Two Passports

Michael After living a whopping 25 years in the USA, we decided to become American citizens. Why? With our Green Card, we were allowed to stay in the U.S. indefinitely, but if we ever decided to live outside the country for more than six months, the Green Card would expire immediately and we didn't want that risk. Furthermore, Green Card holders are legally fragile hybrids, powerless against changing administrations who can seemingly willy nilly modify the rules that govern immigration. The rights of an American citizen, however, are protected by the constitution, and are therefore carved in stone.

Before naturalization, we had one more thing to settle: we wanted to remain Germans. This does not happen automatically, as basketball player Detlef Schrempf once found out the hard way in the German embassy in San Francisco. He had handed his passport and his wife's through the glass window at the embassy to have them renewed. The consular official checked the embassy computer and found out that both Schrempf and his wife had already applied for and received US citizenship in the meantime, so she pulled out a pair of scissors and cut their German passports in half. What Schrempf did not know: if a German citizen does not take precautions and accepts the American citizenship, they automatically lose their German citizenship.

However, there is a way out: the so-called "Beibehaltungserklärung ("retention permit"), known under the acronym BBG, which I, knowing that there are Swabians working in the German Embassy in San Francisco, like to pronounce "Bäh-bäh-gäh". Germans interested in US naturalization must submit an application to the consulate in which they lay out compelling reasons for both having to attain US citizenship, and at the same time retaini their German citizenship.

In today's bureaucratic madness, it doesn't surprise that the time frames for the processing such applications are in the glacial range. Experience shows that it takes more than a year from submitting the form, along with all documents sealed by a notary, until a letter with the approval comes back, and only with the BBG document personally handed over by consular officers can Germans then proceed to apply for US citizenship. Subsequently, this time the US authorities need at least another year until the applicant is admitted to the all-decisive interview and, in case of success, sworn in as a US citizen.

These procedures are incredibly complicated and nerve-wracking, but let's describe in detail how the individual steps work. For those who don't have time to read it all, here's a short summary: We now each have two passports, an American and a German one. When we enter Germany, we show the German passport. When we enter the USA, we show the American one.

Our newly acquired rights as freshly baked US citizens also come with obligations from now on: We must be ready for jury duty like other citizens, meaning that we may be summoned by the authorities at any time to sit as jurors in one of the millions of ongoing court proceedings and decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty. Furthermore, we are allowed to vote in city, state, senate and presidential elections now, so get ready for exciting reports from your freshly baked voters in upcoming newsletters.

Beibehaltung (Keeping German Citizenship)

Once everything is complete, the bundle is sent by regular mail to the consulate. After a few weeks, we received an email confirmation, when the application was sent internally from the consulate in San Francisco to the authorities in Germany by diplomatic mail. From the time the application was sent until it was approved, a year and three months had passed for us. In the meantime, we received emails from the application processor in Osnabrück/Germany, and had to obtain some additional documents, have them certified, and send them in. Finally, we received confirmation by email and then by letter that a decision had been made on our application. To pick up the certificate, we then needed an appointment at the consulate, which we got two months later. The fun is not cheap either, as a fee of 255 euros is charged for each BBG certificate, and even if the application is rejected, 191 euros are due, according to paragraph 38 of the German Nationality Act called StAG. Incidentally, the approved retention is only valid for two years, if the U.S. naturalization takes longer, the BBG must be extended, again for a fee.

Application for Citizenship

If all conditions are met, the process can begin. The application is to be filed using form N-400. It's great that this can now be done online and only one form needs to be completed. So we both created an account on the USCIS Website (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) and only hours after we received our retention certificate from the German consulate, we submitted the application for US citizenship. Of course, there is still an option to send a paper application with the accompanying documents by regular mail, but we would strongly advise against it.

The application is divided into various parts: First the questions to check the personal data: Name, date of birth and country, address, email address, telephone numbers, nationality, green card number and since when you've had it it, gender, ethnicity / race (typical question in every American form), height and weight, eye color, hair color, employer, marital status, number of children. If the applicant is married, like in our case, further typical questions follow: Date of marriage, date of birth, nationality and immigration status, address and employer of the spouse. Any previous marriages that ended in divorce must also be listed. Whether the applicant's parents are American citizens is also to be answered with yes or no. If the applicant has American parents or an American parent, he or she may already have American citizenship automatically. Further questions are whether the applicant has ever served in the American military, as there are also simplified rules regarding American citizenship. And then we had to list how often and how long we were out of the country in the last 5 years.

