Well, you all know that our US home was flooded by Hurricane Sandy, almost 3' of water in our basement. We had a big safe down there with all our documents and some jewelry, which we THOUGHT was waterproof, but wasn't. Our passports were soaked for 6 days.
We dried them out, and they look pretty good, a little wrinkly but all the print is intact as are the photos, etc. I've now been told that we cannot use them, 'they will not scan'. Passports are from 2005, I don't think they have any chip in them, or am I wrong??
Because they are considered "damaged", it's the same as being lost - i.e. a whole rigamarole to replace it. Believe it or not, you can't use a "damaged" passport to get a new one. You have to present a whole lot of "stuff", including proof that you're a US citizen. I have my original birth certificate. Check. His naturalization papers were in the safe, they didn't survive.
Today I called the County Clerk for help. He tells me that to get a replacement naturalization certificate takes at least 3 months and up to 9 month. Our tickets are for mid-March.
Has anyone ever travelled with a passport that was wet, i.e. run through the washing machine? I have visions of getting to the airport and being denied passage. Or not being let back into the US.
County Clerk is going to try to locate his original naturalization application from 1981 because he's sure it will have his naturalization # on it, and "maybe" they will accept that.
Part of me wants to just show up at the airport with the wrinkly passports, but the other part of me is chicken.
We dried them out, and they look pretty good, a little wrinkly but all the print is intact as are the photos, etc. I've now been told that we cannot use them, 'they will not scan'. Passports are from 2005, I don't think they have any chip in them, or am I wrong??
Because they are considered "damaged", it's the same as being lost - i.e. a whole rigamarole to replace it. Believe it or not, you can't use a "damaged" passport to get a new one. You have to present a whole lot of "stuff", including proof that you're a US citizen. I have my original birth certificate. Check. His naturalization papers were in the safe, they didn't survive.
Today I called the County Clerk for help. He tells me that to get a replacement naturalization certificate takes at least 3 months and up to 9 month. Our tickets are for mid-March.
Has anyone ever travelled with a passport that was wet, i.e. run through the washing machine? I have visions of getting to the airport and being denied passage. Or not being let back into the US.
County Clerk is going to try to locate his original naturalization application from 1981 because he's sure it will have his naturalization # on it, and "maybe" they will accept that.
Part of me wants to just show up at the airport with the wrinkly passports, but the other part of me is chicken.