*Gift Idea* (actual one) PASSPORTS

[underpants]

I'm giving the family passports for Christmas.
Other things too of course.

I've never held a passport - all my traveling was on a military ID. My wife has. Our child has not.

With fees and photos it's about $400 total.
Of course I can't hand them their passports without them knowing what's going on BUT We can do this right after the holidays which eases the cost pinch right now.

I printed out the forms and decorated the envelopes. This is on the outside of the big envelope.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. What a lovely gift!

[brooklynite]

2. Is this for travel or escape?

[underpants]

3. Either or

I'm proposing (as much as it hurts me) to skip beachweek next year and go overseas.

[Hugin]

5. Be sure to leave it marked 'beachweek' in your calendar, though.

May come in handy someday.

[leftieNanner]

26. That means you have to give passports to

PJ and Mark Judge and Squee too!

[underpants]

27. Right

Agent Mike. Gotcha 👍👀

[Ace Rothstein]

18. You can always do both at the same time.

Plenty of tropical locations not far from home.

[underpants]

30. Sssssh Ace

I'm trying pull this off.

great minds

[Ace Rothstein]

34. We're taking the kids to Costa Rica in March.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[underpants]

36. Please do.

[eallen]

4. Keep them active

Renewal is easy, so long as you never let them expire.

[Rorey]

6. I wish I could give my oldest son one

He was born in Canada when I was pretty young. My son's father is a Canadian and had been in the States attending college when we met. I brought my baby boy home to the States when he was a month old and he has lived here his entire life. I was told that I needed to register him as an alien every year, and I got yearly notices. Apparently at some point rules changed. Honestly, I can't remember what the last letter I got said, but I'm pretty sure it said something to the effect that I no longer had to register him annually. I was young, life was crazy, and we moved a lot. Paperwork got lost.

It really didn't affect us much at the time. We were able to go back and forth across the border with just my driver's license and his birth certificate. He grew up and traveled back and forth on his own with just his license. Then the rules changed and passports became required to travel to and from Canada. My son went to get a passport and got a pretty big scare (threat of deportation). We were counting on Hillary getting elected so he could get the whole mess cleared up and get his passport.

My son's father is now very ill. He can't travel at all, and my son can't go visit him because he doesn't have a passport. I doubt they'll ever see each other again before my son's father dies. I guess my son could go ahead and get himself deported so he could see his father, but then he'd be separated from his own son and the rest of the family. He has a job and a life here. It's a mess, and it's scary. My son just lays low and hopes nothing bad happens.

In conclusion, I hate -45. I want him to rot in hell.

Added note: One would think that my son would be a U. S. citizen because I'm a U.S. citizen. There are some weird rules about the parent having to live in the U.S. for five years after her 14th birthday before the birth of the child for that to happen. I did not. I was short of that requirement by a couple of months.

[sarah FAILIN]

12. Are you sure?

The way that 5 years thing reads to me it is that you lived here 5 years before the birth, but it only has to be 2 after the age of 14... so 3 of the 5 could be before 14 by 301g. If you go by 301h since you are the mom and not the dad there is only a requirement that you lived here at some point. I definitely not an expert, but maybe someone here could help you. Here is the link I found that at.
[link:https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/Print/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartH.html|

[Rorey]

15. I am stunned!

I kept all of the correspondence that I exchanged with officials when my son first pursued this. I'm wondering if the rules have changed, which would be AWESOME! I'm going to send that link to my son so he can pursue it if he chooses to do so. He's an adult and at this point he has to straighten things out. I had encouraged him to fix things a long time ago, and offered to help, but he was in sort of a bad place emotionally and didn't do anything about it. I know that there were several times I had emailed various people in politics with a plea to help, and I'm sure I've still got the emails. I'll try to find them.

Thank you so much!!!

[Rorey]

24. Well....

"Birth Abroad in Wedlock to a U.S. Citizen and an Alien
A person born abroad in wedlock to a U.S. citizen and an alien acquires U.S. citizenship at birth if the U.S. citizen parent has been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions prior to the person’s birth for the period required by the statute in effect when the person was born (INA 301(g), formerly INA 301(a)(7).) For birth on or after November 14, 1986, the U.S. citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for five years prior to the person’s birth, at least two of which were after the age of fourteen. For birth between December 24, 1952 and November 13, 1986, the U.S. citizen parent must have been physically present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for 10 years prior to the person’s birth, at least five of which were after the age of 14 for the person to acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. The U.S. citizen parent must be the genetic or the gestational parent and the legal parent of the child under local law at the time and place of the child’s birth to transmit U.S. citizenship."

[link:https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Acquisition-US-Citizenship-Child-Born-Abroad.html|

He was born in 1973.

[sarah FAILIN]

25. I would still try

Especially if you were back and forth over the border without your own passport anyway. How do they deny anyone whose parent is a citizen?? Best of luck to him.

[Rorey]

28. Thank you

I think he should try too, now that we've got the House. He just didn't really want to rock the boat because you never know how something will turn out.

[OnDoutside]

13. Probably an obvious question, but have you run this past a reputable Immigration lawyer ?

[Rorey]

17. I did not, because he has to do it.

I think he will do so now. He does want to see his father. He just really didn't want to make any waves because he's had that fear of getting deported hanging over him. I can only imagine the torment that Dreamers go through every minute of their lives.

