As I mentioned, we had planned a trip to Niagara Falls last summer, which would have taken us across the Canadian border. While there are provisions for minor children to travel into Canada without a passport, my son is of a different race, so we felt it important to get him his own passport. Therefore in May of 2019 we submitted the application for a passport and included the required documents. However, we received a letter from the Dallas Passport Agency indicating that additional information was needed. There was a page of the letter missing and what we had was vague, and did not indicate what specific documents we needed to provide. Therefore, my wife called the Passport Information Line, to get more information. My wife was told that someone from the Dallas Passport Office would return her call within 48 hours. However, this did not happen, but rather was the beginning of many phone calls that were not returned.
Still not knowing what we needed to provide to obtain the passport my wife returned to the Gainesville, TX post office where the applications were submitted. While the postal employees have nothing to do with the issuing of passports, they attempted to help determine what documents were required to satisfy the Dallas Passport Office. They contacted someone at the Passport Office, who indicated that we needed a “long form” birth certificate, and that we would have to request this from the state of Texas. Therefore, we followed the instructions we received, and sent a request to the Texas Department of Vital Statistics. However, after several months of going back and forth with the state of Texas, it was determined that what we were told to request, could not be obtained without a court order and the Dallas Passport Office had no business in demanding this document. However, in the meanwhile, the Dallas Passport Office sent us a letter indicating that our file was being closed, and that our filing fees would not be reimbursed, still not knowing what we needed to provide to get the passport.
Several calls have been placed to the Passport Information Line, which have been little help. There have been several commitments to have a return call from the Dallas Passport Office, which has never happened. Additionally, each call that has been placed to the Passport Information Office has provided conflicting advice on what we need to provide to ensure that if we reapply we can provide the required documents to get the passport issued to my son. Additionally, our trip to Niagara Falls has been cancelled on two occasions.
There is a mechanism that allows for an in person meeting to receive a passport on the spot at the Dallas Passport Office. However, you have to have active travel plans within the next two weeks to receive an appointment for this service. The agents from the Passport Information system have suggested that I create a hotel reservation in Canada to use as an excuse to get an in person appointment. This would clearly resolve the problem, cause we could simply bring the entire adoption file to the office, and certainly get this matter resolved in short order. However, I do not feel comfortable lying to government as the government workers have suggested. I simply will not manipulate the system as they have suggested. On multiple occasions, I have asked them to waive this rule, even talking to a supervisor about our situation; however, they have refused this simple request. Several other other of their process have clearly failed or have not been followed, yet they will not waive from this one. Perhaps, they are selective about which policies they follow and which they do not.
Currently, our only option is to resubmit an application that may or may not have the required documents due to no one clearly explaining what we need to provide. Along with this will be the filing fees amounting to over another $130.00, which we will not get reimbursed when we do not provide what the Dallas Passport Office refuses to tell us that is required. Currently, we feel that the Passport office has stolen our filing fees, and we are being held hostage in our own country. Additionally, the customer service provided by the Passport office has been horribly ridiculous, and is unacceptable for a government agency. They showed no concern or empathy for our situation, and in speaking with numerous different individuals, none of them provided clear instructions or were helpful in resolving this matter. If they will simply tell us what we need to provide to obtain the passport, we are more than willing to comply.
One thing that is very telling is that if you go to your Congressperson's website they have a link and form to deal with passport issues. So this organization is so horrible that it is one of the top items that people reach out to their elected representatives on. Just a thought, perhaps if they actually did their jobs, then people wouldn't hate dealing with them.
