6th January - Immigration malarky

So far, all my plans for the day have gone tits up! Was supposed to to to spinning with Kristina this morning, but Addie is sleeping earlier and earlier in the morning, so I pushed it back to 11.30am, for a normal gym work out. But then my father in law took the car before I could take the car seat out! Oops! And then after I said to Kristina about going for a snowy walk, she said that they had run out of oil at the house and had to wait for someone to come and fill up the tank. Boo!

Then I lost an auction by 50cents for a Futurama wind-up. Boo.

I am currently also trying to resolve a rather difficult matter regarding Adelaide, and her citizenship. Patrick and I are currently applying for our Adjustment of Status, for my temporary green card. Adelaide has travelled with me to the States since her birth, like me, on her UK passport, on the VWP. Now, I only found out (not through our point of entry directly but after their questioning) on our last visit that as her father is listed on her birth certificate, that she is technically a USC herself, and should have her own US passport. So, after my visit in July, I obtained the forms from the US Embassy in London.

I could complete the rest of the forms, but couldn't sign them until the forms got executed there at the embassy after I made an appointment and we have everything sorted. BUT Patrick never got round to the forms, despite my nagging, and our last POE was on the Sept 3. So, I ended up bringing the forms with me, so I could pretty much walk him through them and get them notarised for him on my visit.

Ironically, I got scolded rather heavily because when we did come over on the 3rd Sept our daughter was using her UK passport and the officer dealing with us was a bit more clued up on things, but I explained that I had the necessary on me, and was going to make sure it got done this time. (I know they are doing their job but really being a single parent is hard enough, let alone being one to a USC and having to file for additional birth documents!)

BUT then with our rose tinted spectacles on we ended up getting married and have since stayed in the United States, so I never got to file for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, like I had intended to once I got back, with all the completed documents, listed above.

We filed for AOS for me, but various lawyers and government officials we spoke with at the time said that our daughter is seen as a USC and that visa process isn't applicable and would most likely have been thrown back at us (I was glad initially to not have to fork out another $1365 for filing fees). But she is currently off the radar at the moment, so to speak; because applying for a passport for her and SS no. is proving to be very difficult, as one requires the other in a catch 22 situation. From the Social Security website: "In general (I'm hopeful!), you must provide your U.S. birth certificate or U.S. Passport. Other documents you may provide are a Consular Report of Birth, Certificate of Citizenship, or Certificate of Naturalization." And from the passport information online, one of the first things they ask for is a social security number.

Does anyone have any experience with obtaining a Certificate of Citizenship? I was hoping that this would be something we could sort out ourselves with some running about locally, rather than going back to the USCIS and pay another fee ($460!!) and waiting for something else to be processed etc. Is it worth my husband I going down to speak with someone in both offices personally to see if we could resolve this, or am I being too naive?