when samil was born we had a heck of a time declaring him as an american citizen. but not because of the paperwork, or even because of the mess that could come from a trip to santo domingo. samil was born in hurricane season and we missed out appointment because the bridges were out between here and the capitol. it was a mess.
i should have known then that any future children would be difficult to declare.
but i didn't. nor did i have any idea at all how tedious it would be. i mentioned that the window is only open for thirty minutes. only on certain days. and apparently, they can close whenever they feel like it.
amalio made the trip yesterday. good thing he left early or i think amely would be forever traveling on a tourist visa - because there's no way i would continue with the process without killing someone before it was over.
so, amalio arrived at the consulate at 11:40. He was told by the friendly information people that the line was open at 2. and that it was with a ticket. and that they only give 15 tickets a day. silly amalio thought that was a fair number, because how many americans could possibly be depositing declaration papers on any day? the guy also told him they don't begin to give out the numbers until 1:50.
so, he went to eat at a little food cart next to the consulate building.
and at 12:45, saw that people were already starting to line up.ok, there were only three. but smart amalio decided to get in line. he was number three. and 1:30, all of the numbers were given out and they were turning people away.
so much for numbers at 1:50.
i'm glad he avoided disaster. because we don't have the money for more unnecessary trips. i'm a little ticked that our appointment isn't until september 22, but i don't plan to travel with amely until december, so it's not a huge deal. and i feel really bad for anyone who has to deal with the assinine policies of the american state department in foreign countries.
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