Consular Notification thingy of Birth Abroad

I had the British passport for one child and didn't have it done for the other.  It has no bearing on your application.

As for your husband's passport, you'll bring it back with you the same day.  They don't take it away from you.  They just check it at the embassy, so no worries about sending it off.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like we should have everything in order. Train tickets and hotel booked, looking forward to our trip to the Big Smoke.

Jewlz I applied for both passports around the same time and it wasn't a big deal.  Have fun in London!

I didn't show any high school or college diplomas or transcripts for either of mine and had no problems.

Be aware what sort of pens you have on you LOL I had to check mine with security cause it was this color flashing one.

Can you pay in cash, GBP? Or do you need to pay by card? Has anyone used a Lloyds TSB debit card there or had any trouble using one?

I'm a bit nervous, our appointment is a week from tomorrow! We have made all the necessary travel arrangements and the appointment is booked for 8 am. We are only taking our sling since we have a long train travel to get there, not the carseat or pushchair, but I was told we could still take the taxis in London without a carseat, hope that is true, we will probably ask the Travelodge to book a taxi for us when we check-in. We are only taking a backpack with our stuff in so that one of us can wear the sling and one can carry the backpack. I assume we can check our phones, keys (we have the electronic kind) and our camera at security? Or should we get one of those lockers from the pharmacy? Not sure if they will be open that early in the morning, though! Eeeep! Hope it all goes well, this whole process is so expensive and time consuming for us as we are coming from Newcastle upon Tyne.

You can check all that at the door--no need to get a locker unless you are a non-American going for visa services.  I'm not sure if you can take cash, but you should be okay with the debit card, but if I were you, I'd call your bank ahead and warn them that you will be making a transaction in US Dollars at the Embassy--sometimes banks get nervous and stop the payment since it looks suspicious.  Ours worked okay as they let us try another card that happened to have money and it worked, but they told us that if we needed to go out and call the bank or use an ATM we were okay (so maybe cash is okay--check the website to see if it says anything).

Newcastle would be a long haul.  I thought it was a trek for me from Cardiff, but that's much more.  Best of luck.  Don't worry yourself too much, as long as you have everything, you should be fine.  You don't need a car seat for taxis, but I haven't tried, we just took the tube from where we stayed overnight.  It was much cheaper that way.  Good luck!

Can you pay in cash, GBP? Or do you need to pay by card? Has anyone used a Lloyds TSB debit card there or had any trouble using one?

I'm a bit nervous, our appointment is a week from tomorrow! We have made all the necessary travel arrangements and the appointment is booked for 8 am. We are only taking our sling since we have a long train travel to get there, not the carseat or pushchair, but I was told we could still take the taxis in London without a carseat, hope that is true, we will probably ask the Travelodge to book a taxi for us when we check-in. We are only taking a backpack with our stuff in so that one of us can wear the sling and one can carry the backpack. I assume we can check our phones, keys (we have the electronic kind) and our camera at security? Or should we get one of those lockers from the pharmacy? Not sure if they will be open that early in the morning, though! Eeeep! Hope it all goes well, this whole process is so expensive and time consuming for us as we are coming from Newcastle upon Tyne.

You don't need a car seat for taxis (though some have them). Remember to put the seatbelt between yourself and the baby, not around both of you.

How much cash should we bring for the special delivery envelope, etc? Or can we just use our debit card for that, too?

Ok, was just there on Monday. Was easier than expected and passport should be here in 3 - 5 weeks. BUT you can no longer check anything at security, so you have to walk down the street to that pharmacy to check in your electronic items and anything sharp (we had some scissors to cut those cartons of formula open with and had to check those in at the pharmacy as well as our mobile phone.) It cost £3 to leave them at the pharmacy. Appointment took about 2 hours, we had the first appointment at 8am and were out of there by 10am.

Ok, was just there on Monday. Was easier than expected and passport should be here in 3 - 5 weeks. BUT you can no longer check anything at security, so you have to walk down the street to that pharmacy to check in your electronic items and anything sharp (we had some scissors to cut those cartons of formula open with and had to check those in at the pharmacy as well as our mobile phone.) It cost £3 to leave them at the pharmacy. Appointment took about 2 hours, we had the first appointment at 8am and were out of there by 10am.

How odd!  I wonder when they stopped providing that to US Citizens?  We've always been able to do that before.  How frustrating!

Just wanted to report that it took exactly 4 weeks to get DD's passport and foreign birth certificate thingy. Still waiting for the SS card.

Does anyone remember/know what time they release appointments online?  Currently stalking the website but with a toddler & a newborn about the house, it's hard to check every so often and we kinda need a certain day of the week so I don't want to miss it.

In other news, WHAT a PITA to have to do this for every child!!

Hi

 I am a us citizen & my wife is uk citizen. our son was born recently october 5, 2012. Does any one know how long i can wait to report the birth to the us embassy?

I didn't get it done for ten years, I don't think it matters a lot if they're not traveling to the USA.

ETA: Parents can only report a birth abroad up until the child turns 18. After that the young adult may have to jump through more complicated hoops to prove their citizenship if they require a US passport.

Apologies if this has already been asked and answered in these 18 pages.

I'm looking at the form for the notification of birth abroad and seeing what I can fill out before baby is born.  I've gotten to the section that asks about physical presence in the US.  Do they want the dates I was actually living in the US or do they also want dates of all the trips back to visit family since I've moved here?  I also had one trip to France in high school.  Do I have to leave out that time period since it was just a vacation?

Very unsure and want to make sure to do it correctly, but don't want to have to try to research dates of my high school trip and every trip back home since moving here if I don't need to.

Thanks!