She's a citizen, but some might not believe her

7:34a this morning I called Senator Bowie's office & left a message. 

7:51a I reply back to a rather terse e-mail from the immigration office in Buffalo (received at 4:33a PST) which states:

My terse response states:

"The 800 number referred me to you. I’ve been attempting to get an appointment with my local immigration office for weeks. Unfortunately, living in Phoenix our office is always busy and with the recent DACA decision I may not be able to get in for months – long after my daughter has turned 18.

I have a call into my local senator. We’ll see where that goes."

8:10 I got a call back from Robin. Told her the situation and she said, "Let me see what I can do!"  She also asked I email the letter I wrote to Senator Bowie. 

8:20a Email sent to Senator Bowie's office.

8:52a Robin calls again to say she spoke with Maria Hoffman, Director of the Arizona Legislative Office of Family Advocacy. She can help me and will call Tuesday. 

9:52a I receive another email from the Buffalo office stating: 

WAIT!  Did you catch that? Let me pull out the important sentence.

"As you’ll read at the above links, your adopted child became a US citizen when she entered the United States in IR3 category on July 18, 2000."  

While a grammatically god awful sentence, it says Janan's a CITIZEN!  I call Nana with the good news!  EFF the CoC!  I have it STRAIGHT FROM IMMIGRATION - IN WRITING - with links to both federal and immigration documents that state she's a citizen!

I take myself for lunch.  

12:44p Maria Hoffman calls. Says she was planning to call Tues after court but had received my forwarded email from Senator Bowie's office. She apologized for the confusion, but she was originally just told this was an adoption issue - not an INTERNATIONAL adoption issue. That makes this fall under federal jurisdiction, not state. There’s nothing she can do. However, after reading my letter she placed a call to Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema on my behalf and they are awaiting my call. I'm told to ask for Bianca Castro. 

Walk back to my desk and my DESK phone rings - it's Officer Hotsoff of the Buffalo immigration office (yes, you read that correctly) stating she wanted to call me directly to answer my questions.  (Uh, guess I should have said "contacting my Senator" SOONER!)

She informs me:

She has read the emails between me and her office.  She felt it would be better to call and clarify, because "this is going to get really confusing."

1. Because my daughter came in AFTER the CCA went into effect, her office would never end up handling our case.
2. We fall into a 'gray' area between the pre-CCA children who fell under the old citizenship requirements and HAD to have a Certificate of Citizenship and the post-CCA implementation children who automatically receive FREE CoCs.  Her office processes any cases where families allege they didn't receive their CoC or where the CoC is lost for any reason.  
3. Children, like Janan, who came in during that short window of 2000-2004 on an IR-3 visa (like Janan), whose adoptions were complete (like Janan) WERE automatically citizens when they stepped onto U.S. soil, HOWEVER because of the way their social security numbers were entered into the system they don't show EXACTLY show as citizens.  
4. They show as IR-3 adoptees which TECHNICALLY means the same thing and just "...ten, five, or even three years ago would have been more than sufficient. However, in about the last year to year and a half, they've seen an increase in colleges and graduate school admission, employment, and driver's licenses or state IDs declined" without a CoC, so it has become a rather important document to have.
5. While Janan's ability to receive a U.S. passport also indicates her citizenship, it expires.  A CoC does not.
6. She knows $1,170 is a lot, but "you should know that amount is only going up."

She then proceeded to answer every other question in my original email (and some additional that came up while we spoke), apologized for all the confusion and run-around, and gave me her direct number to call should I have any further questions. 

My heart was both relieved (after all these months and contradictory information I FINALLY have clarity) and destroyed to learn that this CoC was necessary.  

However, Officer Hotsoff also told me there won't be a way for me to request Janan's CoC.  Because she's over 14, she has to personally complete and sign the paperwork, present herself to a local immigration office for an interview, and then (if approved) attend a swearing in ceremony.  I was told not to worry, that she can "wait until she's 52 to get the certificate, so long as she doesn't end up needing it before."  It's not imperative she get it before she turns 18. 

Well, now I have the answers I've been seeking for so long.  

2:13p I call Congresswoman Sinema's office and ask for Bianca Castro to inform her of my findings and "call off the dogs," so to speak.  She's not available. 

2:32p Bianca calls back. She had been awaiting my call, but didn't "have the details."  I gave her the Cliff Notes version (which, sadly, I realize YOU are not) and after I told her the story she said, "This is CRAZY! I think Congresswoman Sinema will want to hear about this.  Can you forward me the e-mail you sent to Senator Bowie's office?"  Uh, sure.

So, it's over.  But, maybe, it's not.  And, Janan's a citizen.  But, some people might not believe her.  With the current state of this country and ESPECIALLY the state of Arizona, that's a risk I'm not willing to take.  


Stay tuned...