Sarah and I handed in Eloïse’s Dutch passport application at the Dutch Consulate in San Mateo this morning. A huge pile of original papers, apostilles, passports, photographs and photocopies were handed over the counter, verified and finally accepted.
Because Sarah is not a Dutch citizen, she had to fill in a parental consent form, basically giving her permission for the passport application to go ahead.
After that, we paid our $66.50 ($41.50 of which is for the passport itself; $25 of which is for FedEx to send us the passport when it’s ready) and left the building, feeling immensely satisfied. This was a lot of hassle to prepare for and it’s nice to have it finally submitted and in processing.
Eloïse had to appear in person, but with Sarah’s folks now back on the east coast, the issue was moot, anyway.
Then, in the afternoon, the post came and I was delighted to discover that Eloïse’s social security card had already arrived. She’s not really old enough to sign it yet, but this is great news, as it means that Sarah and I can go and file Eloïse’s American passport application tomorrow.
At that point, I think we’ll have everything we need for her: birth certificate and social security number, plus both the Dutch and American passport applications in processing. Not bad, considering that she’s not yet three weeks old.