international adoption

[coopster]

No, we have a US passport for our internationally adopted son. He came home in 2007 and we received his Certificate of Citizenship automatically. However, adoptions completed before 2004 must apply for (and pay for!) it, which I assume is your situation. The N-600 is the form you'll have to file.

 

N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship

 

I know this is not helpful for your cruise, but please, please get the documentation for your daughter asap. Yes, she is a citizen, but cannot prove it. If for no other reason, what if your daughter wants to adopt some day herself? Think of all the hoops you had to jump through and it will be even worse for her.

 

We used my son's Certificate of Citizenship, state-issued Certificate of Foreign Birth and his readoption decree to get his passport. We readopted in our state because we changed his name. At some point before he turns 18, we'll get a new Certificate of Citizenship with his correct name.

 

Anyway, sorry for the long non-answer. I hope it works out for you.

 

 

 

 

thats what we did in 2002

[Kaboochi]

Been there on the last minute passport - what a relief - ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF YOUR CRUISE:)

[KentuckyKat]

We had a great cruise! Embarkation and sailing delayed a few hours due to weather, but once we got south of fla we had the smoothest seas we have ever seen. Kids had a great time! And after all this, CBP did not even look at DDs new passport. At debarkation she even tried to stop and show them and they just waived her own through without a glance!!

[jebuell]

Good idea getting the passport in the end. It will eliminate this issue in the future, too. I went with a friend and got a passport in one day one time so it's definitely do-able.

[5waldos]

We had a great cruise! Embarkation and sailing delayed a few hours due to weather, but once we got south of fla we had the smoothest seas we have ever seen. Kids had a great time! And after all this, CBP did not even look at DDs new passport. At debarkation she even tried to stop and show them and they just waived her own through without a glance!!

 

:rolleyes: Of course is she didn't have it she would have been the one they decided to check! Disappointing for her though- a cool new thing and they won't even look at it! Glad you had a great time, glad the kids had a great time, and all the best in the future!

[kathy884]

So glad you got the passport!

 

Our son was adopted from Russia, and having the passport is just so wonderful. Every other document seems to be something other people aren't familar with. The Certificate of Naturalization which I realize you don't have works, but silly me I laminated it (as it was not looking so great from so much use) and some now consider that invalid. Our state offers MO state certified birth certificates which we got for him. To get this we showed appropriate documents (same as you do for a passport), and it has the state seal, etc. But because it says he was born in Russia it doesn't mean anything to anyone, and no one is comfortable accepting it.

 

Given all these hassles and the no hassle passport, you better believe we keep that up to date for him and use it as our preferred ID for him.

[emmysmommy]

So glad it all worked out! Ironic that after all that work and stress and they don't pay attention to it in the end. You must have been thinking "do you know what we went through to get this?" :D

[sugaangel601]

We had a great cruise! Embarkation and sailing delayed a few hours due to weather, but once we got south of fla we had the smoothest seas we have ever seen. Kids had a great time! And after all this, CBP did not even look at DDs new passport. At debarkation she even tried to stop and show them and they just waived her own through without a glance!!

 

:rolleyes: Of course is she didn't have it she would have been the one they decided to check! Disappointing for her though- a cool new thing and they won't even look at it! Glad you had a great time, glad the kids had a great time, and all the best in the future!

 

Isnt that so frustrating?!?! You go through the whole rigamarole of doing things the "right" way, then they dont even check. Makes you wonder...

 

For instance: On my first cruise (2005), me and my then bf had to go thru customs seperately, and declare our purchases on 2 seperate forms. Passports swiped, questions asked... but there were no problems.

On my last cruise (2010), I traveled with my bfs family: 7 of us in the "immediate" family group, 2 being gfs and not legally family at all. Bf's mom filled out a single customs sheet for all 7 of us (all adults), but they just glanced at our documents and waved us through. Not even a question or second glance.

 

I think it depends on the day and the customs officer. So glad everything worked out! You definitely needed the cruise after all THAT stress! :)

[mama_hao]

Thank you for updating. I have been watching this thread since my daughter was adopted from China. She was adopted in 2004 so we automatically got her Certificate of Citizenship. We have always used that when we traveled. We got her US passport this summer and it was kind of emotional for me(I am a huge sap).

I am glad things worked out for you.

[donaldsc]

[quote name=KentuckyKat;30775058

 

P.S. Let's try not to turn this into a "only cruise with passports" thread. We board in 10 days' date=' so that ship has sailed (pun intended).[/quote]

 

Glad that it worked out. However, you can have saved yourself some worry and gotten the passport with a 24 hour turnaround time if you had clicked on "quick passports" on Google.

 

DON

[LemurCat]

KK - Glad to hear you got it worked out and had a great family vacation.

 

Now make sure you store the passport in a safe place and don't throw it out like my SIL did. ;)

[kentuckyluckyguy]

Who is your Congressman? That's great!!! I think he deserves a plug on here!

[KentuckyKat]

Congressman Ben Chandler out of Lexington KY. His office was very helpful and didn't make us feel stupid for needing help or like we were bothering them even though this was not the typical passport emergency.

 

We had tried the 24 hour fast passport services but they would not accept her documents. They wanted it to all be "normal" and this was not normal. We had to piece a bunch of documents together - some to show our citizenship and her certified adoption decree and her korean passport (to show when she originally entered the country). All those documents together proves her citizenship under the child citizenship act but the fast passport places all wanted a certificate of citizenship or a consular report of foreign birth (not for adopted children).

 

But it all worked out for the best. I just hope someone else in our situation will find this thread in the future and avoid the panic.

[picklebongo]

On a different note...there are alot of us here who have adopted internationally.

[LaurieHoffman]

So glad to hear everything worked out for your family and daughter. Now that you have her passport.. it's time to book your next cruise! :)

 

I too am amazed your congressman was so helpful and I would send him a wonderful thank you letter expressing your appreciation for him going the extra mile....