I'm posting this in the hope that this information might be of some use to someone else.
As some of you might be aware I'd applied for my son's passport on August 25th. I'd applied for expedited processing.
I applied at a post office and even though I had all the required documents, the person at the post office wanted only the birth certificate and my naturalization certificate.
After waiting for three weeks I started calling the National Passport Information center only to be told that everything was ok and they would send a message to the passport agency. The online status also showed routine processing and not expedited processing ( it did show expedited for a few days and then switchted back to routine).
Around the fourth week I was told by the National Passport Information center that it appeared they needed to see my son's GC and gave me the address to send it to. I sent the GC promptly and then nothing happened.
After waiting for over two months and having written several letters to the Washington passport agency to which I did not receive any response I finally sent off letters to both my Senators and congressman. I also called up the congressmans office. They said they would be able to help if he had a trip coming up. As I was planning a trip to India I got an itinerary for him as well.
The day before the proposed "trip" I got a call from the Washington Agency and they said the delay was because they did not have his GC. I told them I'd sent it and had a return receipt proving that the passport agency had received it over a month ago. He then said If I could send my son's Indian passport with the I551 stamp that would serve as well. I refused to send anymore original documents and told him I would be more than happy to fax him copies but I would not send any more originals given their track record. He then agreed to accept copies and I faxed over copies of the I551 as well as the return receipt for the GC sent earlier.
The next day I got another call from the Passport agency from a different person, this person wanted my original marriage certificate ! I again refused to send any originals and told her I would be happy to fax copies which I did.
She then called back in about an hour and told me I would have my son's passport by 3 in the afternoon. I received the passport that afternoon including all the originals which included his GC too ! The GC they claimed they never got.
I later got an email from the congressmans office and they forwarded a mail from the deputy director apologizing for the mess up saying this was bureaucracy at it's worst
and promising to look into it so it doesn't happen again.
As some of you might be aware I'd applied for my son's passport on August 25th. I'd applied for expedited processing.
I applied at a post office and even though I had all the required documents, the person at the post office wanted only the birth certificate and my naturalization certificate.
After waiting for three weeks I started calling the National Passport Information center only to be told that everything was ok and they would send a message to the passport agency. The online status also showed routine processing and not expedited processing ( it did show expedited for a few days and then switchted back to routine).
Around the fourth week I was told by the National Passport Information center that it appeared they needed to see my son's GC and gave me the address to send it to. I sent the GC promptly and then nothing happened.
After waiting for over two months and having written several letters to the Washington passport agency to which I did not receive any response I finally sent off letters to both my Senators and congressman. I also called up the congressmans office. They said they would be able to help if he had a trip coming up. As I was planning a trip to India I got an itinerary for him as well.
The day before the proposed "trip" I got a call from the Washington Agency and they said the delay was because they did not have his GC. I told them I'd sent it and had a return receipt proving that the passport agency had received it over a month ago. He then said If I could send my son's Indian passport with the I551 stamp that would serve as well. I refused to send anymore original documents and told him I would be more than happy to fax him copies but I would not send any more originals given their track record. He then agreed to accept copies and I faxed over copies of the I551 as well as the return receipt for the GC sent earlier.
The next day I got another call from the Passport agency from a different person, this person wanted my original marriage certificate ! I again refused to send any originals and told her I would be happy to fax copies which I did.
She then called back in about an hour and told me I would have my son's passport by 3 in the afternoon. I received the passport that afternoon including all the originals which included his GC too ! The GC they claimed they never got.
I later got an email from the congressmans office and they forwarded a mail from the deputy director apologizing for the mess up saying this was bureaucracy at it's worst
and promising to look into it so it doesn't happen again.
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Check has been cashed but I haven't received anything from USCIS (receipt). I'll probably schedule an Infopass on January if I haven't received anything yet by then.