian child adopted by his parents in the US. So he had always thought his canadian family would be cool. there was also the dole aspect, he could apply for and get a canadian passport, and live on the dole. So he made her pack the car and off they went, kiting checks and the usual antisocial behaviors. Living one place long enough for him to get bored and scam something, then off again. they spent a while in Windsor where she rode the bus everyday to work in Detroit.

But teh scamming eventually prevailed and off they went to Newfoundland, where he met his mother and was very disappointed. So my wife had our son there in Oct 95, in February she was given a choice by canada's version of child protective services, leave the jerk of loose the child. So they moved back to her parents house.

Now in February of the is year we started the application process for US passports. I had adopted our son six years ago, he is seventeen. He has a social security number and is registered for school, he has an Illinois birth certificate that we got after the adoption and getting the records from Newfoundland, he has a driver's license and can register to vote and for the selective servive when he turns 18.

My wife and I both got our passports in six weeks, our son got a letter: saying that he needed the State Department's Record of Birth Abroad. Which no one had ever asked for before. Now this would take 6-9 months and require a lot of paperwork. So we call the passport agency, and get to the second tier, where we are told the only way is for him to get this Certificate.

Now fortunately we made a request fro clarification and got a call from someone how actually knows the law. They stated that all we had to do was furnish proof of the marriage, prior to the birth and the citizenship proof for both parents. And explain that it is good that we started the process now, if my son has tried to do this after he turned 18 he would have to apply for and become a naturalized citizen, that was a bit of a shocker.

Now meanwhile we lined up a lawyer, who said we could also go for eligibility through my citizenship as I adopted him before he was 13. So with much pain and anti-social stupidity we get the jerk's naturalization papers and send them off with the marriage license.

Now the painful part of this is that noting happened for two months and then we start getting these letters again. requests for the adoption papers. Telling us that we have to furnish these adoption papers. And then when we call the Passport Agency, no one can tell us what this means, no one can tell us which adoption papers these are, no one can tell us what we need to do. And after three calls, they tell us that we need to stop calling! And that they will file another request for information. But then a week ago, right before we were going to schedule an appointment in Chicago, as we never had a call from a Passport agent, we got the Passport.

Ta Daa!

So someone there did the right thing, even if someone else kept sending us letters that no one could explain.

[Garrette]

I cannot say this is surprising. Glad it worked out.

[Skeptic Ginger]

My story is not so bad, but definitely related. My partner left when I was pregnant. When my son was born I told them to give him my last name on his birth certificate. They ignored me and gave him his dad's last name. In court arranging child support I asked the lawyer to get it changed back but he screwed up the request and the birth certificate was not corrected. (My son's dad did not care, that was never an issue.)

So, I register my son for school with my last name. No one asked for a birth certificate.

Then came time we needed a passport, we went to Japan. Making travel easier I got his name officially changed so he had a passport in the correct name and a legal court order for the change. But at the time I did not bother to change his name with the social security department. So his SSN name did not match his legal name.

Then we opened a bank account for him. The bank cared. I had the notarized court order and his original birth certificate. I had to change the SSN record.

At the SS office I brought the court order, the birth certificate, some of his school records and his passport. They demanded a new updated birth certificate. The clerk was reading off some list of acceptable records and regardless of what I had, I didn't have what the list required. You'd think the SS Department would want his SSN to match his legal name. No, they wanted the records on the list and that meant a corrected birth certificate.

Fine, when the court order was entered they were supposed to update the birth record. But when I got the new copy it listed a last name I'd never heard of for my son's father. And when I called to see what I needed to correct it they told me I couldn't just say that wasn't my son's father, I had to prove it.

Long story short after all kinds of hoop jumping and putting up with insulting clerks telling me some stranger I'd never heard of was my son's father and just saying he wasn't didn't sway them, we finally got the whole mess cleared up. It turned out some other person's court ordered name change was entered on my son's birth record. They finally apologized for all the accusations the clerks made about my honesty (after all, why shouldn't the default attitude be, women lie about their kid's paternity all the time :rolleyes:).