[OnDoutside]

23. Definitely worth doing. There are tens of thousands of Irish in a similar position, and have had to

miss family events/funerals, as they wait for an immigration solution. Do search around for a suitable Canadian specialist immigration lawyer. If you are unsure, there's a lawyer who deals with a lot of Irish people in the US https://immigrationlawyerfl.com/ ... I have zero connection but Carol Kinsella has been frequently on Irish media about this for many years. Best of luck

[Rorey]

19. Just want to add

He lives in Washington state now, and I'm in Colorado. The distance between us complicates things a bit. I know that at one point I mailed him a whole lot of stuff to help prove that he has been in the U.S. his entire life other than his first month. It didn't work. He pretty much got a run-around, as one usually gets when dealing with the government.

[hedda_foil]

14. Didn't you register him as a US citizen because -- unless I misread -- you are one?

Have you called your congress person? Canadian Embassy? Dual citizenship?

[Rorey]

16. At the time

When I crossed the first time we had to go through a lot of red tape, and the officials there didn't really seem to know what they were doing. I was only 18 years old, and woefully ignorant. I was just happy to get back to the U.S. and it didn't seem to be such a big deal to comply with their request every year. I always thought he should have dual citizenship, but, as I said, life was crazy then. I graduated from high school at the age of 17 in a small town in North Dakota and definitely wasn't mature enough to make good decisions, let alone be a mother. My marriage to my son's father was very short. He is bi-polar and an alcoholic and I sure didn't know how to deal with that. He's not a bad person at all. At the time, his BPD was undiagnosed and he self-medicated with alcohol.

Anyway, the point is I made a lot of mistakes, and I believe now that I was given a lot of misinformation and didn't do anything to rectify the situation because it really didn't present any problems. Living in ND, I hopped back and forth into Canada on a regular basis. It was easy, especially at those little ND/Canada border crossings. Then when passports became required, the whole game changed.

I will urge my son to get back on this issue. He pretty much gave up when -45 became the resident of the WH.

[hedda_foil]

29. Call the office of one of his senators and ask them what your son needs to do.

Both Washington state Senators are terrific dems. Let them know why he's so discouraged and time out what he needs to do. They may have to research it and get back to you. Get the name of the aide you talk with and ask if they'll talk to him too. Tell him and.then have him call whoever you spoke with.

[Rorey]

31. Thank you

He really does need to do this on his own at this point, so I'll give him that advice.

[mokawanis]

7. That's a lot of money!

I got mine about 5 years ago and paid around $250. Never understood why they're so damn expensive.

[Phentex]

10. It's $145 here...

my son is getting one without the expedited fees.

[underpants]

22. Right. That's for the book and the card.

My daughters a minor so it's only $80 unless we want to get the card for another $35.

[underpants]

20. $400 for the three of us.

Actually it will be a little less but I rounded up.

[mokawanis]

35. I think I overstated how much I paid

I think it was more like $200, not $250, that I paid for the expedited passport. Guess it's really not that bad when you consider how long they're good for.

[MLAA]

8. Marvelous! You are giving them the key to broadening their mind and horizons!

[Kaleva]

9. Michigan & a few other states offer an enhanced driver's license

"Do I need a passport to re-enter the U.S. from Canada?

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. citizens entering the United States by land or sea are required to present a valid Western Hemisphere travel initiative-compliant document, which includes:

U.S. passports
U.S. passport cards
Enhanced driver's licenses
Trusted Traveler cards (Global Entry*, NEXUS, SENTRI, or FAST)
Military identification cards
* The Global Entry (GE) card is only an ENTRY document and may not be used to enter Canada, Mexico or adjacent island.

A Michigan enhanced driver's license meets driving, identification and border crossing needs, according to the state of Michigan website.

"It is a federally approved document that allows you to re-enter the U.S. when traveling by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean," according to the site."

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/07/02/canada-drive-passport/724944002/

This is something my wife and I will be getting sometime next year.

[underpants]

21. As I've read passports will be needed in a few years

To fly domestic. That's for the states that haven't upgraded to the Real ID.

I think it starts in 2020.

[malaise]

11. Great gift

See the world

[roamer65]

32. If the United States disintegrates, attempting to leave will be futile.

Most countries worth a damn will close their borders to American refugees. They will have no choice. There will be too many of us and the world economy will be in shambles at that point.

My prediction is that the United States will not survive to the 250th in 2026.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

38. +1!

[regnaD kciN]

33. We applied for ours the day after the 2016 election...

...and added expedited processing to make sure we’d have them before Inauguration Day.

[Liberal In Texas]

37. We will be buying one soon. My wife is going to the ceremony on Tuesday to become a US citizen.

(Will still have her UK passport but don't tell anybody.)

She wants to be able to vote against Trump.

[underpants]

40. Congratulations

[SoCalDem]

39. I've always advocated for a passport for a graduation gift

Much better than a piece of jewelry..especially if it comes with a plane ticket

[underpants]

41. We gave the son of my best friend a silver dollar

He graduated high school in June.

That's a great idea SoCal.