Passport!

Parent Cafe
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<p>We renewed son’s passport that was expired last summer just before his 18th b’day. As I recall, he did not have to fill out any kind of different form other than the renewal form. Also, we received the passport within two weeks. Of course, keep in mind that this was before the new changes went into effect. He also received his old passport (from his travels as a child!) back from the passport office. The process went very smooth–Now, it is time for spouse and I to renew. I imagine that it will take some time, but we are not in any hurry, just feel that we need to renew and keep passports current. I was under the impression, however, that renewals would not take as long?</p>

<p>And, by the way, as son completed paperwork for job internship this summer, he was asked to provide current passport (if he had one) to show proof of citizenship. Employer said he could of course show other documents of proof (birth cert, etc.) but that if he had a passport, that would be all that was needed rather than the other 2 or 3 documents. I wonder if eventually our country will require passports. At any rate, just glad his was renewed last summer before the rush, and before his start of college.</p>

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<p>chocoholic, we expedited since I was nervous that he did not have a passport (had to give it up when applying for an adult passport). I wonder if expediting matters.</p>

<p>notre dame AL, it is interesting about showing a passport for employment. My son only needed to show his ss card this summer.</p>

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<p>My D also had to just show her passport for proof of citizenship for an internship she’s at. She probably could have used another doc but the passport usually works well.</p>

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<p>Got it! It only took son 2 weeks! That was quick. We did pay for it to be expedited and applied at a local post office.
They kept his official birth certificate and kept his old passport. Anybody else get their birth certificate back? That was strange, but I have another official one at home.</p>

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<p>northeastmom, I hope you get the official birth certificate back? This thread made me look at all our passports. Well, I found to my dismay, that my kids’ passports had expired in '06 (-: They were both under 16 when they got theirs - so I guess they have to get new ones. We were thinking of taking a trip overseas at the end of this year or next year. I only have one copy each of the birth certificates - I hate the thought of not getting them back.</p>

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<p>The birth certificate should have been returned in the same envelope! Call!</p>

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<p>jasmom, Thanks! Editing this to say that I just called. Within 5 minutes I had a live person on the phone, and she was very nice! My son’s passport came from one state, and his birth certificate is in another state. Apparently there is a seperate processing agency that verifies all info. When the passport is issued, the other office receives notice and then documents are mailed back. Sometimes people get their birth certificates back first, and receive their passport several days later. She told me that the birth cert., should be mailed back within the next couple of days. This is a new process that has just recently begun. I suggested that they might insert a notice explaining all of this. The customer rep. thought that was being done, but there we did not receive info explaining this.</p>

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<p>Our story:</p>

<p>We applied (expedited service) in early April for a late July flight. 2 weeks before departure, I got our congressman’s office involved and they were able to get one daughter’s passport done and delivered in 3 days. They found out that there was a “hold” status on my other daughter’s passport but it did not explain what was wrong. Couple of days later, I got our senator’s office involved, the Passport Taskforce and Ms. Littlefield (name I got from other passport blogs) trying to find out the problem. They would all call me and say they are getting no answers. I finally made an appointment to go to the agency office. After 7 hours of wait we find out that her application was “misplaced” and that they just found it and will process it. Came back the next day with a 11:30 pasport pick-up appointment and got the passport at 3:30!!</p>

<p>So for those of you who got your passports successfully…count your blessings!! I can write a novel on the hundreds of people and their stories while I was at the agency. The sad part is that most of them had done their part, followed the passport application instructions correctly and thought they had plenty of time. But due to the passport chaos, they were all there because they still did not get their passport and their flights were leaving in 3 days! I can’t begin to tell you how miserable those two days were.</p>

<p>If your passport does get lost in the abyss, contact your congressman or senator to help. They are all aware of the problem and have been extremely helpful.</p>

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<p>Ginger:</p>

<p>The expedited service costs quite a bit more than normal service. Since they didn’t actually ‘deliver’ expedited service to you, do you get a refund of the premium? If not, you might want to pursue that as well.</p>

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<p>Having done my due diligence (read this entire thread, the one over on Parents Forum today, and link to the Mexican embassy), I think I can ask this of everyone. Maybe it’s a no-brainer, but I can’t figure out online here if S will need a passport or just birth certificate to go over by land to Mexico from California.
Or by air.
Other details: he’s 17 until December; dual citizen of Canada because was born there of U.S. citizen parents; no prior passport. So we have his documentation but it’s not the usual passport app since his birthplace was over a border, I figure. He has the U.S. Proof Of Citizenship paperwork, all set and ready, too, since his early years.</p>

<p>(Here in Buffalo, we cross into Canada still by car with just the drivers license, but not for long I know.)</p>

<p>So, if he starts as a college freshman in So.Cal this August, and decides to go with friends to Mexico during one of his fall weekends (an idea I am not fond of, but being realistic…), then do I need to initiate PASSPORT process immediately now, or just send him with his birth certificate for fall.</p>

<p>I’m going to start the passport tomorrow anyway at the post office, but don’t know if I should be getting into expedited passportfees and so on if it’s only involving a
birth certificate, which he already has just fine.</p>

<p>I know he’ll need letters from us as long as he’s under l8 (first term). </p>

<p>Many thanks. I really tried here until I got “eyeball splat” when they fall upon the keyboards from fatigue.</p>

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<p>Just posting to say that I did get back son’s birth certificate along with the old, canceled passport today! A note of explanation was included with these documents that the passport and the documents submitted with the application will be mailed seperately.</p>

<p>Bottom line, we have everything and I am relieved that his birth certificate is not floating around somewhere.</p>