And after a number of frustrating discussions with the clerks at the SSN office who had their list and couldn't apply common sense when they saw a passport, a notarized court order, and an official birth certificate, I finally got my son's SSN straightened out.

[Garrette]

Heh.

Mine is more recent. My daughter will be starting driver's education soon. When her older brothers began, the documentation for getting her Driver's Permit (not license) was minimal. Not anymore.

I can't recall all the categories, but we had to establish her: Identity, Age, Residential Address, Social Security Number, and something else. Each category required its own documentation.

We had her passport and her birth certificate, but this was not sufficient. They wanted social security card. The most frustrating part was they insisted on mail addressed to her at our address. She's a minor; she doesn't receive mail.

It was exceedingly piss-offing.

[fuelair]

Heh.

Mine is more recent. My daughter will be starting driver's education soon. When her older brothers began, the documentation for getting her Driver's Permit (not license) was minimal. Not anymore.

I can't recall all the categories, but we had to establish her: Identity, Age, Residential Address, Social Security Number, and something else. Each category required its own documentation.

We had her passport and her birth certificate, but this was not sufficient. They wanted social security card. The most frustrating part was they insisted on mail addressed to her at our address. She's a minor; she doesn't receive mail.

It was exceedingly piss-offing.
I may be missing something, but when I was a minor, I received mail (through 1967 when I became not a minor) and by the time I was six to start (though it was likely earlier).:)

[Alareth]

So your son is a dirty Kenyan Nazi/Communist/Usurper?

[Dancing David]

So your son is a dirty Kenyan Nazi/Communist/Usurper?

No he is a jazz playing Canadian social libertarian, and an honorary black person.

[bluesjnr]

Those money laundering, despot dictator sympathising terrorists have spoiled things for you all.

I'm glad I'm British. All we have to do any where in the world to gain entrance to anywhere or to have any kind of official documentation validated is to hand over our passport and with a slight smirk say "I trust this will suffice, old boy?".

Obsequiousness results and that's how we like it. It's a colonial thing that can't be bred out.

Having said that, do you know what we have to do to get our passports? No, I didn't think so. Can you believe that I had to get someone of noteworthy character working in a professional career to confirm that the photograph I supplied was actually me. The cheek of it!

[Multivac]

Those money laundering, despot dictator sympathising terrorists have spoiled things for you all.

I'm glad I'm British. All we have to do any where in the world to gain entrance to anywhere or to have any kind of official documentation validated is to hand over our passport and with a slight smirk say "I trust this will suffice, old boy?".

Obsequiousness results and that's how we like it. It's a colonial thing that can't be bred out.

Having said that, do you know what we have to do to get our passports? No, I didn't think so. Can you believe that I had to get someone of noteworthy character working in a professional career to confirm that the photograph I supplied was actually me. The cheek of it!

Unless they have changed the requirement, this includes suitably qualified engineers. I wouldn't want someone like me to confirm the identity of anyone!

[bluesjnr]

Unless they have changed the requirement, this includes suitably qualified engineers. I wouldn't want someone like me to confirm the identity of anyone!

Flippancy to one side, you are correct. In fact we'll let any old soak do it!

The type of individual must be within a recognized profession or respected within the community

And although they say (they being these guys (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/travelandtransport/passports/applicationinformation/dg_174151)) that "the occupation of your countersignatory will not determine whether or not your application will be successful"

