Applying for US passport for minor child

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

I need some advice from more experienced people on this board.

My wife came to the US 8 years ago on k-1, she is now a USC for a couple of years.

My oldest stepdaughter originally stayed in the home country living with family and finally came to live with us in the US about 2 years ago on IR-2. She had a baby before coming to the US at age 15. The baby had to stay behind. As soon as my stepdaughter came to the US, she became a citizen (under Child Citizenship Act of 2000) due to my wife having citizenship. So when we got her US passport, we sent an I-130 for the baby's visa. About 7-8 months ago, the visa was finally issued and the baby came here in Junuary.

Due to the same law as I referenced above, because my stepdaughter is a USC, her baby became a USC as soon as she was admitted to the US on an immigrant visa. We applied for her passport in the same way we applied for my stepdaughter when she came here. However, unlike my stepdaughter's, the granddaughter's passport has been in processing for a few months now with several letters back and forth and they are requesting all kinds of things they didn't request when we applied for my stepdaughter.

About 6 weeks after we applied. they sent a letter asking for more info:

My step daughter was a minor (1 month shy of her 18th birthday) when she applied for the baby's passport. So they requested my wife's signature also. But by the time that request came, my stepdaughter had turned 18, so we wrote back saying so and it seems to be resolved.

But the major hurdle seems to be the father's signature. The father is not in the picture. The kid booked after she got pregnant and is not in the picture. But they keep insisting that they need his signature. Or the alternative is a court order for sole custody. What 15 year old goes to court when the father books to get custody? That's ridiculous. There is a form DS-5525 which you can include that explains this exact scenario but they have returned it twice, repeating the same 2 choices above. (My wife was in the same situation with my younger stepdaughter, the father left them and they had no contact. We included DS-5525 and it was accepted and passport issued.) But they are not willing to accept it for my granddaughter.

This week, they sent a 3rd or 4th RFE for this damn passport application. Now, they are requesting:

1. new passport picture

2. US citizenship certificate (we never applied for one with none of my stepdaughters and they all have US passports)-- I'm not spending $600 for something that is not needed

3. records from around the time of baby's birth with both my daughter's and grandaughter's name on it. (medical records, insurance, etc)-- good luck getting medical records from a 3rd world country from 3 years ago.

I don't know what they will want next.

We don't whether the person processing the application doesn't know the law or what, but it seems that they are sending awfully excessive requests. Or did the law change? That seems unlikely, so I'm thinking that the person is just clueless.

We don't know why they are giving her such a hard time with this passport.

[Jawaree 717]

I say get your Congress-person involved to reach out to them,

send them a detailed explanation letter of MIA dad.....the child

should have had the dads permission to depart their country,so

how did that work out ? use the same method, it could be the 15 yr

old just don't know who is the dad especially if the kid has her last

name, then what court order would be needed? I know ladies with

kids who don't know who is the daddy can get PP for those kids

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

I say get your Congress-person involved to reach out to them,

send them a detailed explanation letter of MIA dad.....the child

should have had the dads permission to depart their country,so

how did that work out ? use the same method, it could be the 15 yr

old just don't know who is the dad especially if the kid has her last

name, then what court order would be needed? I know ladies with

kids who don't know who is the daddy can get PP for those kids

thanks for the reply.

She has the father's name, he was around long enough for that, and left soon after, But before he left, my stepdaughter convinced him to sign the permission to leave the country in exchange for not persuing child support.

Congressman seems like a good idea. Thanks.

[Penguin_ie 5,987]

The law hasn't changed, it sounds like you are getting a very strict reviewer, especially there seems to have been no issue getting the visa for the grandbaby.

I agree with going to your elected reps. This being an election year, they should be keen to help.

[Ontarkie 13,977]

For the letter to why you can't get the fathers signature. It needs to be very detailed since it seems at some point he was around.

I had to do that with my one of my kids.

So basically what they want is that you looked under every rock

So list dates as well as possible and even look again and list the exact dates.

I listed that I had no idea where he lived or if he was even in the same town. How my ex sister in law hasn't even seen him and what day I talked to her.

I listed who I contacted how he knew them, like his mother (she never picked up the phone)

His best friend who said he hasn't heard from him in ages.

Looked him up on FB, he has no account.

He has no phone so couldn't find a number for him, and the last number I had for him was a girl he was living in. How I left messages and never got a return call so I don't know if he was even still there and ignoring us or gone.

I dated everything that I did.

That is about all I can remember atm

hope it helps

[Eric-Pris 1,602]

Thanks all. Should I contact a congressman or senator?