Sunday, June 28, 2009

Babies US papers

Ok so there are a couple things you must get for your child that is born in another country. The first is the Consular Reports Of Birth Abroad (CRBA) and the other is only necessary if you plan to travel back to the US with your child which is their passport. The link below is what we used to find out what all papers we needed.
http://guadalajara.usconsulate.gov/service/passports-and-citizen-services/consular-reports-of-birth-abroad.html
From their suggestions we gathered:
prescriptions from our dr
Our Doctors records of our prenatal care which is just his notes from each visit typed on a paper with his letter head on it
The babies certificate of birth (certificado de nacimineto)
Our certified copy of our US marriage lic
The babies Mexican birth cirtificate
My Social Security Statement
The print off of our appointment page from the website stated above which I will talk more of in a min.
Both application forms from the website above

The babies armband from the hospital
a copy of my highschool and nursing school diplomas
The hospital bills
picture of me prego, at the hospital, and with the baby after she was born
Our Mexican marriage lic
The babies vacination record and booklet from the segudo
And the DVD of our ultrasounds

After gathering all this stuff up we went on the same website above and made our appoint. This is pretty simple but they didn't have any appointments available for almost a month. So we picked the first one. Also all the appointments Im pretty sure are early, the latest one available on the day we picked was 830am.
So we got up on June 24th at 5am and headed to Guadalajara. By the time we found the place and our parking garage we litteraly got there right on time. We walked up to the window with the speaker box and told them why we were there. They asked for our piece of paper showing our appointment and we presented it. Now you have to go in almost empty handed so we left everything (including my husbands belt) in the truck. If you cant make it through the air port with it you cant take it into the consulate (long story short). You also can not take any electronic devises including your cell phone. Once we get past the security check and inside a guy give us a number and tells us our number will be called. At this point and still Im not sure what the appointment was all about, I assume its so they dont have to many people at one day but then why give times. Anyway shortly after we called to a window and tell here why we are there. She then asks for the items that are in italics above. She was extreamly rude and short with us. She says that my social earnings statement is no good without W2's (this makes no since to me) and that I should have printed pictures of the ultrasound off of the DVD. I then explained to her that that is impossible for us. How on earth do you print pictures off of a DVD, our computer wont even play it, we have to play it on a TV. She says she doesn't think those to things will pass but she will take them anyway. Oh and I had to refill out the paper that tells of you physical location for your entire life. I thought it meant where I had lived and didn't include the visits to Mexico. The other times I had to fill this out we had an immigration lawyer in the states who helped us. The rude lady then tells me to go to the receiving window and pay for our stuff. We paid I think it was 960p for the CRBA and 1600 for the pass port. When we went to pay for the CRBA and I realized she didn't charge me for the passport I asked her about this. She said the CRBA has to be approved first then you pay for the passport. I also had to fill out a different form for the passport apparently the one I got online was wrong. But this lady was very nice and patient with me, she even whited out some stuff when I filled it out wrong. Something the website didn't say is that you have to have your passport photos, she said that my husband could go out with the baby and have them taken and come back as quick as he could. That the interview could go on with out him if he wasn't back in time but that the interviewer did have to at least see the baby. So Issac takes the paper that shows we had an appointment, the requirements for the photos and the baby and goes to get the pictures. This isn't hard to find anywhere you walk with in a couple blocks of the consulate you have people telling you they can do your photos for you. This took him about 20 min and when he got back we still had about another 30min to wait until we were called. The lady that did our interview was pleasant and helpful. We had to put up our right hands and swear that what we were telling her was the truth. (I find this funny because now days there is no bible so what the heck is the point in putting up your right hand). She asked if she could have permission to look up my work history using my social security number so that I didn't have to provide w2s. Well of course I said. Then she leaves for like 2 min and comes back with a couple pages of my complete work history. (kinda freaky if you ask me, but hey its the US gov right?)She tells me to send my husband over to pay for the passport and he goes. She explains that she is kinda rushing through my "interview" because she has a meeting in 2 min. Wow did I get lucky, I love to be rushed through in situations like this. Then she gives me all my papers back after checking to be sure she made copies of all of it. She also gave us two little slips of paper that had numbers on them. She told us to go to the MultiPac desk that was in the same room and give her our information. We litteraly just moved this weekend so we asked if we could pick up the papers at the office in Tepa, because we didn't know our address yet. Yes this would be fine and we should have our babies papers in our hands in a couple weeks.
Wheww now that's done, both my babies are officially duel citizens. No more paper work needing to be done until Dec when I need to renew my FM2.

4 comments:

  1. Congrats, thats great news, it doesnt seem like it went to bad, compared to Mex. processes? I have one more appt. (hopefully) with the consulate here on July 28 and I will have my dual citizenship as well.

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  2. Wow, glad you got it all done....


    Note to self, have any future children in the US. That kinda thing stresses me out..

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  3. Congratulations! Now your kids will have real choices of where to live and work, how cool for them! I think that since you are married to a Mexican and had a baby in Mexico you can also apply for Mexican citizenship in a couple of years if you want to.
    regards,
    Theresa

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  4. Mama- How great that you can get your dual. And no it actually went really smoothly compared to what I had been told by other people.
    Rebecca- I still think I plan to have my kids here. I want my hubby to be in the same town when my babies are born. It was just so much harder emotionally with the first.
    Theresa-Thanks and your right after renewing my FM2 for three years the fourth year I can apply for duel, and that is the plan. ;)

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