Passport Office Asking for More information
 

Hello

I am new to this forum but everyone seems so helpful I figured I would ask for help.

I just applied for my first passport in person at a passport office as I am travelling last minute for work. I went to the office with my birth certificate (raised seal issued by state vital office in Sacramento), ID,Baptismal certificate (just in case), letter from my employee about need to travel, travel itinerary and a smile. I wet through the whole process, paid for the passport and received a receipt saying I could pick it up at 2pm the next day. I left thinking nothing of it as no questions were raised and the lady helping me was very friendly and helpful.

I received a call at 1245 on the day I was to pick up from a lady in the Programs department at the Passport office. She wanted me to answer tons if questions about where I grew up, went to school, worked, where my mother was born, father was born etc etc. I answered them the best I could as both my parents are deceased I gave her the information I know. She asked me to come and bring whatever documents I could like school records and parents death certificates and they would review. I went to the office and gave them my father's death certificate, a letter from my school district showing my attendance (they don't have full records before 1999) and my high school yearbook. She had me fill out a huge questionnaire showing every address I ever lived at, school attended hospital visit and questions I couldn't answer like where my mother lived the year before, year of and year after my birth. What her occupations were etc. It was ridiculous. I filled out what I could and handed it back to he . She told me that they would call me with a decision. This morning she called me and said that the information I provided was still not enough and I should bring anything else I have to prove where I lived etc. She suggested pictures of me and my mother, medical documents, hospital records from my childhood, rent receipts from my mother and father from the year I was born and other things that I would have no access to. I told her I don't have this stuff and who does have this stuff. Also what would a picture prove I could get anyone's picture and say it was me and her. She laughed and said that it's my job to give them things not their job to verify it.

I am so so so frustrated and angry. I have given them so much information. More than any other person/organization ever. My aunt who is my only surviving relative and was at my birth is willing to sign affidavits etc. I don't know what to do. I am supposed to leave next week for this work trip and my work are being very understanding but I don't know what else to do at this point. Ifor anyone as any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

First, don't argue with the Passport Office. That is a losing proposition. Answer the questions you can answer, provide the documents you can provide and explain why you cannot provide others. If you do not satisfy the standard, you will not be issued a Passport and while there are avenues for appeal, they are long and not helpful here.

Second, for reasons which may or may not be apparent, there is clearly concern that you are not the person you say you are. No need to argue about that here. Just accept the fact that this is what the Passport Office believes.

Third, when you say that you have provided more than any other person ever, that is simply untrue. Many people provide volumes of information and whether you have provided more or less is not a useful comparison.

The suggestion about your aunt might be a useful one and it might help to get to the bottom of the Passport Office's concern. Why not call the woman with whom you have been speaking and explain that you do have one surviving relative who was present at your birth. Ask whether she could satisfy the concern and if so, what she could provide. Listen carefully so that you do not have to do this twice. E.g., let the Passport Office person explain exactly what she needs any document to say, take careful notes, read them back, and if she is willing ask if she will review a draft affidavit before you waste time with your aunt.

It is frustrating, but frustration can be mistaken for belligerence and that simply shuts down any chance you have.

It would have been helpful to have provided all of those extra facts earlier.

Those concerns do suggest that you have raised red flags about establishing a false identity and you are being asked fairly routine questions which would be asked in a background investigation to match where you say you have lived against where the person with your name did live. Presumably those match and you get your Passport.

Those are not unusual questions and the Passport Office person certainly had to answer those same questions as part of her employment application as to tens of thousands of people seeking routine government and private sector jobs which require some form of security clearance.

As to your mother's information, while the information may not be complete, what about going back to your aunt to obtain as much as possible. Not just off the top of her head, but perhaps your aunt will recall the exact location where your mother was born and you will be able to obtain at least an abstract of her birth certificate. Your aunt may not remember every address, but many people lived in the same place for many years and perhaps that included your mother? Perhaps your aunt knows that information.

Beyond that, I would still obtain that affidavit from your aunt and have the affidavit be very clear that your mother and father are both deceased and that your aunt is your only living relative and that your aunt was physically present at your birth (which is the key point about an affidavit from your mother).

My wife had to do a smaller version of what you have run into in order to receive her first passport ten years ago. Her issue was that being the forceful, feisty person that she is when she was a child she did not care for the name her parents had given her at birth, so she just changed it. This being around age seven and on. As this was not a legal change through the courts it caused the passport office all kinds of fits as nothing matched. The best evidence turned out to be an affidavit from an uncle that it was her despite the conflicting names.

A few years back the Passport Office ran into problems with false birth certificates from border areas in Arizona and Texas. This was when passports became necessary to cross the border with Mexico and many very old people were being asked to produce eye witnesses to their birth. I don't know how that was resolved but they may have become much less trusting of birth certificates and the questions you are being asked seem to confirm that. Despite what you were told it would seem that an affidavit from your aunt would at least help.