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Hi everyone,
I hope my situation is not super rare so someone could suggest what should I do.
I am a naturalized US citizen and recently applied for passport for my 15 yo daughter who entered the country on a greencard about a year ago to live with me in the US. Her mother is a non-US citizen living outside of the country (we got divorced years ago).
Department of state sent us a letter requiring more documents, and most puzzling are two of them: they want our marriage certificate (it does not exist as it was taken by the court at divorce) and evidence of my legal and physical custody of the child.
As for the marriage certificate, I can only send court ruling on the divorce and maybe stamp in the old national ID about the marriage, along with the letter explaining why I cannot get one. what is the chance they would take it?
For the custody, I have no idea what to do. The court ruling does not have anything about the child - other than statement that one exists. Basically the ruling was that "parents will figure it out on their own". I assume it is an equivalent of joint custody in US laws although I might be wrong. Her mother does not mind providing a notarized statement about the custody but neither of us knows what that statement should be about, if any. Is there anything that could help?
Lastly - my daughter wanted to visit her mother this summer, and she still has her foreign passport. However, technically she is already a citizen, I assume that would be illegal to reenter the country using a foreign passport... Am I right?
Much appreciate an advice, especially on the custody issue.
I hope my situation is not super rare so someone could suggest what should I do.
I am a naturalized US citizen and recently applied for passport for my 15 yo daughter who entered the country on a greencard about a year ago to live with me in the US. Her mother is a non-US citizen living outside of the country (we got divorced years ago).
Department of state sent us a letter requiring more documents, and most puzzling are two of them: they want our marriage certificate (it does not exist as it was taken by the court at divorce) and evidence of my legal and physical custody of the child.
As for the marriage certificate, I can only send court ruling on the divorce and maybe stamp in the old national ID about the marriage, along with the letter explaining why I cannot get one. what is the chance they would take it?
For the custody, I have no idea what to do. The court ruling does not have anything about the child - other than statement that one exists. Basically the ruling was that "parents will figure it out on their own". I assume it is an equivalent of joint custody in US laws although I might be wrong. Her mother does not mind providing a notarized statement about the custody but neither of us knows what that statement should be about, if any. Is there anything that could help?
Lastly - my daughter wanted to visit her mother this summer, and she still has her foreign passport. However, technically she is already a citizen, I assume that would be illegal to reenter the country using a foreign passport... Am I right?
Much appreciate an advice, especially on the custody issue.
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