Saturday, August 4, 2012

passport & SSN

I have been soo sick of the process involved in adoption, that once we got back to the US, I could not bear the thought of anything further until absolutely necessary.

When we needed to make a trip to London, it was finally time to get a passport. Having experienced many hurdles in India for even the smallest thing, I was dreading it. However, I have to say that if you get an emergency application to file for a passport (you must have proof you are travelling within 14 days) and go to San Francisco, it can be a pleasant surprise. We had a 1 p.m. appointment in March so that we would have time to arrive all the way from Tahoe which is just more than 200 miles. As usual, I was prepared with anything and everything they might want. They were really nice and very helpful. Amazingly, we had the passport in our hand by around 4 p.m. Delighted.

Yesterday, another good day. I suddenly realized that in order to claim Sofi as a dependent on my tax returns, she had to have a SSN. There had seemed to be no need for one before that. Given that we live up in the mountains, and there are no federal agencies up here, it's a 35 minute drive down the mountain to Reno. I got lucky. I had all the papers I could think they might need, always trying to avoid delays and obstacles. The lady just a couple numbers before me, had had to wait 1 & 1/2 hours, but I was done in just half an hour. The friendly gentleman behind the counter likes accents. And was eager to make sure everything was just right and gave us the extra attention we needed. We are told it will be issued in just 5-7 business days.

People living in the US don't always realize just how lucky they are that the process works alot of the time. It doesn't even pretend to work in alot of other places.

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