One of the questions about personal information sounds suspicious: "Are you a male who lived in the United States at any time between your 18th and 26th birthdays?" Behind this seemingly harmless question lies the fact that every male living in the US and of the specified age is required to register with the "Selective Service System". This applies even to immigrants, and even those who are in the country illegally. The system is intended for the case that a draft is declared in times of war. Interestingly, this only applies to men. Many, even American citizens, have no idea that they are actually required to register. If one had neglected to register as a green card holder, one would have to convince immigration officials that this was done unknowingly.

The next part of the questionnaire deals with the moral character of the applicant. As already mentioned, it is checked whether the potential American citizen is upright and beneficial to American society and won't be a an undue burden going forward. The applicant does not have to prove what good he has done, but evidence is looked for that shows problematic or immoral behavior. This includes, for example, unauthorized voting, tax debts, failure to pay taxes, illegal stays in the country or concealing facts in order to gain immigration advantages, drug offenses and drug dealing, arrests and convictions, fraudulently obtaining social benefits, prostitution, polygamy, illegal gambling, membership in a communist party, totalitarian or terrorist organizations, sexual assault, or the oppression of people based on their religious affiliation.

Some of the questions are quite vague and general. For example: "Have you ever seriously and intentionally tried to hurt or actually hurt a person?" Here, "hurt" can refer to both physical and mental injuries. One funny question is: "Have you ever been a habitual drunkard?" People who have been caught by the police with too much alcohol in their blood and who have therefore received a so-called DUI penalty ("Driving under the Influence") have a harder time getting citizenship. There is also still the question of whether one has ever been in a psychiatric institution. Now, it says that saying "yes" to any of the questions automatically means that citizenship is rejected, but the general advice in these cases is: Get a good lawyer. The last part of the application then deals with whether one is willing to defend the constitution, swear the oath and, if necessary, defend the USA with a weapon. This would be the case, for example, if there were mandatory military service instated in case of war.

We were then able to upload the necessary documents. Depending on the personal circumstances, the number of required documents can vary. For us it was only two documents. We had to scan and upload the front and back of our green cards and our marriage certificate in English. Since we had already gotten an international one in different languages in Munich, this was not a problem at all. Photos are only needed if the application is written up outside the country, which probably doesn't happen very often.

The last step was then to pay the fee with a credit card. The application is relatively expensive, and for many the high fees are a real obstacle to applying for American citizenship. There is the possibility of reducing the fees if the applicant can prove that their income is below the poverty line, but in this case the fees won't be waived entirely, just reduced by half. We paid $725 per person: $640 is the regular fee and then $85 for taking fingerprints.

After payment, it was then a matter of waiting and exercising patience. A few days later, we received official confirmation by mail that our applications had been accepted, the fees had been paid, and the processing of the case had been initiated. We could also view these letters online under our account. Our so-called "Priority Date" was November 9, 2020, the day we had submitted the applications. The immigration system sets the place in the processing queue for the application based on this date.

We were able to check online to see approximately how long it would take for the application to be processed. However, the estimates listed there kept changing. Initially, it was said to be 9 months, but we already knew that this was a very optimistic calculation. Nothing happened for months and then suddenly something happened: At the end of February 2021, the agency informed us that they could reuse our old green card fingerprints (thanks to Corona), so that would save us the fingerprint appointment. The fee of $85 was of course not refunded. In April 2022, a strange message appeared on Michael's account that some evidence would have to be provided and that a letter was on its way. Panic spread! What could this be? Is military service to be proven? Will this prolong and delay the process? But then it turned out that an official had apparently pressed the wrong button, because the message disappeared online shortly afterwards and no postal letter ever arrived. Again there was silence for months until we were notified of our interview appointment in early January 2022. From the application to the swearing in, the application had taken exactly 15 months.

