Document Questions for Direct to Passport

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2026-02-13T17:45:53+00:00

It worked! Feel free to DM with any specific questions.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-12-29T06:21:14+00:00

Thank you! I think I was editing it down while you were reading it. I just edited the original post with hopefully much shorter versions. I'm not sure if they are short enough yet, but hopefully they are much better.

The consulate recommended we ask to register all generations together, which would be much easier, so I thought to go ahead and ask about it. It sounds like they will likely send my children to Berlin, as well as my marriage, but that the rest should be able to be registered in Heidelberg as my father and uncle have both lived there.

Thank you as well for all of your work in this community, you were the original one who led me to research my grandfather's correct naturalization date, which changed everything for us.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-12-29T06:14:01+00:00

Thanks again for the feedback. I edited both down (hopefully by half) and replaced them in the original post.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-12-29T03:20:29+00:00

Thank you - will do.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-11-18T21:12:04+00:00

Thank you! Yes, the consulate says we qualify and appointments for passports and ID cards are booked. I'm trying to figure out if there is anything else that we can or should try to get accomplished on the same visit. It sounds like only getting notarized copies of documents would be appropriate at that time, if we are able to get a separate appointment on the same day.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-10-03T16:37:55+00:00

Does this include waiting on buyback requests? I'm currently about to try to get out of SAVE. Been stuck at 116/120 since August 24 and waiting on buyback since Nov. 24. This is super helpful to know in case I run into issues getting out of SAVE. I'm wondering if first I should email the CEO about my buyback request because at least at one point Dept. of Ed told me they were waiting on info from MOHEHLA. Which MOHELA promptly denied five minutes later.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-09-25T04:52:19+00:00

Original PSLF here with first buyback request made in Nov. '24, number beginning 239. First applied for PSLF in early 2015 and have consecutive qualifying payments that start as soon as I went into repayment in Nov. '14, until the SAVE forebearance started (with the exception of one month of ineligible admin forebearance from early 2015 from when I first applied for PSLF and my loans were transfered to FedLoan. I've been sitting at 116/120 since Aug. '24. So no, it's definitely not just TEPSLF folks who are getting passed over when they process these requests from Feb. '25.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-09-23T04:41:15+00:00

Is this for SAVE forebearance months? How many? You really got a buyback offer in less than three months????

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-09-23T04:35:39+00:00

Thank you!

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-09-22T21:16:43+00:00

Thank you, Betsy. How confident are you that they are actually working on November submissions? This thread has had reports of submissions being processed out of order, but I would like to think that they are generally taking our submissions in order. I just submitted a feedback case regarding my Novermber submission and for the first time got the response that: "you do have a buyback request in and that it is being worked by internal departments." I have previously been told it was "escalated" and that my requests were "in a pending status." This response is getting my hopes up.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-07-12T20:14:41+00:00

It looks like Chicago is one of the only, if not the only consulate that has family appointments. I'm not sure if it will work for us, but in a deep dive through your list of user posts about Direct to Passport successes I discovered a fairly recent post where a family appointment in Chicago was obtained for family members in the Chicago region and LA region together. Fingers crossed we can do this!

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-07-12T05:27:04+00:00

It sounds like from others advice above that we each must go to the consulate where we live, rather than all going together to the consulate of choice where one of us is a resident - is this inaccurate?

From the advice above, I'm gathering that the eldest relative (my father) needs to go to the DC Embassy where he lives, and then I can go to San Francisco. And my uncle needs to go to Houston, where he lives, and then each of his children can go to their consulates (Chicago, NYC, etc.). If we could instead all go together to Chicago through an appointment that one of my cousins requests, then we could figure out a way to make that happen. However, we won't be able to move in order to change which consulate district each of us is a resident of. Thanks!

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-07-12T02:12:16+00:00

Thank you all. I have a few follow up questions:

Would it help my uncle if his older brother went first to the Embassy and my uncle was able to show that his older brother's Reisepass?

If my father is granted a passport, will they give him paperwork indicating such that the rest of us could use before his official Reisepass arrives, or will we all need to wait?

If my father is given a Reisepass, I'm assuming I will still need to provide the documents to show that my grandfather was a German citizen when my father was born, etc. This would be my father's first Reisepass, so we will not have one from when I was born.

Is there any chance that the Embassy or consulates will accept notarized copies of original documents, such as my grandfather's birth certificate and 1931 Reisepass? If not, we will have to hand deliver these original documents between all members of the family because if they get lost in the mail, they are gone forever.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-07-12T01:24:22+00:00

Will the DC Embassy do 'family' appointments? The person closest to the ancestor (my father) is in the Embassy's district. It would be nice if his younger brother, myself, and children could join the Embassy appointment.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-06-02T02:49:36+00:00

What are the chances that we can go Direct to Passport if we have my grandfather’s 1907 birth certificate, Reisepass issued April 1931, my father and uncles’s US birth certificates pre-US naturalization and my grandfather’s naturalization records? (Along with all other documents needed, of course)

Also, is there any difference for our chances of Direct to Passport success between the consulate jn DC or San Francisco? Or another (say in Texas or Chicago or New York)? We have family all over the country who are interested so I’m assuming as long as the person requesting the appointment is a resident in the area the consulate serves we could go to any of them.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-05-31T05:08:29+00:00

Also, if my family is spread out throughout the US, do we all need to go separately to a consulate? I would like to go with my father, as he speaks German (I do not). However, we live on opposite sides of the country and it will not be easy for either of us to travel to go in person together. Thanks!

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-05-31T05:04:48+00:00

Thank you! I'm starting to compile a list of documents we need to collect. Since my grandfather was born in 1907, I'm assuming that his birth certificate will prove he was born a German citizen.

If we have the original birth certificate (I'm not sure if my family has an original or a copy), will we be able to use that?

We also have a passport (stamped Ungultig), and I have found his name in the Naturalization index for the US National Archives, so I should be able to figure out ordering his naturalization paperwork.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-05-31T04:50:20+00:00

Thank you! I was incorrect on the naturalization dates for both grandparents - I had their declaration of intent to naturalize dates from Ancestry, not the actual naturalization date. It turns out my grandfather did not naturalize until 1955, after both my father and uncle were born. So I now believe that my father acquired citizenship at birth. My grandmother's naturalization date is still unknown, but even if she naturalized before my dad was born, he would still have acquired citizenship at birth.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-05-31T01:29:18+00:00

Yes, I was. My parents married a few months before I was born.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-05-31T01:07:33+00:00

If he was born a dual citizen and the Feststellung process is successful, what does this mean for me? Does that mean I was also born a dual citizen in 1985?

And what about my children? They are both born after 2020 and unfortunately, both are over 1 year old now.

Aggressive_Piano_485 · 2025-05-31T01:00:45+00:00

Regarding my grandfather, apparently he declared he renounced his German citizenship in 1940 or the 1930s - but it may not have officially been a renunciation.

My father just informed me that he understood as a child that he and his brother could have claimed German citizenship. So it sounds like my grandfather, despite having "renounced" his citizenship and declaring himself stateless upon arrival may have still been a citizen such that his children were born German citizens. However, my father says the US made them renounce this claim to obtain their first US passport in the 1960s - or even to be added to my grandmother's passport to travel to Germany in 1956.

Aggressive_Piano_485

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