Posted on 09/14/2012 3:06:18 PM PDT by ancientart
When my son R.J. came home for a visit last month, priority one was completing a passport application. His chamber choir is touring Italy next spring, and he wanted to be sure he had everything in order.
We printed out the passport application and looked it over carefully, making sure he had everything needed. To be safe, we turned in his old birth certificate at the Register of Deeds office and got a new “raised seal” certificate. Rather than taking a chance with a digital photo taken at home, we went to the Wal-Mart Photo Center to have passport photos made. We made sure R.J. had not only his driver’s license and his Social Security card, but several other pieces of extra identification confirming his identity and address. A trip to the post office, a surprisingly short wait, a $140 check for the State Department and a $25 processing fee to the postal service, and R.J. was set to go — or so we thought.
Friday, he got a letter from the regional passport processing center. Though R.J. had given them exactly the documentation the application asked for, they weren’t satisfied. He’d have to provide more. They wanted five additional sources of identification, each with either his photo or a signature.
Well, not too bad. He’s got his college ID, an old Central ID, his YMCA pass and his Aquatic Center pass — and we can probably find a fifth ID somewhere too. Only the Department of State insists that the documents they want must be at least five years old. Picture and signature ID from his early teen years? Now we save a lot of kid memorabilia, but these aren’t things R.J. had in the first place.
Naturally, I wasn’t happy, and I called the National Passport Information Center to find out what was going on. Because it wasn’t my passport, they wouldn’t talk to me directly.
Point me to instructions for the additional identification? No, they couldn’t and wouldn’t do that. The regional passport office has the “right” to ask for additional information, they insist — and, apparently they can make up the rules as they go.
Now why are they giving R.J. a hard time? Perhaps it’s because an Internet search for “Richard Marmorstein” turns up all sorts of satiric send-ups of government bureaucrats, including his lullaby “In Good Hands,” a mocking “tribute” to all our government does for us. Or maybe it’s because they found R.J.’s Nazi Tic-Tac-Toe game, the Axis vs. Allies game he programmed and posted online when he was a freshman in high school.
But I think it’s most likely that R.J. simply ran into that increasingly common government phenomenon — the tendency to think that the more difficult regulations are to comply with, the better they are. As R.J. sings mockingly, “The world is in good hands. The world is in good hands. Our kind, loving masters watch over the lands; our kind, loving masters who meet all our demands: We just have to follow their loving commands. The world is in good hands.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLixYD_Bq8c&feature=share
I’m guessing it was the new birth certificate that set off the alarm. They want older documents to confirm someone isn’t attempting identity theft.
It might have been better to stick with the old b/c.
I think it’s always been true that one’s first application is the most “difficult” and requires the most documentation and review while renewal applications involve less red tape.I made my first application 40+ years ago and recall having to submit numerous documents.I would think initial applications *today* would be even more complicated.
Let your son take care of it himself. If need be, his school might be able to get him a contact at the Dept of State Passport office in D.C. for him to talk to.
Getting ready to shut the borders, on Americans.
The Rules for Radicals: Hold them to their own standards...
Any time Americans assert their rights of citizenship or the rule of law against, liberals make sure they are persecuted in the name of their rights and the rule of law as citizens or law abiding citizens.
Hence, sexually molest all Americans who pass through the airports and name American vets - the ones who risked their lives for constitutional liberty - the terrorists.
My first passport only required my birth certificate, about 20 years ago.
But it was a OLD copy, at least 30 years old.
However to vote the liberals tells us that no ID is needed and that there is no problem of voter fraud.
As I said,my initial application was 40+ years ago so my memory might be faulty but I seem to recall being required to get confirmation of identity from either a physician,lawyer,clergyman or a policeman.I guess that could have changed by the time you made your first application.All of my subsequent applications have been pretty uncomplicated...as long as I submitted my previous passport (which I always did).
Don’t worry about it. Pretty soon no one will permitted to leave Obama’s “Workers Paradise”.
My first US passport required only Naturalization Certificate. (last year)
And to renounce my birth country citizenship required whole lot of documents and $200.
Call your Congressman’s staff. Expediting passage through this kind of bureaucratic BS is one of the things they exist to do.
Interesting.It seems possible to me that it was that easy for you because gaining citizenship probably involved the submission of many documents,one or more in-person interviews,etc which would have been on file somewhere in DC.Just a hunch on my part,I could be wrong.
May I ask where your from (meaning what country,not where you are in the US)? It's a personal question so it's obviously OK if you'd rather not answer.Just curious!
BAM.... ~ BINGO ~ They will hand you a card that will get you onto any plane, into any U.S. Gov't building, first-in-line at the local food stamp office and and get you out of jail if arrested for child molestation.
Just imagine what background checks he could expect if he ever ran for president. </ sarc >
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