Passport Question - Very Strange Situation

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

Hi. My sister applied for her very first passport for her first cruise in January. She got a letter back from the state department stating that her birth certificate was dated wrong. Her birth date was correct, 10/24/59, however, the actual birth certificate was not recorded in the records until March of 1961. We had never noticed this. She was told that she needed hospital documentation of her birth, affidavits from 2 people that were present when she was born, census records, early school records, etc. for evidence of the reason for the date delay. They also stated that her picture was taken poorly and needed to be retaken. Well, my sister was adopted at birth but the adoption was not finalized until 1961, so that's where the date discrepancy came from, but the state department still wanted all this information and a new picture. Adoptions back then were sealed and hers still is, so getting hospital records is pretty much impossible. As she was trying to collect all of this information, her passport comes in the mail. Of course we are all confused. She has had her passport for about 2 weeks now and yesterday she got another letter stating that the information has not been received and must be before they can give her a passport! I know she should go into a passport office but she doesn't want to for fear that they will take her passport away. Has anyone ever been through this? What do you think she should do?

[Pyrate13]

Never been thru this or even heard of it but my thoughts are with you and I sincerely hope you can get it resolved. Certainly she is not the first adoptee that the state department has ever had in this situation. Find people from 60 years ago? Ridiculous on their part.

[Shorex]

Sealed adoption records and amended birth certificates cannot come as a surprise to the passport agency. Oh, wait, it's the government. Left hand, right hand. If the information on the passport is correct and somehow the picture was accepted,  personally I would treat the document as a valid passport. It certainly was issued by the Department of State.

[Cruiser_1977]

Please have your sister make an appointment and go into an office. She should take her adoption paperwork, birth certificate, the census records and her early school records, as well as the passport she received. The last thing you want is to think it's valid only to show up to travel and it's not. I wish you the best.

[Twickenham]

Honestly?

 

I would send a letter back to whoever sent the last letter stating thank you for their help, but she has now received her passport and thus does not need to send them the information requested. See what kind of reaction that gets...

[denmarks]

They were not able to find a birth certificate for my mother. She was able to use school records that showed her date of birth.

[CPT Trips]

Contact the office of your representative in congress and ask for help.

[RocketMan275]

41 minutes ago, denmarks said:

They were not able to find a birth certificate for my mother. She was able to use school records that showed her date of birth.

My father was born in 1908 prior to statehood.  No birth certificate was issued.  He finally applied for and was issued a birth certificate in 1943.  Fortunately, he never needed a passport.

[LHT28]

Can she call the phone number on the letter & tell them her  records of birth are sealed  because she was adopted ??

You would think she was have an amended Birth Certificate  when the adoption was finalized

 

 a story

My Grandmother was born in 1886  they had a travelling registrar  back then  & births were registered maybe once a month  where she lived

In  1950 she went to apply for her old age pension when they discovered her birth was never registered

Thank goodness she had an older brother  that could voucher for her  being born & census records also showed her in the house when she was young

The had a delayed registration of her birth in 1951 & she got her pension but what a nightmare for her

 

[LHT28]

2 hours ago, Steve and Sharon said:

As she was trying to collect all of this information, her passport comes in the mail.

I guess there is  at least one smart person working in the passport office  😉

 

[kerryincork]

One of my Aunts was born in 1939, my grandfather was overseas working, she was born at home, my granny was too busy to register her so she never had a birth certificate.

 

She had no problem with out it until she wanted a passport to travel. She had to get a letter from her Bishop stating her baptism notice and confirmation was genuine. That was how how she got her first passport.

[CruisingAlong4Now]

Agree with CPT Trips.  She should contact her Congressional Representative.  She/he will have a local office in the district.

 

I would NOT assume that the passport she received will actually work and not be flagged.

Edited August 28, 2019 by CruisingAlong4Now

[zqvol]

2 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

Contact the office of your representative in congress and ask for help.

 

This is probably the best advice. I bet that they can verify that the passport in her possession is valid and it will not take long to do so.

[new_cruiser]

This page lists various kinds of early documents that can be used to support a birth certificate that was issued more than 1 year after birth.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/requirements/citizenship-evidence.html

 

It seems unwise to count on the validity of the passport received given the letters.

[Blondilu]

We had something sort of similar happen with my sister.  For some strange reason her birth was not recorded for several years.  And by then the spelling of her name had changed (an e was dropped).  

 

She received the letter asking for all kinds of corroborating information.

