In 2001 when we brought Emma and Noah home from Kazakhstan they entered the United States as citizens! (picture from our visit with them at the baby house about 1 week before we came home)
Proving it however, has proved to be a different matter entirely!
To obtain a US passport we need a birth certificate - which we have but it is a Kazak document with a certified translation. That's OK, as long as we have a passport....uh anyone see the circular reasoning here?
Last week we thought we had found an "easy" paperchase solution! Because Bill is a USN veteran the instructions for a Certificate of Citizenship that is issued by the CIS/State Department indicate that the $550 fee per application would be waived. WooHoo!!
Not woohoo...today we received a package in the mail from USCIS. Well, I knew that wouldn't be their citizenship certificate - the government just doesn't work that efficiently....what was it? Our returned paperwork with a note indicating that if a military veteran is a US citizen and wants a certificate for his/herself that fee is waived. It is not waived for their dependents. Drat!
Oh well - we gave it a shot! (Pictured Emma and Noah today - 10 years later...happy, healthy AMERICAN CITIZENS)
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