I got my passport back in 1999 when I wanted to take my first trip to Jamaica. My wife Elise applied for one at the same time but was denied a passport because she has what is called a delayed birth certificate. She was born at home in 1980 and her parents did not take her to record her birth. My wife actually received her first birth certificate in 1997 when she was 17 and just prior to our marriage in 1998.
Her Florida Birth Certificate was issued with the word “delayed” stamped on it and this is the source of all our troubles. She has not needed a passport again until now and we reapplied just two weeks back for a new passport for me and AJ and a first time passport for Elise and Robby. The kids and I received our passports but Elise received a letter from the Miami Passport Agency stating that she is unable to prove her US Citizenship due to the delayed birth records. The letter lists multiple reasons why her application may have been denied and the only one that can apply to her is that her birth certificate does not indicate a registration or file date within one year of her birth.
We are now faced with tracking down members of her family so that they can fill out additional forms to attest to the fact she was born here in America as she says. Form DS-10 for the State Department is the Birth Affidavit she needs to have signed and notarized now. If you have a delayed birth record then get your paperwork sorted out early on so you’re not faced with these issues.
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Tags: Jamaica, Jamaica, Moving to Jamaica, Moving to Jamaica, us-passports
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