Appointment wait time

[davidlatour]

I just sent an e-mail to the San Francisco consulate and they said they had no openings for appointments until October 2008! That makes the 18 month wait time for the FOIA requests kind of a non-issue for me since I would be waiting anyways. Is it like this at all the consulates?

[Gildone]

The waits are not the same. It depends upon the consulate. At the Detroit consulate, for example, you can just walk in. When I applied there in June, I was told that there were 38 applications ahead of mine. I got my letter in 3 weeks. I've heard that Boston and Miami have long waits.

I'm not sure what the other documents are that San Francisco wants.

[Sheryl]

I emailed the Miami Consulate this week and got a response that "Due to temporary shortage of personnel, our Citizenship office has been halted for over six months. The resulting backlog is substantial and will take a while to be processed." I assume it will be a while before I can move forward on the list to get an appointment. I am working on getting all the documents I need!

[gmontanaro]

I made an appointment in February 2007 for August 2007 (about 6 months) at the New York consulate.

After my appointment in August, I had to fix two translations and return them a week later.

I received the confirmation of citizenship letter about 3 1/2 months after that.

[hellosquire]

I just wanted to make sure I'm reading this right.

You had your appointment in August of 2007? And you got your confirmation letter three and a half months later?

I had an appointment in July of 2007. I'm just wondering what factors contribute to some having longer waits than others.

How many generations did you go back? Is your ancestral commune small or large? Did you have any spelling errors to correct? And what I think is the most important time delay factor, were all your documents New York documents? Reason being, I think the routing of documents to other American consular jurisdictions for verification account for longer waits.

Did you see the lady or a man regarding your appointment?

Perhaps I should call the consulate and ask if they maybe forgot my letter, or (hopefully not) need something else from me.

[gmontanaro]

It was through my Grandfather.

All the documents where from New York and New Jersey.
The comune is tiny.
The important documents had only a couple minor errors. (There was a large error on my Father's birth certificate, but I had the official correction already attached and translated.)

I hired a translator for the text, but created the translation myself to look exactly like the original (font, fancy border, etc).

I actually spoke with both the man and the woman over the two days I went there.

Regarding the phone call, I've heard (although I have no direct experience) that they don't look favorably upon getting those calls. I think you're well within a normal range of time.

I was fully expecting the wait to be 2-3 years.

[hellosquire]

I think it's great that you received it so soon, of course for you, but for me and other new applicants as well. I know of someone who applied in May who recently received theirs after about a six month wait, and now knowing that you received yours leads me to believe that they've already submitted my application from July.

They must be working on applications from August and into September now, so hopefully I'll receive confirmation soon. If they truly work on them in the order they receive them, then I'm sure I would've received a call if there were any errors in my application now that they're working on applications from after August.

Again, congratulations!

[peggymckee]

There was a large error on my Father's birth certificate, but I had the official correction already attached and translated.

What was the error and can you be a bit more specific about what you mean by "official correction"?

All the best, Peg

[gmontanaro]

There was a large error on my Father's birth certificate, but I had the official correction already attached and translated.

What was the error and can you be a bit more specific about what you mean by "official correction"?

All the best, Peg

There were a few. His Mother's name was spelled wrong and his Father's name was his own name. Plus his date of birth was wrong.

Regarding the "official correction": Since a birth certificate is a matter of official record, they can't modify it, an attached correction is how they handle errors. There is a document that is attached to it from the same state that issued the original specifying the errors and what the corrections should be. This attachment was from the 40s and was used so my Dad could get into the army, but the process is still the same today.

[peggymckee]

Dear GMontanaro--

Many thanks for the clarification. Corrections are really difficult once those concerned are gone, so you're lucky that your Dad took care of his himself! All the best, Peg