Citizenship Interview

Angelika On February 7th, we had our interviews at the Immigration Office in San Francisco, two hours apart. Michael's was at 12:30pm and mine was at 2:30pm. By the way, it's not the norm for married couples to go to the interview on the same day, but we were lucky in that regard. When it was my turn, Michael had already finished his interview and passed the citizenship test. We met on the street in front of the building, and Michael was able to give me some quick tips. As usual, he had to retrieve his small pocket knife from a flower pot around the corner, since you weren't allowed to bring a knife, no matter how small, into the building, since we all had to go through a security check and a metal detector. What I've already gone through with Michael and his knives in the wrong place could fill a lot of pages. But I digress.

Due to the coronavirus restrictions, we were only allowed to enter the building 15 minutes before our appointments. The security check went quickly. Nowadays you can also take your phone into the building. That was different with our green card back then. First I showed my letter with the appointment at the registration desk. Then I was sent to a waiting area where several people were already seated. Pretty soon a friendly lady called me, who looked at my German passport and my green card. Then she took me to a room with a desk. But there was no person sitting at the desk, just an iPad! Yes, you've read that correctly. I probably looked a bit stupid, but Michael had warned me beforehand that the interview would take place virtually. By the way, not only because of Covid, as the official who conducted the interview later explained to me, but also to be more efficient. This way the interviewers can sit in other places. Mine was in Los Angeles.

The lady who had led me to the office first activated the iPad and the officer appeared on the screen and introduced himself. I held up my California driver's license to the iPad to identify myself and then had to swear with my right hand raised to tell the truth. Initially, the officer exchanged a few pleasantries with me. Standardly, they also ask if the person being interviewed needs a translator, which I always find particularly nice since we had been speaking in English the whole time. The officer then informed me that I didn't need to take the reading and writing test due to my age. Hmmm. The test is really easy though. You just have to write down an English sentence that the officer reads out loud and then you need to read out loud a sentence printed on the screen. Here's an example: Read: "What do we pay the government?" Write: "We pay taxes."

At first, I was immediately asked some citizenship questions. There is a publicly known catalog with 100 questions that deals with the history of the USA, the structure of the U.S. government and important constitutional principles, as well as the rights and duties of American citizens. During the interview, then candidate has to answer ten random questions from the catalog. Six out of ten questions must be answered correctly, then you have passed the test. If you manage to answer six questions correctly in a row, the remaining four questions won't be asked.

Not only the questions but the answers are standardized. Which is why it's wise to provide the previously learned answers verbatim and not embellish them. There's a story about an applicant who failed the test because she was a specialist regarding Martin Luther King and gave the officer a long lecture. But he only wanted to hear the short answer "Martin Luther King". Which is why there's all kinds of publically available helper material to prepare for the test. From classic pre-printed flashcards to a smartphone app with the test questions. Even if some questions are easy to answer, such as what is the name of the president of the USA, there are others that we had to memorize, especially some important dates, such as when the American Constitution was written. Weeks before the interview we quizzed each other with questions from the flashcards, or we practiced individually with the app. Here are the questions I had to answer. Well, would you have known the answers?

* What does the Constitution stand for? It sets up the government, defines the government, and protects the basic rights of Americans.

* What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States? The Atlantic Ocean.

* What is the capitol of your state? Sacramento

* There were 13 original colonies. Name 3. North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland.

* Name one right only for United States citizens. To vote in a federal election.

* Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II? Franklin Roosevelt

As luck would have it, we didn't have to learn 128 questions and their corresponding answers. When Trump was president, he thought that the question catalog with 100 questions was too easy and decided on the spot that from the end of 2020, an additional 12 out of 20 questions from the new, more extensive question catalog would have to be answered correctly in order to become a citizen. However, President Biden rolled this back, which was to our benefit. I would like to know if Trump would pass the test at all. A study from 2018 found that only 36% of Americans would manage it. By the way, I did the test for fun with my students at the school and they passed it easily.

After the test, the officer went through my application with me and rechecked some questions from the application. This is done to determine if the applicant filled out the application themselves and truthfully. The officer asked me questions such as where I work and what I do exactly, if I am married, what my husband does for a living, if I have always filed a tax return, or what clubs or other associations I am a member of. And: What was the traffic offense exactly I did get a ticket for? This may surprise you now, but one question on the application was: "Have you ever been arrested, cited, or detained by any law enforcement officer (including any immigration official or any official of the U.S. armed forces) for any reason?"