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<p>p3t:</p>

<p>Does your son’s birth certificate indicate he’s a US citizen? Unless it explicitly states it, it’ll appear that he’s a Canadian citizen and there may be confusion and cause problems. I had a similar issue since my birth certificate is written completely in German and doesn’t indicate I’m a US citizen (I was born in Germany on a US military base - parents are US citizens). The first time I went to Mexico I tried to use it but the Mexicans wouldn’t accept it so I found a creative way for them to allow me across the border that time and brought a ‘Proof of Citizenship Certificate’ the next time. </p>

<p>I believe the driver’s license is adequate for land travel to Mexico until someday when the US government decides to implement passport checks but the government’s been wishy-washy on this point.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1182351923729.shtm[/url]”>http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1182351923729.shtm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I recommend that your son go ahead and get a passport anyway. It’s universally accepted as proof of citizenship around the world and if your son plans to ever study or travel abroad during college he’ll already be ready on this point and not have the angst of delays in the passport agency. In this day and age of global terrorism you also never know when the rules will change.</p>

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<p>^^Thanks, UCLA dad. He has a particular document called something like “Consular Report of a U.S. Citizen Born Abroad.” We applied for it and have been holding onto it since around age 2. Soon after he was born, we took our own birth certificates and passports, plus his, to the U.S. Consulate in Canada to get this particular document. It was hard to come by!</p>

<p>I actually want to get a second official copy for him to travel with, that is until the passport comes through (will begin to apply this very week). I understand from the Homeland Security Department site that this is the definitive “proof of U.S. citizenship” for someone born abroad (i.e., Canada). </p>

<p>He has a Canadian birth certificate, and Candian citizenship papers, but these certainly don’t indicate or mention he’s a dual citizen.</p>

<p>I might have a Catch 22, though, needing to submit the Consular letter to the passport people so he can get his first passport. Hmm. It’s going to be a busy week on the phone. Suggestions welcome, if anyone has any. Otherwise I’ll just tough it out. </p>

<p>He has a driver’s license from the State of NY, so that’s fine for government picture ID.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if I can kickstart the passport without surrendering his Consular letter proving citizenship? Or maybe I should wait until I have a duplicate consular letter before initiating the passport process.</p>

<p>And I heartily agree he should have a U.S. passport now that he’s a college freshman, even with no specifric travel plans yet. Opportunities will hopefully come his way and I want him to be ready. </p>

<p>Another reason, much like in So.Cal: soon these rules will change at the borders of Canada and Mexico. I believe I read about changes here starting Jan. 2008. Even just to drive over and visit Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, soemthing we often do here, will soon require a passport, or some other lesser document. Right now the US government’s trying to figure it out. When they first announced it, the business community on both sides of this border objected that it would wreck them, because they depend on a cross-border marketplace for this regional economy. It was also argued that if a family in upstate NY (or upstate anwhere on the border) wants to take a family picnic in Canada, it’s rough to have to buy an entire family with children passports just for that kind of travel. So there could be more limited documents than a passport, just for nearby travel. Our U.S. Senators (Shumer and Clinton) are working on that now. Oviously, the counter-argument is that national security is of vital concern, not just the regional economy. Hopefully they can protect both. There’s a corridor from Buffalo to Hamilton and Toronto that is a functioning economic region.</p>

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<p>D2 applied for passport on May 15th from St. Louis, didn’t ask for expediting. Passport arrived in the mail today. Go figure.</p>

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<p>D1, D2 and S applied for passports in March, non-expedited.</p>

<p>D1 received her passport on May 29.</p>

<p>D2 and S have been in limbo. I have logged over 45 phonecalls to the passport office, been given the most ridiculous runaround, etc. Story too long and boring.</p>

<p>Passports finally arrived this morning exactly 17 weeks to the date from application, and 7 days before travel!!!</p>

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<p>We applied on May 5. All of them have arrived (under separate cover) in the past three days. Ten weeks, start to finish…not as bad as we thought.</p>

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<p>Can anyone out there answer the question of why there are so many disparities between even members of the same family?? Does it have anything to do with national security- like, where someone has worked, whether their name <em>shows up</em> somewhere, etc?</p>

<p>H and I have basically decided that if my passport doesn’t come in within 13 weeks of my application then we’re cancelling our trip to the UK and rescheduling another trip for next summer. Screw it, I can’t be dealing with this crap.</p>

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<p>Doubleplay:</p>

<p>Did you already apply? If not, pay the extra bucks to have it expedited and you’ll lilely get it reasonably quickly. If you already applied non-expedited, well, I hope it works out and you get it in time anyway.</p>

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<p>I have no idea why my kids received their passports 2 months apart. All I can say is that I never made this many phonecalls (like every single day) nor experienced this much aggravation over anything else.</p>

<p>Kids are aged 19, 18 and 13, so no history or red flags.</p>

<p>I do know that at some centers, like Philly, you can go on a walk-in basis, bringing your airline ticket as proof of flight within 7 days, and actually get your passport while you wait. For a fee. Even if you already applied by mail, they will just cancel the one in progress.</p>

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<p>ucla dad,
Don’t even get me started! :frowning:
When I applied, the twit behind the desk <em>ridiculed</em> me for wanted to buy the expedited service so like a dummy, I didn’t.
Then a few weeks later when I saw this thread, I called the courthouse again and asked about changing the status and was told I could not do it once the paperwork was submitted. So it looks like I’m stuck.
I attempted to call the <em>hotline</em> for passports, and haven’t been able to get through. Like I said, I have little patience for this kind of thing and would rather enjoy the rest of my summer.<br>
I guess I’ll be putting in those new countertops after all…</p>