Two documents mean a lot to a immigrant to this country because they are the definitive indicators you are finally American: The Naturalization certificate and then your US Passport that only can be obtained after you get the NC. Whereas the US Born citizen can do a multitude of legal things with the standard issue Birth Certificate, as a Naturalized Citizen, you need to present the Naturalization Certificate as proof of citizenship or the US Passport.
Now, not being the bright lightbulb in my household, I let the passport expire and expire hard, as in well over 10 years ago, so it is no longer accepted for certain things that require proof of citizenship like renewing your driver’s license in Florida if you are still holding the old ones that do not comply with the Real ID regulations. Long-short, I went looking for my NC late last night and could not remember where I put it. Paranoia set in but I figured I would ask the missus in the morning. But what if I had lost that thing? Just in case I decided to check how hard would it be to get a copy and it is not that hard if you have the budget.
FIVE EFFING HUNDRED AND FIFTY EFFING FIVE DOLLARS? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR EFFING MIND?
Needless to say my paranoia went into nitro-fueled overdrive and I started to dig even deeper for the darned paper. I gave up after an hour and left a note for my beloved to see if she had it which she did in a secured and undisclosed location away from my stupid hands and brain.
I am breathing again.
I am so getting a passport card (No, I am not planning on leaving the continent for any reason) and the Nat Cert is going to be put away under guard and a minefield to keep it from losing it and having to shed monies that could go to a new gun.
Here I am, a Law Abiding, Tax Paying Naturalized Citizen of the US and would have to pay up my nose for a certified copy of a legal document that says I followed all the rules to enter and become a citizen of this country. In the meantime, there are people entering illegally this country and given 10 times that amount of money in rewards for making it across the border and giving them privileges I cannot get because fucking politics.
And that is why I am the ornery conservative asshole that I am.
Our better halves, saving us from ourselves since we were lucky enough for ’em to pick us.
That seems like an excessively high fee wonder where that policy came from
It’s difficult for a bureaucracy to resist having or upping a fee.
The last time I renewed my RN license in MA, it cost $85 for a form that fit in a window envelope and the card wasn’t a real plastic card. You had to push it out of the form like a coupon. Great value.
The whole process is a farce, citizens are treated as second class, and lawbreakers are given priority. Discrimination based on claimed country of origin, but the Dems have always been anti American in my lifetime.
Three words: Safe Deposit Box
I’m a midlevel provider. Had to renew my DEA certificate recently (so I can prescribe narcotics. Occasionally. Very occasionally. VERRRY very occasionally…well, you get my point…)
Last renewal, 3 years ago, 700- something dollars.
New! Improved! 2021 cost: $850.
Nice. Simply, nice.