On internet forums there are long debates about this question, because many people want to know if they have to disclose traffic offenses such as speeding or similar. But the book we bought on the topic of American citizenship from the renowned publisher "Nolo" which specializes in legal topics advised us to do so. I had once turned left where I wasn't supposed to and Michael had once not stopped correctly at a red light before making a permitted right turn. Both of us had received a traffic ticket and paid for it. In our interviews our respective officers briefly asked what it was about and what kind of traffic offense it was, but then the matter was settled. By the way, you don't have to disclose parking tickets. That would probably be too much. Michael also had to give information about his time in the German Army. Here is the question from the application: "Did you ever receive any type of military, paramilitary, or weapons training?"

After I had told my officer that Michael had already finished his interview and was to be sworn in at 3pm, he tried with all his might to get me into the afternoon ceremony and speed up the interview. He then said something flippantly that he would skip the Nazi question because I hadn't been born yet at that time. The question from the catalog is about whether the applicant was part of the Nazi regime between March 23, 1933 and May 8, 1945. Also, we both also had to say whether, when and for how long we had been out of the country after applying for citizenship, for example for visits to Germany. My officer also wanted to know why we had waited so long to apply for citizenship. I answered somewhat vaguely and he already printed out the form confirming that I had passed and was allowed to be sworn in. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the 3pm event because it was already fully booked.

It was funny that Michael had a new photo taken for his naturalization certificate during the interview, but not me. This initially worried me because I thought they had forgotten about it in the rush. It turned out, however, that my ten-year-old green card photo, which was stored in the system, was still good enough. So I must have kept myself well. By the way, people on various internet forums always advise to take additional things to the interview, from passport photos to tax returns. But that's all nonsense. On the invitation to the interview it was clearly listed what to bring and we did not need more: invitation to the interview, green card and passports with all entry stamps into the USA. I also brought all expired passports with the stamps, but nobody wanted to see them, only the valid German passport.

I then waited for Michael. And after the obligatory souvenir photo, we went out to celebrate a bit, namely to the restaurant "Coqueta" at the Embarcadero by the water, where we sat outside in the bright sunshine and sipped champagne. Living the high life!

Sworn in as a US Citizen

The ceremonies took place at the Immigration Office building in San Francisco, but in a different area with a separate entrance. At first we had to stand in line. While I was waiting, someone checked the form I brought with the appointment. I also had to sign again on the form to certify that I had not done anything wrong between my interview and now, such as getting in conflict with the law or joining any dubious associations, including the Communist Party. Inside the building the first course of action was to give up my green card. At a counter I handed it over (Michael had already turns his in at his ceremony) somewhat sadly and moved, because after all, the card had served us well for many years. An usher then guided me to my seat, a somewhat unromantic plastic chair in boring government design. On the chair, there was already a packet with my naturalization certificate, including a information sheet on applying for a passport and another sheet with the wording of the oath to be sworn. A small American flag was also in there.

All participants wore masks and there were always two chairs unoccupied between us to maintain the Covid safety distance. The ceremony was led by the head (Robin Barrett) of the Immigration Office in San Francisco, which was probably more of a coincidence. There were a few encouraging words from her, something along the lines of the ceremony not being particularly festive, but the event still being meaningful and important. She then reminded us to check our naturalization certificate for our name and date of birth, as it would be a long and costly process to correct any errors once we had left with the certificate. The certificate also includes the full name, date of birth, a photo, gender, height, and marital status, as well as the so-called "Alien Registration Number" which was already on the green card. It must also be signed.

Interestingly, even simple things as your signature on the form can raise many questions, as we read on the various internet forums. Do you sign with your middle name or without? Michael always shortens his first name when signing, even on official documents. Is that allowed on a naturalization certificate? The statements on the internet were very contradictory. Fortunately, we received information about it at the swearing-in ceremony: You sign exactly as on our California driver's license, because the signature on the driver's license can be used for comparison. In my case it was easy anyway, I always write everything out. By the way, you can also sign the certificate later at home in peace.

