<p>Anxiously awaiting Shrinkrap’s update…</p>
<p>This would really be a good time to call your representative or congressman. Do you know anyone in a public office who could put in a call for you?</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, keeping my fingers crossed for y’all!</p>
<p>Reading this makes me grateful to the well traveled man who, years ago, suggested I simply get D a passport instead of using her birth certificate. Yikes! The best of luck to you, Shrinkrap, and here’s hoping everything works out! </p>
<p>QLM</p>
<p>Crossing fingers and toes…</p>
<p>Thank’s all!</p>
<p>Shrinkrap, any update today? Hoping you got good news!</p>
<p>Nothing major; </p>
<p>Told our saga by email yesterday, and by phone this AM. Person on phone said she would pass it on and we should hear within the week; they return calls based on departure date. </p>
<p>Email response was an automated version of “your email is too important to handle by email, please call”. </p>
<p>The call this morning did give us enough hope to send D to San Francisco with an appointment and additional secondary proof of citizenship. Person on phone said she didn’t have access what was already sent, but the San Francisco office would.We are still praying to get this done with secondary evidence that is needed to support certificates that don’t have both parents names. Additional obsessing online suggests that this is a process that has evolved since the April 2011 changes requiringnboth parents names on the BC. </p>
<p>If our prayers aren’t answered (no offense God, if you are reading this…) D, H and brother head to Los Angeles (Van Nuys) after work tomorrow, sleeping in Bakersfield, then continuing in the AM, then San Francisco Friday for a same day passport. </p>
<p>Turns out it would cost $400 per person to fly, and it won’t work logistically to drive down, try to do birth certain AND passport, then drive back the same day.</p>
<p>Considering the vast number of children who are born out of wedlock these days, it boggles the mind that they are making such a big deal out of this.</p>
<p>Many things the government does in the name of enhanced security boggle the mind. </p>
<p>When they switched to the new (chipped) passports AND then required them for trips to Mexico/Canada that hadn’t previously required them, they were shocked and stunned at the volume of passport requests. Took nearly three months to get one of ours renewed. Apparently “Math is hard” is more than a Barbie phrase, at least when you’re policy wonks in the state department calculating staffing needs.</p>
<p>I haven’t read every entry here, but would like to add that I’ve used Vitalsomething twice, once for NJ and once for MI, and both times the service was excellent. </p>
<p>Our situation was very complicated because we live overseas, different last names and multiple addresses, but Vitalsomething was very helpful. We needed a few telephone conversations to sort things out, but once they had what they needed, we received the birth certificates within days by courier.</p>
<p>So the appointmnet in San Francisco did not resolve anything. Yes, they know the webiste says seconsdary information is acceptable, </p>
<p><a href=“http://simplesiter.com/air-travel/buying-a-new-passport-requires-evidence-u-s-citizenship/[/url]”>http://simplesiter.com/air-travel/buying-a-new-passport-requires-evidence-u-s-citizenship/</a></p>
<p>"Primary Evidence of Citizenship includes a previous passport, a certified birth certificate that includes the names of both parents, and other documents that are solid proof of your U. S. Citizenship. Since the rules are very strict, it is best to confirm that the documents you will be submitting are acceptable. Check online for a full listing of the evidence that is allowed.</p>
<p>A new requirement is that the birth certificate is not abbreviated, and that it includes the names of both of your parents. For applications submitted before April 1, 2011, the abbreviated birth certificate may be accepted, but after that date it will not be. If you only have an abbreviated certificate, you must obtain additional proof, called Secondary Evidence of Citizenship, to include with it.</p>
<p>Several types of early public records are considered Secondary Evidence. They must include your name, date of birth and place of birth; preferably, they were created before you were five years old. Secondary Evidence cannot be submitted alone, it can only be used as verification of Primary Evidence"</p>
<p>but no, it is not. They said my brother in LA can pick up the BC, but we are skeptical.</p>
<p>So, it’s off to Los Angeles for the BC, then back to San Francisco for the passport.</p>
<p>The only consolation I can offer you is that at least you don’t have to fly to Hawaii (or Kenya) for the birth certificate.</p>
<p>Oh, Shrinkrap, I am so sorry. At least you have a plan that is still workable and you have 3.5 days left to get it done. Your positive attitude is admirable! Best wishes and thanks for keeping all of us posted.</p>
<p>"at least you don’t have to fly to Hawaii (or Kenya) for the birth certificate. "</p>
<p>It has been interesting to see the number of posts about our president every time I Google Birth certificate. </p>
<p>Yes, this is a hassle, but I feel much better having a plan, it looks like we will be able to take our trip, and it is hardly the worst thing that could happen. </p>
<p>I mention that because there is currently a commercial about being able to buy postage from home, and they quote a guy saying " there is nothing worse than having to stand in line at the post office to buy stamps!". </p>
<p>Huh? He should hear the stories I hear.</p>
<p>Shrinkwrap, according to those criteria, there are going to be hundreds of thousands of people who cannot ever get passports.</p>
<p>It’s ludicrous.</p>
<p>We’ve sent xrays of sinuses and lungs of a soon to be “asthmatic” four month old “dependent child of active duty air force” taken on a military base during the Gulf War, but umm…no…</p>
<p>Anyway…anybody know good restaurants in Modesto open after 9 PM?</p>
<p>Glad to hear that you have a plan, even if it is a complicated (and $$) one. I hope everything moves smoothly for you from this point on.</p>
<p>So they changed the rul and made it retroactive to everyone? So you could be fifty and with dead parents and on oldtimey birth certificate and younmay not be able to get a passport? Were they even thinking when they made this new requirement?</p>
<p>H and I both had old time Birth Certificates(NJ) that did not list our parents’ names. We recently ordered new ones (long form w/parents’ names) through VitalChek and received them about 10 days later (UPS 2nd day air-signature req’d). We will be relocating to another state and figured with changing residency and licenses, better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>Good luck Shrinkrap, after this ordeal you will all need a vacation!</p>