ccrse@ucdavis.UUCP (Steve Ehrhardt) (03/22/86)
My wife has been having some rather frustrating problems with the INS of late, and I'm hoping that perhaps some of you on the net may be able to provide some advice on how to deal with it. My wife was born in Canada, with her mother being Canadian but her father American. The rub is that he was living under an assumed name and claiming to be a Canadian citizen at the time, so that all the legal documents, such as her birth certificate, indicate that she is Canadian *only*. Her mother contacted the INS to get this whole thing straightened out when she was 10, but it wasn't till some 12 years later that they finally got moving on it and requested that we go to the San Francisco INS office for an interview. (Her sister's records, submitted at the same time, seem to have been lost forever.) The interviewer indicated that he was convinced that she was a citizen, and told us what sort of records we would have to produce to prove it. He then transferred her file to the INS office in Sacramento, advising us to contact them when we had the records together. They, in turn, would confirm everything and issue a "citizenship certificate", or something to that effect, confirming her status as a US citizen. We managed, with some difficulty, to gather the records suggested, and contacted the local INS office (in writing) to request the interview. Nothing happened. We have since contacted them several times, both by phone and by mail, but everything sent or said to them seems to disappear into a black hole once it arrives. The most recent contact indicated that they have no record of her case at all! Does anyone have any ideal of a way to light a fire under the INS to get this matter resolved? They appear to be, on the whole, a rather discourteous bunch at best, and downright incompetant at worst. Any advice, especially that based on experience, would be appreciated. Please reply by mail, since I am not a regular reader of this newsgroup, and thank you in advance for your help.
garys@bunker.UUCP (Gary M. Samuelson) (03/25/86)
In article <254@ucdavis.UUCP> ccrse@ucdavis.UUCP (Steve Ehrhardt) writes: >My wife has been having some rather frustrating problems with the INS of >late, and I'm hoping that perhaps some of you on the net may be able to >provide some advice on how to deal with it. > >My wife was born in Canada, with her mother being Canadian but her father >American. The rub is that he was living under an assumed name and claiming >to be a Canadian citizen at the time, so that all the legal documents, such >as her birth certificate, indicate that she is Canadian *only*. Based on my own frustrations with the INS, I suggest you ignore them and apply for a passport instead, unless there is some reason why you need one particular form of proof of citizenship. If you can't get a passport, talk to your congressman; there is such a thing as a "private bill" -- a bill which affects only one person. If he can't get anything else done for you, he could propose a bill which simply states that so-and-so is hereby recognized as a US citizen. Why you should be able to get a passport when you can't get a certificate of citizenship is beyond me. Perhaps it's because the INS is part of the Justice department, and passports are issued by the State department, and the two departments are mad at each other. For whatever reason, it worked for me. My situation: I was born in Germany to US citizens. My father has a completely unremarkable birth certificate from the state of Nebraska; no problems there. But my mother was in an orphanage until she was adopted at the age of six, and her birth certificate was issued at that time. (No, I am not sure why it happened that way.) When she needed a passport, she had to get sworn affidavits from all sorts of people (the orphanage, her adoptive parents, her natural parents). When I wanted to get a certificate of citizenship (so I could get a tourist visa for an extended trip in Mexico), the INS said I could get one if I could prove that both my parents were citizens, or that my father was a citizen and that my mother was not a citizen. But the truly crazy thing was that, after all the effort she went through to get a passport, INS would *NOT* accept that as proof of her citizenship. It should have been irrelevant, since I could show citizenship for myself by proving that my father was a citizen, but I was supposed to prove to the satisfaction of the INS either that mother was or that mother was not a citizen. The solution was to take all of our documents to the Mexican embassy, and see if they would grant the visa on the basis of anything we had. No problem; shortly (as in a day or two) after my birth I was added to my mother's passport. That was sufficient evidence for the Mexican embassy. Later, when I needed a passport, my inclusion in my mother's passport was adequate for me to obtain a passport -- it wasn't a new passport; it was simply a renewal. I have had a passport since day one (alright, day two or three), but to this day I don't have a certificate of citizenship. So far I haven't needed one; but I can vote and apparently have all the other rights and privileges of US citizenship. Gary Samuelson