Sorry, but I don't trust the workers in the post office. They insisted that my custody paperwork only allowed me to keep my child in California. All because there was a check box for where the paperwork was filed and it said CA. Nevermind the fact that I had a special clause put in the agreement that I am allowed to take my child any where at any time without any notice.
She had to call 2 supervisors after I put up a fuss. They finally told her to just submit it and let the government figure it out???
Roger that!!! The people who take passport applications in acceptance facilities (post office, county clerk's office, muni courthouse) are passport acceptance
clerks...they
ARE NOT employees of the State Department nor do they determine if you'll actually get your passport! ONLY the people working in the 14 Passport Agency offices or the passport production centers around the country are State Dept employees and can actually determine yay or nay as to whether the documents submitted will suffice for getting your passport.
The postal, county or court clerks have been trained by State as to what to look for (b/c, DL) but when it comes to sticky matters, divorce, adoption, custody papers etc. these clerks CANNOT make these determinations, they should just pack everything up and ship it to State and let them deal with it. This is what happened with DS' first passport. The guy wasn't sure of anything but when I tossed the email from NPIC at him, he shut up and sent in the paperwork. Turns out we were indeed close but the State Dept Passport Consular Affairs official who called me from Houston said they actually needed something else from the court and suggested the wording. The court sent the information directly to them and they shipped all our docs and his new passport back to us.
Okay so even if a passport is NOT required (by some miracle) by the govt-
DCL will still require it?
And our IDs are getting changed and that might cause problems getting a passport later on?
All this info is giving me a major migraine.
Poor BIP. As I understand the information flood, because we're calling at a South American country the government will require us to have passports - even though there's some doubt about Mexico & the Carribean. Unless DCL cancels our stop at Cartagena, Colombia we MUST have passports.
Sarangel is correct. There's some nuances in this but I'll try to make it easy:
Up until recently (last couple of years) the US government did not require US citizens traveling anywhere in the Western Hemisphere to have a passport when
returning to the United States. You could go to Mexico, Aruba, Brazil, or Chile and not need a passport for getting back into the US. You still needed proof of citizenship, hence a b/c and DL since the b/c doesn't have a picture.
BUT!!! The US
can not dictate immigration policy to any other sovereign nation! So even though the US says you don't need a passport to come back home,
Brazil says you do need a passport to
get into their country. So if you're flying down for Carnival, you'd best have a passport or you won't be getting on the plane!
The countries that went along with the bc/DL combo are the Carribean countries (Aruba, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos) becuse they knew Americans are more apt to travel on a whim when they have no barriers to travel (like getting a passport).
The US government (at the behest of Homeland Security) has changed that stance and eventually all travelers by land, sea or air will be required to have a passport when coming back to the US. But they are phasing in that requirement and right now, cruise passengers don't need them. Next year for the TOAL? Who knows, maybe they'll have another leeway deal.
But it won't matter because COLUMBIA requires all persons to have a passport.
DCL must abide by the immigration laws of every country the ship will visit. So even if the US delays the passport requirement for sea travel until 2011 it won't make one bit of difference because Columbia requires a passport.
Okay what all is needed for a passport? If a marriage cert is required- it's going to look weird because get this... we've married, divorced and remarried. I have lost our original marriage license and our 2nd one has my last name the same as Jeff's! (because I had not gone back to my maiden name. Our divorce was final and we were back together 2 mo after the divorce was final. We lived "as married" -common law or whatever- for a few years before I would marry him again.) But now our most recent marriage license, and the only one I have, shows both our last names the same and my last name is NOT my maiden one.
So I'm going to have a BC with my named spelled Shelly, my DL/SS/etc. is spelled Shelley AND my marriage license is going to show my married last name instead of my maiden last name.
ugh
At the very basic, you have to prove (a) identity (gov't issued photo ID like a DL) and (b) US citizenship (b/c, naturalization papers etc) in order to get a passport.
This proof needs to be in the form of legal and/or certified documentaion. If you want the passport in a name OTHER than what's listed on your birth certificate then you have to provide proof of the name change or even a "chain" of proof in the cases of multiple marriages and divorces. You essentially need documents to show how you got to the point of having various different names on your ID, b/c, SS card etc. and that you are, indeed, one in the same person.
You have to show that the name you want on your passport (if different than your b/c) is still YOU via a combination of those documents. If you want the passport to have your b/c (maiden) name, then you have to show why it is that your DL name is different than your b/c name.
