LONES

My daughters are adopted, and they are requesting original birth certificates from their birth country. I can't even imagine what it might take to make that happen, but I'm pretty certain it won't happen by our travel date even if it's possible.

There is a Federal Law called the Child Citizenship Act that pertains to our situation. There is even a section about it under the passport section of the State Department's website, that states exactly what you need to apply for a passport for your child. We have provided all of the information they need. They absolutely do not need an original foreign birth certificate, and I have no idea why they are asking for it. It could only possibly pertain if they are under the mistaken assumption that they are our biological children that happened to be born outside of the U.S. I would have thought the certified adoption decrees included with our paperwork would have cleared that up.... but who knows?

Ughh... It looks like I'm one of the unlucky ones! We received letters in the mail Monday night from the Passport Center in Tucson for both of our daughters requesting additional information. The information they are asking for is nearly impossible to get. I called the 800 number, and they are no help. The response was, "if they ask for the information you have no choice but to provide it, or you won't get a passport". They also mentioned that I won't be getting any fees back regardless.

I asked to talk to someone at the actual passport center to explain to them that according to their own website, I had already submitted the required documents, and find out why they wanted a document that may be impossible to obtain. They told me I can't talk to anyone in Tucson... but could write a letter of appeal. Finally at the end of the conversation Monday night the guy said he would put in a message to have someone in Tucson call me, but it was at their discretion whether or not they would. I haven't heard anything yet.

Great... government bureacracy. The odds of this getting resolved in just over 2 months is slim to none. I talked to my Senator's office yesterday, and they are going to look into it for me.

Yeah....hopefully it'll come in any day now.

 

What's weird for us is that we are still waiting on our birth documents, birth abroad certs, etc, to come back, lol

That may be normal. I have a co-worker that got a passport for her daughter a few months back. She got the passport in about 2 weeks, but said the birth certificate came back about a month after that.

Did you check the status online?

Online it just says that it's currently being processed. I called and was told the same thing this morning. I guess I'll just wait.....

We applied for our kids' passports at the post office on 3/30, and haven't heard anything yet. They are quoting 4-6 weeks, but I've heard others lately saying they've been getting them back in 3 weeks or less.

We're cruising on the Golden Princess next summer with extended family

(5 familes, 17 people). My MIL organized the trip and chose to do the anytime dining. I've never cruised and am trying to understand how it works. Do you just show up and wait for a table, or can you make a 6:00pm reservation for "tonight" when you get up in the morning? Or does it work both ways? Also, are there formal nights when you do the anytime dining? Thanks!