Passport agency never sent back Naturalization Certificate

[msdelila 1]

What should we do? We've emailed them, and are awaiting their reply.

My husband had his oath and ceremony end of Feb 2013. We went directly to the passport office afterwards and applied for the passport, they took the original certificate with them. He got his passport 2 weeks later, never got his certificate. We waited a couple of months. Then I emailed them, but gave me some reply that they can ONLY correspond with the actual person, and not his wife. So I made him send them the email from his email account, and now we are waiting to hear from them.

What do you do in a case where it got lost? Luckily we have a photocopy of it, so I have that at least.

Are they able to track it?

It's already August, and it took us a couple of months to realize that it was never sent back to us. (life gets busy, kids, work, etc).

How much does it cost to replace a Naturalization certificate, and how much time does it take?

[JohnR! 5,495]

What should we do? We've emailed them, and are awaiting their reply.

My husband had his oath and ceremony end of Feb 2013. We went directly to the passport office afterwards and applied for the passport, they took the original certificate with them. He got his passport 2 weeks later, never got his certificate. We waited a couple of months. Then I emailed them, but gave me some reply that they can ONLY correspond with the actual person, and not his wife. So I made him send them the email from his email account, and now we are waiting to hear from them.

What do you do in a case where it got lost? Luckily we have a photocopy of it, so I have that at least.

Are they able to track it?

It's already August, and it took us a couple of months to realize that it was never sent back to us. (life gets busy, kids, work, etc).

How much does it cost to replace a Naturalization certificate, and how much time does it take?

More often than not the certificate is sent by another department. It should arrive in a different mailer. Keep inquiring with the passport agency.

[hieumin 2]

Cost to replace is somewhere around $345 and the form is N-565.

[Pitaya 2,577]

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Edited August 5, 2013 by A&B

[Dave&Roza 748]

Have him pester them. I would see if you can get them to admit to the loss and have them submit for a replacement or at least pay for it. All is not lost as he has his passport and does not need the naturalization certificate to prove he is a USC--the passport will do that.

Good luck,

Dave

[TBoneTX 45,077]

*** Thread moved from main U.S. Citizenship forum to the new "Passports, etc." subforum. ***

[msdelila 1]

UPDATE:

So we got an email back with a 1-800 number to call. My husband called them, and the woman looked in his file and said that the certificate was never sent back. So she put a request to send it to him. I'm not sure why they never sent it back in the first place. So now we will have to wait a couple of weeks, and HOPEFULLY ThIS TIME, they will actually send it back to us.

If we don't get it within a few weeks, then we have to call again, and start over with the request.

Seems strange to me, but I'm hoping we will get it.

[msdelila 1]

UPDATE:

So we got an email back with a 1-800 number to call. My husband called them, and the woman looked in his file and said that the certificate was never sent back. So she put a request to send it to him. I'm not sure why they never sent it back in the first place. So now we will have to wait a couple of weeks, and HOPEFULLY ThIS TIME, they will actually send it back to us.

If we don't get it within a few weeks, then we have to call again, and start over with the request.

Seems strange to me, but I'm hoping we will get it.

So UPDATE AGAIN!!

The woman he spoke to (who initially said it was not sent), ended up calling him back an hour later (after I posted this), and told him that according to her records, the certificate was sent WITH the passport in the same envelope! He kept telling her NO IT WASN"T. And she wouldn't listen, she said maybe we didn't see it, etc etc. First of all...the envelope they send the passport back, is extremely small (6in X11 inc). The naturalization shouldn't be sent in this manner, because they are not supposed to fold it! Second, even if they did fold it (they'd have to fold it a few times to make it fit, and consequently it would be bulky and QUITE noticable). and I did double check the envelope when we got it to make sure it wasn't there. I was expecting the certificate back, and we just never got it!

She said there is nothing she can do, told us to write a formal lettr to the minneapolis passport agency, which is the location that we went to directly. So we will see what they have to say. It's frustrating.. My thought is that it got filed with his paperwork because they thought it was a copy, and maybe didn't notice it was the original? I don't know. It's so frustrating. I feel like all these "governement" offices think that they can get away with anything and not have to compensate anyone because they work for the government. isnt there something that we can do? make them pay to replace it? It's not fair that they don't have to compensate us for their mistake. I can't afford another $350 right now to apply for one.