KIRSTY72499

I wonder if you guys can help me. I am due to have our first kid in October and we want to go home to the UK at Xmas. How do we get an American birth certificate quickly and should be get the US or UK passport first?

Any tips from folks who have had their kids in the US would be welcome. I'm based in Texas if that helps.

Thanks

Harry

Hi Kirsty,
My wife and I had our first kid this April. I'm the British half, and she's from here. We are in TX also. I don't think you have anything to worry about getting your babies b.c. before christmas. At the hospital they gave us a form to mail off to the county clerks office to get his b.c. We sent it in about a week after he was born, and we recieved it less than two weeks after that. This may vary from county to county, but for us it cost $11 per copy of his b.c. On a similar subject, our hospital automatically sends off for his SSN...we recieved that about 10 days after he was born.
Personally, I'd get his US passport first. You're going to England to visit, but returning here to live, so it's best if he has a U.S. passport for that.
Most of all, best of luck with the birth!! You must be very excited now that you're only a few months away!

Regards,

-Harry

KIRSTY72499

Cheers Harry,

Here in Harris county (Houston) they say it can take 8 weeks or so for the bc to arrive - too long for us. Does it need to have a SSN to get a US passport, or just the bc?

Yorkieabroad

We had our boy in harris county (Katy - where are you? ) last January. The hospital sent off all the paperwork etc, and we had his SSN within a couple of weeks. I contacted the birth cert dept and they said that I couldn't apply for a bc until he was 2 months old! It wasn't a problem for us, as we weren't planning on travelling, so I didn't push it, but I assume there is some sort of fast-track for special circumstances....?

I went down just after 2 months, spent the whole morning at the bc dept (can't remember the address - somewhere near the Astrodome I seem to remember), and was eventually issued with certificates (worth getting a couple) with the wrong details - name spelt wrong, my place of birth as Texas instead of Yorkshire etc etc. Was told it was my fault, and that the only way to get it amended was to send a notarised request to Austin(?). I was sure it was a hospital mistake, so pressured their admin dept until they admitted it and got it amended. I then went back to go thru the whole procedure again(including a further payment - bloody cheek!). Got the right ones, and took my boy to the passport office (just off I-10 at Wilcrest I think). Bit of a wait, but they took all the application paperwork, did the photo's there and then, and the passport was with us within a fortnight.

Still haven't got the British side done - looked at it briefly, saw the cost and put it in the 'must get round to it file'... Agree with the previous poster that it will be a lot easier for travel to the UK and back to have the US passport sorted first..

KIRSTY72499

Hey there,

We live in West University, so getting to the Astrodome not a problem. Cheers for the info. I'll make sure to check with the hospital at least that they've got the right details.

Kirsty

doctor scrumpy

Do you mean you were not one of these Yorkshiremen abroad who rushed the mother back to Leeds/Bradford airport on the off chance a son could be eligible to play for the county at cricket then Yorkie ? Heard tales of a few who did that...some then had daughters lol

Yorkieabroad

Fraid not - the wife wouldn't get on the plane cos she wants him to be in with a shot at Dubya's job ....

doctor scrumpy

As dubya proves, any fool can get that job, in comparison the real kudos is opening the batting for the white rose !

Patrick

Even now as a foetus I bet s/he could do a better job than Dubya, already it will have twice the braincells

simon bland

An American Citizen, must use an American Passport, when entering the US, so you must get the American passport. As far as the UK one goes, when we applied for my daughters, 1995, you had to send photo id to the embassy in washington, the only photo id, we could think of a 2 week only baby having was the American passport, so we got that one first and then applied for the UK one. One strange thing, the UK passport was sent by fedex and had to be signed for, the US passport was send regular mail, in a regulat letter size envelope, it sat in the mail box all day, on a wet rainy day, and was dripping wet by the time we got home and opened the mail