I came in fully prepared with my 16-year-old daughter to submit her new U.S. passport application (despite being born overseas, she has been issued multiple US passports since she was a baby), and we brought every required document and then some.
We had her current, valid U.S. passport with us, which as clearly outlined on the U.S. passport service website (travel.state.gov), meets the requirement for "primary proof of citizenship."
Despite this, the clerk refused to accept our application and incorrectly insisted that we needed re-prove my daughter's citizenship through her U.S.-citizen father--including providing HIS documents and ID, and other completely irrelevant items such as our marriage certificate to "prove we're her parents" (despite having her birth certificate with us and the fact we were not even married when our daughter was born 16 years ago, and we divorced 10 years ago) along with other unnecessary documents - such as my daughter's high school student ID?!, which doesn't have anything but her name on it and isn't an accepted as a form of ID by ANY U.S. government agency!
Because of this:
- My daughter missed two days of school
- We had to make another appointment
- We scrambled to gather documents that were never even required
- I had to contact my ex-husband, who lives in another city, for paperwork and personal documents that were not needed
All of this could have been avoided if the clerk knew how to do their job, or if she or her manager (who also had no idea what to do) had simply looked up the government requirements.
For clarity and to reiterate: According to U.S. Department of State, a currently valid U.S. passport is considered PRIMARY evidence of citizenship. My daughter's citizenship was already established when she was issued her very first US passport as a baby. Her turning 16 and applying for an "adult" passport now does NOT mean we have to re-prove her citizenship from scratch with all her U.S.-born father's documents and information again. HER OWN ID- a current, valid U.S. child passport- is enough, and it clearly states this on the US government's passport website.
Instead of focusing on the actual requirements for a 16-17 yr old applicant (ID, form + my signature of acknowledgement), the clerk fixated on completely irrelevant and incorrect criteria meant for first-time citizenship claims only.
There was a clear bias toward me, the accompanying parent, for not being born in the U.S. myself (despite being a US permanent resident/greencard holder) and the fact that I was trying to obtain my child a U.S. passport. I was repeatedly told my presence and documentation were insufficient (untrue) due to that fact--even though, according to government guidelines, the accompanying parent does NOT need to be a U.S. citizen. Because to point out again, MY DAUGHTER IS A US CITIZEN AND HER CURRENT EXISTING AND MULTIPLE PAST/EXPIRED PASSPORTS PROVE THIS.
If you're going to be a stickler about enforcing rules, at least know what they are. Weird to accept passport applications for a living and not know what the requirements for passport applications are.
This was a frustrating, time-wasting, and discriminatory experience. I would strongly recommend going to a different facility where staff are properly trained and actually know how to do their job.
I made an appointment at a different USPS location for the next day, where the staff actually know what they are doing. They asked for my daughter's ID (her current passport), the application form, I showed the clerk my ID to prove I was a parent, my daughter and I both signed the form, AND IT WAS DONE in under 5 minutes. As it should've been at Duarte, without all the above nonsense and ineptitude! read more
