TLDR: I love my Congressperson: our family citizenship documentation drama and Congressmember constitutent services
I guess the first thing to note is that while my spouse is brilliant, their adult ADHD sometimes makes life much more “interesting.”
My spouse was born in Canada to an American mother and Canadian father. So they grew up with dual citizenship and both Canadian and American birth certificates and passports — no muss, no fuss.
Several years ago, my spouse’s American passport was stolen. We promptly reported the theft to the gov’t. But my spouse delayed going through the process to get a new one because… paperwork.
A short time later, in an effort to get them to begin the passport application, I pulled out their required U.S. Citizen Born Abroad certificate. When I looked at it, I got a shock. The birthdate listed was WRONG. By a few days, but it nonetheless didn’t match any of the other documentation. To this day, I’m still unsure how neither they nor their parents never noticed in 40+ years. Anyway…. I immediately contacted their American mother, who wrote a detailed affidavit, etc., that we’d need to amend the U.S. born abroad certificate. And then, my spouse delayed applying because… paperwork. In the meantime, my spouse traveled repeatedly to Canada on their Canadian passport without incident. But they obviously couldn’t apply for a U.S. passport or a REAL id without a birth certificate. They effectively had no proof they were an American citizen.
Cut to November 2024, the day after the election. I told my spouse they needed to file the paperwork IMMEDIATELY. And they did, receiving a notice that it had been received and a request for a further statement in November and December 2024. So far, so good.
Then, nothing. My spouse emailed for further clarification and got no response. As the new “administration” took over, the State Dept. was gutted, Canada became a target, and foreigners entering the U.S. were detained and/or deported, we became more concerned. My spouse really needed to travel to Canada to visit his elderly mother, now suffering from dementia and living in a care home (so in addition to everything else, if she was needed for further testimony she’d be unable to help my spouse). But we were extremely fearful of what might happen upon their return to the U.S. with their Canadian passport. How to explain their “reason” for “visiting” the U.S.? Without a green card or permanent resident status (of course completely unnecessary), would a U.S. immigration officer choose to deny them entry or detain them? It was a nightmare in the making.
In late February, my spouse again emailed the Dept of State and CRUCIALLY also contacted our Congressperson to request assistance. No response from State. The immediate email reply from our Congressperson via a live staff person stated they would personally work on our issue and get back to us in about a month. And lo and behold! Last Friday we received a note from our Congressperson (NOT STATE) that the document was on its way and requesting we inform them of its arrival. We missed the delivery on Tuesday 
but it is scheduled for redelivery today. And yesterday our Congressperson’s office even called to learn if we’d received it!
I’d forgotten that we can and should be able to call on our Congresspeople for help in resolving bureaucratic issues like this. In fact, it may be the first time my family has ever done so. And I guess I’ll break any anonymity I may have by giving a great SHOUT OUT TO CONGRESSPERSON LAURA FRIEDMAN AND STAFFPEOPLE!
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