The actual ceremony was then very short and painless. Everyone had to stand up and raise their right hand and then we all spoke the Oath of Allegiance together, mind you with masks. The Oath of Allegiance incidentally has some funny parts, such as that one has to renounce their king or queen. Nobles with corresponding titles incidentally have to swear that they give up these as American citizens. After the Oath of Allegiance, we were also quickly led out of the room. Michael was already waiting for me outside. We quickly took a photo and then I drove to work.

US passport From the Post Office.

The Evans Avenue Post Office is pretty on top of things when it comes to passport applications. So we made an appointment there. I had gone to the post office's online portal right after our naturalization in early February to make an appointment, but I could only get one at the beginning of March for both of us. Somehow it's always like this with us that there are suddenly delays when we apply for something. Even our green card had gone very slowly at the time, and the retention application and American citizenship had dragged on forever. And even with the passport application submitted in March 2022, it was said that it could take up to 16 weeks for the applicant to get the passport in their hands, but up to 12 weeks if they paid an additional fee to speed up the process. Gulp, that made our hearts sink a bit, because when we were naturalized, our green card had been taken away and we had to send in the ORIGINAL naturalization certificate for the passport application. Until we would receive the new passport, we were basically left high and dry and couldn't leave the country (that is to say, you could leave the country but not come back in).

When applying for a passport for the first time, the applicant must appear in person. A passport renewal can later be done by mail without showing up in person. Starting in 2023, the passport can also be renewed online, but no new passports are issued this way. To apply for a passport, the form DS-11 must be filled out. The form needs the usual things like name, date of birth, address, social security number, place of birth, name and date of birth of your parents, marital status, profession, height, eye and hair color. There is a field on the form where travel plans with dates can be given to speed up the process. Then it must be proven that one is an American citizen. This can be done through a birth certificate, an already existing American passport or, as in our case, through the naturalization certificate. In addition, we still needed another document to identify ourselves. Typically, this is the driver's license, which we showed to the post office clerk. The application also had to be accompanied by a copy of the driver's license. Of course, a photo is also needed. We first tried to take the passport photo ourselves, but eventually gave up in frustration because there are so many regulations to follow. We then went to a store on Clement Street, the second Chinatown of San Francisco. The friendly owner put us in front of a white canvas in the middle of the small store, while other customers bought lottery tickets, shot the photos with his SLR, developed them on the spot and in less than 10 minutes we had our photos in hand.

During our appointment at the post office, we handed in all the documents properly and the lady at the counter went through them all and praised me for filling out everything so nicely, and we had all that was required with us. We also had to swear and sign the form in her presence, and then she punched a staple through our naturalization documents and attached them to the application. My heart almost stopped, stapling through an original document! Most of the time was then taken up by paying the fees. The post office charges $35 per person initially. Then $130 per passport goes to the agency that issues the passport. That's the "State Department" in the US. Then we each paid the express fee of $60 so it would go faster. Then there's the postage if the applications and passports are to be sent back and forth faster, $18.32 per person. By the way, we had to pay the State Department in an old-fashioned way with checks, which were also attached to our applications.

We had specified our travel plans and paid the extra fees, and amazingly this seemed to have expedicted the process. Within three weeks we had our new passports in the mailbox. First my passport came in the regular mail and then Michael's. The naturalization certificate is sent back separately to minimize the possibility that two important documents are lost at the same time. Both come with regular mail, not registered mail. It took another ten days for the certificates to return, and we were somewhat nervous in the meantime. But in the end it all worked out. The American passport then has to be signed. It seems to happen quite often that this is forgotten. Every time we fly to Germany, the flight attendants say that US citizens have to present their signed passports to the German immigration officer. If the signature is missing, they're not allowed to enter Germany, as they're not allowed to sign right there in front of the officer.

Now we come back to the interesting question, which passport to show when one has two of them? It depends what the airline or the immigration officer of the respective country wants to see. First, it is relatively logical that you mustoshow the passport of the country you want to enter. So when we enter Germany, we show our German passport. When entering the USA, we show the American passport. Since you also have to pass through border control when leaving Germany, as a German citizen, one has to present the German passport. However, when checking in for a flight bound to the United STates from Germany, the airline agent wants to check your papers for entering the USA, so one shows the US passport there. In August we traveled to the U.S. for the first time with our new American passports and everything went great.

Greetings from San Francisco:

Angelika and Michael