FAIRWAY, KS (KCTV) — Born and raised in Kansas, Gwyneth Barbara didn’t expect this kind of hassle.
Barbara
had been issued a U.S. passport before, but this time around, Barbara
was told her birth certificate wasn’t good enough to prove her
citizenship.“It’s like they’re retroactively declaring that I was never a citizen,” Barbara said.
Barbara was born in a farmhouse in the 1970s in
Leavenworth County. She had a birth certificate. Her father went to the
courthouse days after she was born to certify her birth – raised seal
and all.The local passport agency accepted her documentation as
satisfactory for her passport application. Days later, she received a
letter from the federal division of the U.S. Passport Agency out of
Houston, TX, telling her the application was denied and required further
documentation.“I have a birth certificate it was accepted before, why wouldn’t it be accepted again?” Barbara explained.
The
letter stated, because her birth certificate was not issued at a
institution or hospital, it was not considered proof enough of her
citizenship.She received a letter asking her to submit any number of the listed additional documents.
“Border
crossing card or green card for your parents issued prior to your
birth? My parents were born in the United States….Early religious
records? We don’t have any. Family Bible? They won’t accept a birth
certificate but they will accept a family Bible?” Barbara said.Meantime, she did her best to dig up any of the random documents she was be asking to provide.
“I
was absolutely furious … I went to sleep yelling at the passport
agency in my head. I woke up yelling at them in my head,” she said.After
weeks of unreturned phone calls and unanswered questions, Barbara
contacted U.S. Senator Jerry Moran’s office for help. The senator’s
office launched an inquiry and followed up with another. A few days
later, Barbara received her passport in the mail, with no explanation.According
to the federal website, there is no policy stating a birth certificate
must come from a hospital or other official institution. To see all of
the requirements click here.When
KCTV5 called the U.S. Passport Agency, the employee answering the phone
said a county issued birth certificate for a home birth was acceptable
for a passport application, but in some cases, that decision is made on a
“case by case basis.”When KCTV5 asked the U.S. Passport Agency
for an interview or comment, KCTV5 received an email directing KCTV5 to
the passport application website.KCTV5 contacted Moran’s office,
asking for more details concerning what transpired after Barbara
contacted the senator’s office and soon received her passport in the
mail. A spokesperson for Moran told KCTV5 that the office was not able
to comment on private citizen issues.Barbara is concerned, if
this happened to her without this being an official federal policy, what
may happen next. She contacted KCTV5 because she felt it was important
to notify citizens about what was, to her, a surprising, inexplicable
hurdle she had to overcome to prove she was born in the United States.
Kansas woman told birth certificate wasn’t enough to prove citizenship for passport
ForLoveFromFear 