Bureaucracy, American style

Or how to get a US passport for a child born abroad, round two.

The requirements remain annoyingly onerous, but the US Embassy - at least in Bern - seems to have improved the process of registering the birth and applying for a passport and Social Security card since I went through this almost three years ago with Small Boy. I still need to provide Boychen's birth certificate, international version ("Extract of the Birth Registry Issued in Pursuance of the Convention signed at Vienna on September 8, 1976"); my passport; R's passport; and a copy of our marriage certificate. R and I were married in the US so I can just provide our license. Had we been married abroad I would need to request "Extract for the Marriage Registry Issue in Pursuance of the Convention signed at Vienna on September 8, 1976." Because only one of the Boychen's parents is a US citizen (that would be me), I need to provide evidence of my physical presence in the US for at least five years, two of which were after the age of 14.* This can be done through school records, tax returns, pay stubs, or the like. I just happen to have every report card I've ever gotten from Kindergarten through graduate school, so I'll be using those just like I did with Small Boy.** I still need to fill out but not sign form SS-5 for the Social Security number, form DS-11 for the passport, and Application for Consular Report of Birth Abroad form DS-2029. I stil lneed to provide two color passport photos with a plain white background and a maximum head size of 3.5cm and a minimum head size of 2.5 cm.*** I still need to go in person, with my infant child and non-citizen spouse, to complete the process.****

Where they seem to have improved the process is by sending you, upon request, an application packet with the necessary forms (no more searching and downloading! no more filling them out at the embassy while your baby cries!), two pages of instructions, and a sample completed form DS-2029. You can then fill out all the forms at home and send them, along with the passport photos and photocopies of the relevant documents, back to the embassy. Embassy staff will review the documents and contact you if there are problems. Once they have reviewed the application packet and have determined that everything is in order, only then do you go in person with your child (required by law) to the embassy to complete the process - which at that point involves signing the forms in the presence of a consular official and paying a total of 176.40 Swiss francs (US $147).*****

This preview by mail is a major improvement, since you are required by law to bring your minor child with you when you apply for a passport. It's a serious pain to go to the embassy with your child and non-citizen spouse during the work-week only to be told your passport photos are wrong and you have to come back another time. Or to be sent away from the desk repeatedly because something was wrong on your form DS-2029. So yay US Embassy in Bern. A change for the better.

Photos have been taken, documents have been copied, and I hope to make it to the Post in time to send off my packet for review today. Getting Boychen's passport, step one, has certainly been easier than getting Small Boy's was. With the holidays coming up, meaning the embassy will probably be closed for two weeks, I don't expect to actually get this done before the new year, but we'll see.

Coming tomorrow: Bureaucracy, Swiss style.

* If the law doesn't change, this means that if the Boychen lives his whole life in Switzerland and has a child one day, he will not be able to pass on his US citizenship. Bastards.

** Actually, wouldn't simply showing them Small Boy's registration of birth suffice, since it proves I've gone through this rigamarole successfully once already? But that would be too easy.

*** If you live in or near Bern and you need US passport photos for an infant, save yourself some bother and just go to FotoDany on Waisenhausplatz. They know what they're doing.

**** If only one parent appears, the non-appearing parent needs to provide a notarized letter of consent and a copy of a valid signed passport. This is so that I can't give Boychen US citizenship without R's consent.

***** Amazingly, the price has not gone up since I did this with Small Boy.

Continued in part two, part three, part last, and part last subsection one.