So, if you don't have one of the marriage certificates, get copies. Lost the birth certificate? Get a new one. Spelling error? Get them fixed. Yes those are simplistic suggestions but the point is to start doing that stuff now so that the passport application process will go more smoothly.
i hope not. In PA (ok at least the county i got married in), you don't get your license back. i think the church i got married in keeps a copy though. (Cause i worked there for a few years as an admin.
)
You can always get a certified copy from the county (and sometimes the state) that issued the license. Check their website for the Office of the County Clerk (or Prothonotary).
all this talk of passports, I dug out ours yesterday. Seems DD's expires in October, not December like I had, for some reason, thought.
I guess it doesn't matter because to renew an "under 16" passport seems to be the same procedure as a new passport. I am hoping it is not the same price - still digging around
For All Minors Ages 14 to 17:
- Each minor child shall appear in person.
- For security reasons, parental consent may be requested.
- If your child does not have identification of his/her own, you need to accompany your child and present identification.
Under Age 16: The passport application fee is $52. The execution fee is $30.
The total is $82 .
If you were 16 or Older when the passport was issued
Then your passport is valid for 10 Years
If you were 15 or Younger when the passport was issued
Then your passport is valid for 5 Years
We can definitely wait until after the rush for my husband. He's not going on the Canal cruise, but we are going on NCL at Christmas and the Mexican Riviera with the Magic in June....but on the manifest, as on his airline tix and all....he's listed as "J"....which is what his passport says and his driver's license, social security card, etc.
That's what was so weird about him getting a passport with just the "J" ....because the only thing left anymore that has his full name is his birth certificate.
What I was saying is that eventually, I want him to put it all back to his full name. But that process will take a while considering social security and all.
I just always have to be careful to get his plane tickets and the ressies on the ship under just the "J"....and I'm tired of doing that. I want it ALL to be the same.
I understand what you are saying. Funny thing is, DCL is the ONLY place where I have had a problem with my passport having my full name (John Raymond) while my ticket says "J. R.". I've flown to Argentina, Thailand, the UK, Hong Kong and mainland China, and even third-world places like Little Rock, Arkansas, with no issues, but I threw the guy at DCL for a loop checking in because the names did not match.
As Tom mentioned, with the RealID nonsense looming about, the requirements for getting state IDs or DLs is going to get tighter. Here in CO they have already implemented new rules that require proof of legal presence in the US before getting an ID/DL. Just this month they updated the documentation rules. For a while they were not accepting US passports as sufficient proof of name/identity "It doesn't prove identity" is what one DMV idiot said!
That's because they had a rash of people bringing in phony passports right before the new law kicked in. Also, in this state, you have to prove citizenship if you want to get any sort of state social benefit (welfare, food stamps, WIC, medical care etc). [Some homeless guy went to a county hospital with an abscessed tooth. They sent him away because he didn't have ID and the tooth didn't constitute a medial emergency. So he and a buddy tried to extract the tooth with pliers and fishing line!
It just broke into little bits. So he swallowed a bunch of pills. THAT was a medical emergency! Paramedics got him to the hospital--the same one that turned him away--and they removed the bad tooth. All this because the guy got robbed of his ID and he couldn't get a new one because he didn't have the necessary documentation.]
But now passports are okay. So if you're coming from one of the 11 states that
do not require proof of US status (ie in politically incorrect terms--11 states will issue a DL to illegal aliens) then you'll have to bring in your passport, naturalization papers or birth certificate. Problem is, all three names in both the out of state DL and passport have to match:
DL: John Raymond Doe
PP: John Raymond Doe
Welcome to Colorado, here's your new DL.
DL: John R Doe
PP: John Raymond Doe
or any other variation, you gotta bring the b/c. Even if your middle "name" is only the letter 'S' they want proof because their assumption is that everyone has a spelled-out first, middle and last name.
.
The good thing is that we are all on different schedules so the cost is always spread out.
a little bit of pixie dust.
After not hearing for 14 weeks, I took matter in my own hands. I was told by the passport office that my passport was just sitting in the New Hampshire Office for over 12 weeks. The girl from the asgency gave me a hint and said if I was going within the week,keeep calling.(She knew I orginally said I was not needing them til next year) If I called, the agency would start working on mine. It took 5 phone calls and each time my passport was getting a little further in the system. Finally, I was told the government would express my passport over night by Fed EX. The next morning I got my passports.
Just say you are not sure of the travel date exactly, but give them a 12 week time frame.
This way if you do not get your passports within the 12 weeks, the passport agency will expedite them for free!!!
