Getting A Passport

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7534306.stm

My niece Ellen is a legal permanent resident of Kosovo and a citizen of the United States of America.  She is married to a citizen of Kosovo.   When she gave birth to her son in 2010, her child had dual citizenship, both of Kosovo and the United States by virtue of his parents’ birth.  Amazingly, they had no problems obtaining his Kosovo passport, but getting his United States passport proved to be a nightmare that took several months for them to resolve and prevented them from traveling to the United States for a family wedding.

 

In 2010, Kosovo was still sharing the services of consulate officials with the country of Montenegro.  Many countries have been slow to embrace and accept Kosovo’s declaration of independence and thus have been slow in providing consular support which would be indicative of their acknowledgement of Kosovo’s independence.  For whatever reason is has become increasingly difficult for citizens of Kosovo to leave Kosovo for other places, especially the United States.  Ultimately, my sister had to contact Senator Brown for guidance in helping my niece obtain a passport for the baby.  When she went to the consulate to finally pickup his passport, she was told by the clerk that this had “congressional intervention.”

 

I found this article on the BBC quite interesting.  It made the process seem so easy.  This is proof that the news agencies tell only the details that they want known.  They fail to let anyone know of potential wrinkles such as those encountered by my sister and her family.