They go on to list a number of occupations:-

accountant
airline pilot
articled clerk of a limited company
assurance agent of recognised company
bank/building society official
barrister
chairman/director of limited company
chiropodist
commissioner of oaths
councillor (local or county)
civil servant (permanent), but not someone who works for IPS
dentist
director/manager of a VAT-registered charity
director/manager/personnel officer of a VAT-registered company
engineer (with professional qualifications)
financial services intermediary (eg a stockbroker or insurance broker)
fire service official
funeral director
insurance agent (full time) of a recognised company
journalist
Justice of the Peace
legal secretary (fellow or associate member of the Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs)
licensee of public house
local government officer
manager/personnel officer (of a limited company)
member, associate or fellow of a professional body
Member of Parliament
Merchant Navy officer
minister of a recognised religion (including Christian Science)
nurse (RGN and RMN)
officer of the armed services (active or retired)
optician
paralegal (certified paralegal, qualified paralegal or associate member of the Institute of Paralegals)
person with honours (an OBE or MBE, for example)
pharmacist
photographer (professional)
police officer
Post Office official
president/secretary of a recognised organisation
Salvation Army officer
social worker
solicitor
surveyor
teacher, lecturer
trade union officer
travel agent (qualified)
valuer or auctioneer (fellows and associate members of the incorporated society)
Warrant Officers and Chief Petty Officers

You're on that list but you better have qualifications my boy! On the other hand, just get your postie to append his John Hancock and you're good to go.

[Garrette]

I may be missing something, but when I was a minor, I received mail (through 1967 when I became not a minor) and by the time I was six to start (though it was likely earlier).:)

Oh, I'm not saying minors never get mail. My daughter has in the past and still gets birthday cards and such. But the requirement was for "official" mail like a bank statement no more than 30 days old. Even I don't get much official mail now given tge ease of electronic transaction, and she never does.

[Garrette]

No he is a jazz playing Canadian social libertarian, and an honorary black person.

Which is code for dirty Kenyan Nazi usurper?

[Doubt]

My father had issues getting a passport because his birth certificate was not issued until he was 5. He was born at home in the early 1930's and it just was not that important back then.

But he did not apply for a passport until he was in his late 50's. They would not accept the late dated birth certificate and he had to get an affidavit from his sister that he was who he said he was. The funny part was he had served in the air force and had a top secret clearance because he was a photo interpreter for the strategic air command.

The air force had no problem with him but he had to have somebody else vouch for him really being a US citizen to get a passport.

[Lamuella]

moving from the US to the UK required a couple of adjustments where the two systems did not quite mesh properly.

For example: to get my pension account transferred over, I had to submit a notarized form indicating that I wanted to close out the pension from my last job and have the money transferred to the new account. Sounds simple, right?

Problem is with the "notarized" part. Notary publics are an exceptionally common thing in US life. Most banks you go into will have a notary on staff who will notarize documents for account holders. Half the libraries will also do it for free. Not so in the UK. Over here, a notary is much less common and much more expensive. What would have been done for free or for cheap in the US ended up costing me £70 and a morning off work over here.

Not a major pain in the bum, but still.

[Corsair 115]

And although they say (they being these guys (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/travelandtransport/passports/applicationinformation/dg_174151)) that "the occupation of your countersignatory will not determine whether or not your application will be successful"

They go on to list a number of occupations ...


It's much the same when applying for a Canadian passport.

[bluesjnr]

It's much the same when applying for a Canadian passport.

Well, of course it is 'cos you's us!

[Tacita]

Problem is with the "notarized" part. Notary publics are an exceptionally common thing in US life. Most banks you go into will have a notary on staff who will notarize documents for account holders. Half the libraries will also do it for free. (snip)

Yeah any idiot here can go get a Notary stamp if you have $10 or so. I had one myself at one point.

Wait, that didn't come out the way I intended...

[Dancing David]

Thanks for the stories. :)

[Morrigan]

My father had issues getting a passport because his birth certificate was not issued until he was 5. He was born at home in the early 1930's and it just was not that important back then.

But he did not apply for a passport until he was in his late 50's. They would not accept the late dated birth certificate and he had to get an affidavit from his sister that he was who he said he was. The funny part was he had served in the air force and had a top secret clearance because he was a photo interpreter for the strategic air command.

The air force had no problem with him but he had to have somebody else vouch for him really being a US citizen to get a passport.
That's really hilarious and sad at the same time. Bureaucracy FTW.

I imagine that if your dad's sister hadn't been available (or deceased or whatever) and he had no other relatives, a former military superior officer of his could have vouched for him? Otherwise it's just absurd.