There was no "Welcome to your country"

When Fede went to the Mexican consulate in Seattle, to get his passport renewed, the people at the consulate were very friendly, warm and inviting, and said "Welcome to your country." This morning, we went to the US Consulate in Sydney, and the first thing we did was go through security and metal detectors. There was nothing warm and welcoming about the consulate.

First, the reception is on a separate level than the rest of the consulate. So you walk into a small room, and line up to go through security. Right after going through the metal detectors, you must leave your bags at a bag check counter. Thankfully, we had a stroller, and they allowed us to take the stroller. They also allowed us to take whatever we wanted out of the diaper bag--but we couldn't bring the bag itself (seems a bit silly). But since we had a stroller, we just took pretty much everything out of the diaper bag and put it in the stroller.

Then, we waited in this small waiting area with about 20 chairs. Eventually, we were called to go to the elevators--to level 59, which is 49 floors above the reception level. (There was an elevator dedicated to taking people from level 10 to level 59. Maybe another security measure?) Once we got off the elevators, there was another security checkpoint before we could enter the consulate through a heavy metal door.

The consulate was a huge room, with tons of chairs for people waiting, and maybe 15 windows to service people's requests. The citizenship services area was at the far right of the room, and was much quieter than the visa services area. When we got to that section, we couldn't help but overhear the exchange between one of the consulate officers and someone trying to gain citizenship for his child.

The rule (and I have no idea what the purpose of this rule is) is that you can transmit U.S. citizenship to your child only if you were physically present in the U.S. for 5 years--and 3 of those 5 years must be after you were 14 years old. You have to prove this with copies of W-2, transcripts from educational institutions, etc.

This man could prove that he had been in the U.S. for 4 years--and for the 5th year, his proof was letters from his friends and family, and pictures. The consulate officer was not accepting it as proof that the man was physically present in the U.S. (which frankly, I understand because it is pretty flimsy proof.) Listening to the officer talk, he sounded really mean--the man was clearly upset and wanting to transmit citizenship to his child. But the officer was practically yelling at him, with a brusque attitude--so I wasn't looking forward to talking with him when it became our turn.

We handed in all of our documents to apply for a passport for Elie--and then waited for the mean consulate officer to call us.

The first thing the officer said to us:

"The passport picture is so adorable. She looks like she's blowing kisses."

Hmm...I guess we weren't getting his mean side. Instead, he said he looked at my transcripts (from Brown and UVa) and therefore he had no doubt that I was in the U.S. for the necessary 5 years. Then, he was very pleasant with the rest of the paperwork--and told us that we should get Elie's passport in about two weeks.

All was good, until he asked Fede if Fede was a U.S. citizen. When Fede said, "No," the officer said (in a rather pitying voice), "I'm sorry." WTF? Yes, there are definite benefits to being a U.S. citizen, but there should be no pity for those who aren't U.S. citizens.

Sometimes, Americans really know how to make themselves look bad... And I really hate that.