Definition of "certified copies" re Passports Under Child Citizenship Act?

[LauraDP 10]

HI VJers

Two years into living in the US and we are finally getting around to applying for US passports for our four sons. They qualify under the Child Citizenship Act. (My husband - their biological father - was unable to pass on his USC status to them automatically as he had not been resident in the US for long enough after his 14th birthday - he is a dual US / UK national.)

We filled in the application forms and took those plus supporting documentation to the Post Office for submission. The employee who handled the process had difficulty comprehending the basis of our application but we insisted that he include our photocopies of things like Green Cards and other residency evidence in the packs. Unfortunately it seems as if he omitted to do so since I have just received four envelopes from the US Department of State requiring that we submit additional supporting evidence within 90 days or the applications will be voided. Specifically they want our marriage certificate and evidence of residency, such as the Green Cards and school registration information and such like.

The letters state that we must submit either originals or certified copies. Obviously I am loathe to send all of the original material through the mail because of the risk of identity theft or just of such important information being lost in the post so I would prefer to send copies. We also have the problem of having only one original marriage certificate but four separate passport applications. However, I am finding conflicting definitions as to what "certified copies" refers to. Does it mean official copies from the legal register, which pretty much means an original certificate, or does it mean photocopies that I have had notarized by someone?

I was, therefore, wondering if anyone here had experience of just such an application and knew what "copies" were acceptable in regards to a passport application.

Thank you in advance for any assistance or guidance offered.

Best wishes

Laura

[mlh 93]

I think usually certified copies have to be ordered from a government agency. For example, when I needed extra copies of my birth certificate, I had to go online and order them directly from the agency. They sent me copies with the notary stamp on each one. When we got married, we ordered 3 extra certified copies while we were in St. Lucia because I'd read that it could take months, literally, to get another copy after we left.

I do know that for a passport, they do require the original or one of these certified copies. When I got married and had to change my name on my passport, I had to send an original of our marriage certificate. They do return it when they complete the passport process, it's just sent back in a separate envelope.

And if you're worried about it being lost, you can always send it via certified mail or FedEx. Both have tracking numbers.

I just remembered that I did try to have someone notarize a color copy of my passport for my Brazilian visa for work, and a lot of places say that they can't do that according to their notary rules. I don't think that will suffice for the US government since it can't be confirmed as real if it's just a copy that someone notarizes.

Edit: Not sure if you can send them all in one packet with the same reference documents, or if you're not crunched for time, you do one, wait for the docs to come back, and then do the next one. May take longer, but would get around need 4 originals all at once.

Edited September 23, 2015 by mlh

[LauraDP 10]

I think usually certified copies have to be ordered from a government agency. For example, when I needed extra copies of my birth certificate, I had to go online and order them directly from the agency. They sent me copies with the notary stamp on each one. When we got married, we ordered 3 extra certified copies while we were in St. Lucia because I'd read that it could take months, literally, to get another copy after we left.

I do know that for a passport, they do require the original or one of these certified copies. When I got married and had to change my name on my passport, I had to send an original of our marriage certificate. They do return it when they complete the passport process, it's just sent back in a separate envelope.

And if you're worried about it being lost, you can always send it via certified mail or FedEx. Both have tracking numbers.

I just remembered that I did try to have someone notarize a color copy of my passport for my Brazilian visa for work, and a lot of places say that they can't do that according to their notary rules. I don't think that will suffice for the US government since it can't be confirmed as real if it's just a copy that someone notarizes.

Edit: Not sure if you can send them all in one packet with the same reference documents, or if you're not crunched for time, you do one, wait for the docs to come back, and then do the next one. May take longer, but would get around need 4 originals all at once.

Thank you very much for your reply. I really appreciate it. Yes, my assumption was that certified copy meant issued by the agency or body responsible for the original documentation. I just had my fingers crossed it might just mean a notarised copy.

The 90 days will not be enough time for me to order additional copies of our marriage certificate from the UK I shouldn't think. We got married 19 years ago so we had no idea we might need them for this sort of escapade and just had two copies, one of which was lost by the UK passport agency many moons ago. My concern about original documents in the mail stems from that experience, the DVLA losing my passport some years ago and USCIS losing my oldest son's Green Card in the mail. I know I can send everything tracked and recorded but I have no control over how securely they are returned to me.

I will need to phone the Passport bit of the State Department to ask if I can return all four lots of evidence in one envelope so that the original marriage certificate can cover the evidence for all four boys. Fingers crossed they will permit it or else the timeline involved will likely mean that we run out of time for at least two of the applications.

I cannot convey how frustrating all of this is given that relationships have been established and Green Cards issued by a different federal agency. So much duplication of bureaucracy.

Thanks again for responding.

Laura

[mlh 93]

No problem. Another option, depending on how far away the closest office is, but you can make an appointment to go to a passport office rather than sending them in. I think you have to show proof of traveling in 2 weeks, but you get your documents back and the passports are expedited. Saves sending them in the mail.

Here's the link:

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/information/where-to-apply.html

Good luck!

[TBoneTX 45,289]

*** Thread moved from US Citizenship main forum to the "Passports, etc." subforum. ***

[LauraDP 10]

No problem. Another option, depending on how far away the closest office is, but you can make an appointment to go to a passport office rather than sending them in. I think you have to show proof of traveling in 2 weeks, but you get your documents back and the passports are expedited. Saves sending them in the mail.

Here's the link:

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/information/where-to-apply.html

Good luck!

Thanks. We don't have any travel plans but it is worth investigating.

[LauraDP 10]

I thought I would update my thread so that anyone who finds this query in the search for the same answer might find it of some use.

We contacted the Passport division of the Department of State and posed them our queries. They confirmed our thoughts that all documentation had to be original - no notarised photocopies - but that we could send the original Marriage Certificate in one application and photocopies in the other three. We were instructed to write a note on the three photocopies directing whoever was processing the application to the location of the original certificate. We were also granted permission to bundle all four applications together so that there were four separate envelopes each containing the supporting documentation but these were sent (tracked and recorded) in one large envelope.

Interestingly, the passport person we spoke to told us that Post Office staff - while technically trained to process passport applications - are fundamentally lacking in knowledge about to handle anything other than a very standard application. Essentially most don't have a clue what they were doing. Given we paid a handling fee per application on the basis that they knew what they were doing, that is kind of shocking to me. Basically the only service they provided was ensuring the safe delivery of our applications.

Thanks again for all input to this discussion.