anyone filed a US Consular Report of Birth Abroad?

[ithappened]

We finally have all our EU paperwork and have the appointment (interview?) for the filing of the US Consular Report of Birth Abroad in about a week... The Vienna website makes it look/sound easy but..

I was wondering if anyone has filled the Consular Report of Birth Abroad before in the EU or EU country? I have only heard horror stories online from expats in Asian countries about terrible interviews, tons of needed paperwork and DNA samples..

I am just wondering what to expect the process to be like in the EU

[expatmommy]

I've made a similar application from Europe with Canadian Consular Services & have many American friends who registered their childrens' overseas births.

My understanding is that there will be less questions if both parents are already US Citizens. Also, there is some benefit to making the application sooner rather then later; there is more room for questions about parentage if the application isn't made soon after the birth. We had to get our birth certificate & other supporting documentation translated from the local language to English by a translator authorized by the embassy.

[Bellabaz]

I did it a few months ago. It wasn't bad. We just presented all my documentation, they made copies, and that was pretty much it. There wasn't really an interview. We also applied for dd2's passport as well at the same time (the consulate is two hours from our home so it was easier to do it all at once). No problems there either. The most annoying part was the 21 euro envelope they required to mail the passport to our home. If it matters, dh is not american so it was only my documentation that had to be shown. Also, if the mother is american and you are not married it is easier. Weird but true.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

It wasn't difficult at all. We went down to the embassy with all the paperwork and applied for his passport at the same time.

The drive over, getting through security and waiting in line was the worst part.
The interview consisted of one question, "Can I have all your paperwork?"

We were both military though so that might have made it easier.

[EVC]

We did it in Eastern Europe and it was a piece of cake. Just gave them the documents and within a week or so had both the Consular Report of Birth as well the US passport. And as dh isn't a US citizen (only I am), I was expecting much worse.

[ithappened]

We're heading to Vienna this week for the whole process, I'll update the thread with how it goes

[lalaland42]

Please do update. We have to do that soon for DS.

[Marylizah]

We did it for DS. Easy peasy. Took all the paperwork, filled out the forms, and a few weeks later had the Consular Report and his passport. DH is not a US citizen, either.

As a PP said, the waiting-in-line and going through security was the hard part. That, and getting a good passport photo of a 2-month old baby!

[ithappened]

We are back

We ended up applying for the SSN card, passport and birth report all at once since the consulate is a 6 hour drive for us.

In total it took about 30 minutes. We basically just gave the women a big stack of paperwork, passport photos, the money for the applications, and she looked through it to make sure she had everything she needed, made photocopies, told us how cute our DS was.. then we signed the passport and birth certificate documents in front of the consulate. There was no interview and everyone was very friendly and nice. She spent the most time explaining to us how the dual citizenship works for him and when to use what passports..

They asked nothing about our intention to immigrate to the US (I was worried about the immigration aspect since my DH isn't US and we have no intention of moving back, I had heard him not having a green card could be an issue-- it wasn't). I had also heard that having your DH/DW be non-US and you being US could cause some sort of problems but they seemed to care less and asked nothing about any of it. All they cared about was that we filled things out right and that DS had his eyes open in his photos

Once the women was sure they had all our paperwork she smiled and said expect to have everything in about a week.. so I am hoping this means DS is 'approved'

Overall it was a painless and fast process (so far) at least compared to getting his EU stuff (which took much much longer and many more appointments).

[ithappened]

I thought Id update.

We got his consulate birth report certificate thingie and passport about 4-5 days after filing them at the consulate!

[BaaBaa]

Hi thereWe did this in costa rica and it was a peice of cake. just toook the paper work and wen in, it was ready again in just a few days. If anyone needs more info just feel free to contact me in a PM

[Plaid Leopard]

Glad it all went ok.

For future reference for anyone else that needs passports/birth reports etc from the Embassy - you are allowed to bring a self-addressed, stamped Special Delivery envelope (or send one with our application) for them to send your stuff back to you. Here in the UK it costs less than £6 compared to the £14 courier service they offer at the Embassy.

[elizaveta]

I thought I'd just add my little story in here, but I did it in Moscow, Russia in 2005. I am a US citizen, my husband is not. We were moving from Siberia to the Middle East though and just passing through Moscow, but they gave us the birth certificate and a temporary passport for our daughter and we were on our way. I just filled out a little paperwork. I actually felt it sounded a lot more complicated than it ended up being. I remember I was really worried about the domicile issue, because I had spent so much time out of the US and according to their descriptions I really felt as if I wasn't qualified.