We went to the American embassy today to get Mackenzie all registered as a US citizen. I filled out the numerous pages of paperwork while still in the hospital (I’d printed everything beforehand since I knew I’d have plenty of time and quiet for that sort of thing) and once we finally got the birth certificates in the mail, we set a date to visit the embassy. You actually need to make an appointment to get in the door…but at least they have a handy little online system to set everything up…
A visit to the embassy is worse than going to the airport these days. The security measures are just insane. You get screened by one person who checks that you have your appointment print-out ready…then they give you a bunch of cards and passes so you can enter. And then you get to wait at another door where your ID is checked before they actually let you in for the fully body cavity search. Ok, the search isn’t that bad…but it’s close.
This was our first visit to the new embassy in Frankfurt and we were rather surprised at the size of the place…and the weight of the doors. They must be bomb-proof otherwise they’re just overkill.
As soon as we walked in, they were calling our number for the appointment…rather efficient I thought. But that was about the last of the pleasantries. They could stand to give a bit more clarification about what exactly is needed to register a new birth and for the first passport…but thankfully what we’d brought was just enough to squeak by – or the guy behind the glass just wanted to make us feel like he was doing us a favor.
At any rate, everything is being processed and in a few weeks we should be getting the passport and birth certificate in the mail. We also discovered that Mackenzie will not actually need to give up one of her citizenships when she turns 18 which we both think is excellent news…if only we had that option.
