Well, that wasn't so bad

Say "Hello" to our newest US citizen!!!

We'd been putting off her paperwork for far too long.  She was an illegal alien in the UAE and not a recognized US citizen.

With Aidan we had to dig up a bunch of paper work to prove our US citizenship and four years of voluntary residency in the US after the age of 18.  I know we used a 2005 tax return as proof for one year but I'm not sure what we used for the other three years.  I do know that whatever it was that we used was a bit iffy (could have been denied as proof) so I ordered both mine and Patrick's college transcripts to use in the future.  We got them and I stuck them in a drawer.  (This is important later.)   Patrick also had to swear an oath and sign an affidavit that Aidan was his son.  Legal terms aside, it boiled down to him pointing at me and saying: That woman is my wife who I impregnated   That is my son (pointing to Aidan) who came out of that woman who I am married too and impregnated.  It was kind of funny.  I almost wish he had to raise his right hand while he said all of this like Paolo did.

The rules of transferring citizenship to children change frequently and this time around we had to prove 5 years of voluntary residency after the age of 18.  Everything else was the same (though currently if either kid had a child born outside of the US that child would not be able to become a US citizen).  Anywhoo, we got everything together, updated the passport pictures (the first ones were too old) and, made our appointments for the consulate.  The consulate will only handle citizen matters between 12:00 and 3:00 and ONLY by appointment.  But the link to make appointments can only be found on the section to add pages to your passport or if you are an Iranian applying for a visa.  So, appointments are made (only open days were Aidan's birthday and today) and we turned in forms to take time off.

We decided to take the whole day off in order to handle some UAE paperwork for Aidan.  A year or two ago the UAE decided to make everyone get an Emirates ID.  Nobody took it seriously so they started to level large fines and hassle people at the airport.  We got our IDs right when we got back this summer.  (My picture is horrible, all awful, sweaty, and swollen.)  Since Aidan was 3 years old he had to get an ID, luckily he didn't have to be physically present when we turned in the forms.  We got our paper work together, went to the typing center to have them fill in the forms for us, and then drove down to the Emirates ID Authority to turn in the forms and do the biometric stuff.  Thankfully all of this was near the house because the AC in the car was broken and it was 120 degrees outside.  We turn in the forms, have our pictures taken, we're finger printed, etc.  Done, finished, halas.  Thank God.  A few days after Emma is born Patrick gets a text saying he can pick up our IDs but Aidan's ID was cancelled.  ARGH!!!!!!  We assume that they changed the rules and he really did need to be present for fingerprinting.  CRAP!  This stuff is expensive and a huge time suck.  So, Patrick opted to use this morning to run around redoing all of the paperwork for Aidan and then pick him up from school and  bring him in for fingerprints.  While at the typing center getting the forms filled out, a flag pops up on the computer saying we've already turned this paper work in and it's being processed.  The guy asks Patrick about it and he explains that we got a text saying that the application had been cancelled.  Patrick is told that the computer says that Aidan's paper work is still in process (in process since August) and another submission would result in a 1,000 DHS fine.   Patrick is given a number to call, the lady is super helpful, flags Aidan's forms, and gives Patrick a file number to check back on.  So yeah, didn't have to pay for that again, but it was still a hassle.

Patrick comes home for lunch and then we head out for the consulate.  This turned out to be really fast. Our appointment was at 1:00 and it did take us an hour and fifteen minutes to get there because of lunch time traffic but we were driving back home by 1:45.  It would have been shorter to if not for the major security hold up those college transcripts caused.  When they originally arrived in the mail the flap was signed and stamped saying that if the envelope was open upon receipt then the paperwork had been tampered with.  Well, I didn't want to "tamper" with anything, so I threw it into the filing cabinet
where it sat for almost four years.  When I was putting everything together last night I simply popped the envelopes in the folder and was done.  Turns out you can't take sealed envelopes into the consulate. Patrick had to go outside, open them, wait a moment (just in case he started to sieze up or bleed from the ears) and then was allowed to come back in.  We go in, wait our turn, get called up and answer the official's questions (we were married in LITTLE ROCK not Iraq!), didn't have to prove residency, take an oath, point out who was impregnated by who and who was the resulting issue.  We just paid the processing fees, signed the papers and were done.  Cool, but I'm a bit irritated by all the stress.  I had everything organized, birth certificates, copies, SSN cards, etc.  But, whatever, it's finished.  They congratulated Emma on her new citizenship and we'll pick up her paper work in 3-4 weeks.  Yeah!  Then we just have to get her UAE paperwork so she's a legal resident.  ugh.

Emma had a celebratory meal of Hello Kitty carrots.  Life is good.