 

She called them and talked to an actual person at the State Department.  They could have not been more helpful.  So please call.  I am sure they can and will answer any questions.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Blondilu

[Flatbush Flyer]

7 hours ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

Agree with CPT Trips.  She should contact her Congressional Representative.  She/he will have a local office in the district.

 

I would NOT assume that the passport she received will actually work and not be flagged.

This! And do it now!

Edited August 29, 2019 by Flatbush Flyer

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

Contact the office of your representative in congress and ask for help.

Totally agree with this. That is what my late mother did (probably late 1950s) She was born in the Ukraine and emigrated to the US when she was a toddler. I don't even know if there was a birth certificate. It probably did not hurt her cause that she had served in WWII in the WAVES.

[dogs4fun]

13 hours ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

Agree with CPT Trips.  She should contact her Congressional Representative.  She/he will have a local office in the district.

 

I would NOT assume that the passport she received will actually work and not be flagged.

Agree!

[Jasalth]

On 8/28/2019 at 6:08 PM, CruisingAlong4Now said:

Agree with CPT Trips.  She should contact her Congressional Representative.  She/he will have a local office in the district.

 

I would NOT assume that the passport she received will actually work and not be flagged.

 

I would so also recommend this for anyone having passport issues because of what seem like us "normal" people outrageous demands! 

 

My oldest DS (21 now.. this happened when he was 6...) passport was a.. struggle to get to say the least. They kept sending me letters back making me prove that I was his parent. His birth mother, not father mind you! From having to get official copies of birth certificates, marriage license, then amended birth certificates, then documents from the social security office to prove who I was, to his grandparents birth certificates... Funny thing was his 3 yr old brothers passport went through just fine w/o any issues with the exact same information as his older brothers. 

 

After 6 months of more and more outrageous demands and contacting the State Rep's office, his passport was in my hand in less than 10 days. Actually, it wasn't even us who contacted them, but my Grandmother and the Representative of where we were all born. Needless to say we still vote for him 🙂 

 

But they can work wondering in these offices and always better safe than sorry! 

[Elaine5715]

Our government at work-Several of my clients were home births with midwives to poor families in the 1950s.  It was not unusual for babies born with visible disabilities (if the baby survived)  to be given to another woman to be raised as her own.  The births were not registered at all.  It only become a problem when the child was eventually placed into the state institutional system and became eligible at adulthood for benefits to live in the community.  These children were raised  in state (horror) institutions yet then needed to prove they were disabled to get Medicaid and SSI while those same institutions took the word of the person leaving them as to who they were, date of birth and that they were even the mother...   just sign here...

To the credit of these women, they loved their children and told them the stories of the other mother but extreme poverty forced them to place the children elsewhere for care (Schools weren't required to take kids with disabilities back then). 

[S&S Cruisers 1983]

Thank you all for the replies. She got nowhere talking to the passport office. Talk to this person, oh no, talk to this person. No clear answer, or at least one that sounded encouraging. She finally contacted her representative and they sent her a form to sign and they will look into it. They said they have never heard of this particular problem before, but not to worry, they will verify if her passport is valid. My sister said they were very nice and "I guess I should vote for him next time!"

[RocketMan275]

7 hours ago, Steve and Sharon said:

Thank you all for the replies. She got nowhere talking to the passport office. Talk to this person, oh no, talk to this person. No clear answer, or at least one that sounded encouraging. She finally contacted her representative and they sent her a form to sign and they will look into it. They said they have never heard of this particular problem before, but not to worry, they will verify if her passport is valid. My sister said they were very nice and "I guess I should vote for him next time!"

My brother married a Canadian.  She faced endless delays in obtaining a passport despite providing all the requested documentation.  My brother informed my mother that it was uncertain they could make their flight scheduled in a few days because they might not have the passport.  

My mother called our representative's office.  Two days before the flight, State Department called brother and told him and his wife to get on the flight regardless of whether they had received the passport, that they would be met in Denver by a State Department representative who would ensure they were allowed into the country.  All went well.

 

BTW, his wife's passport was 'flagged'.  When immigration scans her passport, they have a very startled look, they eyes get very large, and they become very polite.  No issues with entry but she finds it amusing.  Evidently, her passport is 'flagged' to say "Very Important Person, be very polite". BTW, the representative at the time was the Speaker of the House, Carl Albert, of Oklahoma.  This happened many years ago but she still gets the same reaction.  Mom used to pass out campaign literature for the Speaker.  Other than that she was just a grocery store employee.