Passports !

[Captain Oates 911]

ok you guys who got your passports - how are they returned if it's expedited ?

Is it USPS, or UPS or Fedex ?

Is it to sign for ?

Does that apply to the passport and the certificate which sometimes comes back separately ?

My mailman has come and gone and no passport - but the airport here in nowheresville is socked in and there were no flights today

I want to go away tomorrow but if its to sign for then I had best stay at home

USPS is a.m. and UPS is late afternoon

Edited December 10, 2010 by Alan the Red

[ELW 5]

Hubby's wasn't expedited. It came after 12 days via USPS Priority or Express, forgot which, we threw away the envelope. No signature required, it was sitting in our mailbox on Monday. No Citizenship certificate yet.

[Captain Oates 911]

Hubby's wasn't expedited. It came after 12 days via USPS Priority or Express, forgot which, we threw away the envelope. No signature required, it was sitting in our mailbox on Monday. No Citizenship certificate yet.

Thanks for that - it all seems very risky with no signature for such important documents to stay out there by the roadside

Every now and then a scruffy little kid about 5 years old comes along making out he is playing in the gutter and he looks in the mail boxes

His mother looks very shifty and stands across the road while the kid does this. Eventually she makes out like he is being naughty and calls him back.

The USCIS seem so tight on addresses for documents and letters but the DOS just whang em out there and good luck.

Another 16 hours and perhaps I can get em and relax - that depends on the fog which cut us off totally today

thanks again !

[ELW 5]

Good luck to get yours ASAP! We are in an apartment complex so all the metal boxes are locked, we have to open it with a key. Plus we collect the mail soon after it comes. But yes, we are talking about PASSPORTS and CITIZENSHIP CERTIFICATES, and they don't require a signature?! Unbelievable.

[NickD 203]

Wifes' passport was expedient service whatever in the hell that means, expedient service in Venezuela or Colombia translates into giving the judge a thousand bucks under the table, or will take literally years before your case even gets on the docket. This was only like 30 bucks or so that covers the cost of overnight postage and that cardboard envelop. I had to sign for it, but live in a small town, if I didn't happen to be home, would have left a notice to come to the post office, that has happened before. But that was for just the passport, certificate came in three days later from exactly the same New Orleans address in a cheap paper envelop with untraceable first class postage. At least it was first class, I have received junk mail from the that neck of the woods faster than a first class letter. DOS could have saved 43 cents by inserting her certificate with the passport, would think after they approved the passport and printed it, would be done with her certificate, but with our government, never good to think. Thinking is not permitted, an unwritten amendment to our constitution.

We also had additional concerns because Katrina was fooling around in New Orleans at that time, Chicago can make a passport, must pick the furthest service center.

But like that British author said that now has formed a US company that is making fishing gear in China, all is well that ends well. Thing is, will it ever end?

[Captain Oates 911]

Wifes' passport was expedient service whatever in the hell that means, expedient service in Venezuela or Colombia translates into giving the judge a thousand bucks under the table, or will take literally years before your case even gets on the docket. This was only like 30 bucks or so that covers the cost of overnight postage and that cardboard envelop. I had to sign for it, but live in a small town, if I didn't happen to be home, would have left a notice to come to the post office, that has happened before. But that was for just the passport, certificate came in three days later from exactly the same New Orleans address in a cheap paper envelop with untraceable first class postage. At least it was first class, I have received junk mail from the that neck of the woods faster than a first class letter. DOS could have saved 43 cents by inserting her certificate with the passport, would think after they approved the passport and printed it, would be done with her certificate, but with our government, never good to think. Thinking is not permitted, an unwritten amendment to our constitution.

We also had additional concerns because Katrina was fooling around in New Orleans at that time, Chicago can make a passport, must pick the furthest service center.

But like that British author said that now has formed a US company that is making fishing gear in China, all is well that ends well. Thing is, will it ever end?

I hope it will end for me today Nick

Its 8.25 am pacific and the mail man comes around lunchtime

The DOS email from their auto alert system said it would arrive today saturday by overnight. Actually I received the email 7am thursday saying it had been mailed - so what is overnight to me is not really overnight (rip off).

My fireproof safe is open and waiting. The passes have snow and the airport is closed - so it might be spring before it gets to my desert

[Captain Oates 911]

ok we have the answer:

Normal USPS mail man arrived 3 minutes ago

I had to sign for the letter which is a thick cardboard USPS express mail

I had to sign for it

I have the passport and they spelled everything right and it's very posh

No certificate but many report that comes back separately

But never mind I can travel and have identity

5 minutes ago I had no GC and no certificate and no passport and I felt like persona non grata

ok its the fireproof box for you bud

Short lines at Seattle airport for me !

ps it was expedited , so normal system - we may not have to sign

Edited December 11, 2010 by Alan the Red

[ELW 5]

Congrats on receiving the passport!

I had a good day too - got the Naturalization certificate. Phew!

[Captain Oates 911]

Congrats on receiving the passport!

I had a good day too - got the Naturalization certificate. Phew!

Mega !

If we lived in Arizona we would have to stay inside until we got some documentation !

It's nice to know I am free to leave the country now and have got something to show

Wife looks relieved now she is free from sponsorship

It will take a while to get used to the idea that I am free of the USCIS and there is bound to be some anti climax and PTSD.

However, my mind is now clear to look for some new challenges with no uncertainties built in ! A burglar alarm to protect the passport can be number 1 project.

Had it with waiting and had it with uncertainty.

The certificate will come Monday or Tuesday but if they lose it and it takes a year to replace I am not bothered because I have a passport !

[ELW 5]

What gets me is they don't even give us the satisfaction of seeing our case status online complete - it will be stuck in "Testing and Interview' forever!

[Captain Oates 911]

What gets me is they don't even give us the satisfaction of seeing our case status online complete - it will be stuck in "Testing and Interview' forever!

Yeah but we won't - so yippee !

It does mean that I can be tried for treason now if I contribute to wikileaks. Before, it was just a data protection charge.

Lord haw-haw was hung for treason because he had a Brit passport even though he was Irish. Dangerous bits of paper.

Now we are American we must become used to being scared by all sorts of things if we are to fully integrate - so I will start worrying about that and make sure I don't go to wikileaks or cuba... oh and tornadoes and hurricanes and earthquakes and bandidos and AIDS and shovelling snow off the sidewalk so my neighbor won't sue me and not driving at more than 25mph and ..and.. and... and... too late now...

Being free does not mean being free from worries and we should remember that. It means my wife being free from not having a Briton sneaking into her bed or living in her house like in 1776...