Can you take an old US passport birth cirtifacate(custody papers) without a valid passport & go international?

Question

Hey my name is kea and im going to denmark on july 28th. I have a Swedish passport but my U.S. passport has expired. I was told by the U.S. embassy in copenhagen that I could take my birth cirtificate, old U.S. passport, and for me i'd also need my custody papers due to the fact that im 14 and my mother has sole custody. But the embassy said that they werent really sure. I really need to know because i am going to be staying in sweden for a year(i am a citizen)and if i dont get the info now than im skrewed because than i would need to order one online. PLEASE HELP!! first one who answers gets best answer!

Answer 1

John 666 is incorrect - the US does allow dual citizenship, it just does not encourage it.

Answer 2

It seem like if your Swedish passport was valid, you should be able to travel.  You might can go ahead and start the process of getting your US passport renewed.  It might be quicker since your just renewing.  Good Luck.  If your a citizen of Sweden then that should be the only valid passport you need.  Your just going home right?  If US citizen then, you will most likely need it.

Answer 3

Of course you can travel to Denmark on your Swedish passport, and you can rurn to the US with it too, because a Swedish citizen is permitted visa free entry to the US. But if you are a US citizen you should not really still have Swedish citizenship as the US does not allow dual citizenship.

I think what the US Embassy in Copenhagen meas is that if you take those documents with you, they willreneew your US passport for you. That is one of the jobs of an Embassy, to renew passports for its citizens.

You do not say where your mother is, so I am assuming you live with her. As you are only 14, I imagine that your passport application would have to be signed by her. I suggest you download the application form, unlessyou know where to get  the form locally, complete it as much as you can, get the correct photos, get your mother to sign it and take it with you. That way you can easily renew it at the Embassy in Copenhagen any time during he year you are there, in plenty of time for your return. So no need to panic.You have plenty of time to get the form and prepare it before you go. You can leave the date off it until you want to process the renewal. You may have to visit the Embassy in person, but the website does say a passport can be renewed by post if the old one is a full ten year type..

The Copenhagen Embassy website says it takes two weeks to get a new passport because they are processed in the USA

You mentioned the special requirement for renewal of passports for children under 16. Below I am sending you the link with the Copenhagen Embassy with the details of that. Read it carefully and you will soon see what is best for you.The reason why they told you to bring your custody document is not just to prove she is your sole custodian, but because she will not be there to get your passport. You willunderstand what I mean after you have read the embassy instructions regarding children under 16.

Best of luck and have a nice year in Denmark.

Answer 4

Hello Kea. Sometimes you just need to hear from someone that has a very similar situation to get the most informative answer.

Don't sweat it, everything will go smoothly for you no matter which way you choose to do this. Your dual-citizenship is completely legitimate because you are a minor. In both the US and in Sweden this is completely legal. And in fact, about 6 or 7 years ago a new law was passed in Sweden allowing dual-citizenship for adults as well. The reason for that is because of the growing number of immigrants, especially refugees coming to Sweden seeking shelter. Sweden saw there was a major problem before when they didn't allow dual-citizenship for adults, because many refugees would become Swedish citizens but had intentions of going back to their homeland once it became safe enough again to return. However, some refugees would get harmed trying to go back to their homeland with Swedish citizenship, or couldn't re-establish themselves in their homeland. Sweden saw that they needed to change the law in order to solve this problem. Now immigrants don't need to relinguish their original citizenship when becoming Swedish, they just hide their Swedish citizenship when going back home, and there's no harm done to their families.

I had been in Sweden for about 5 years at the time they changed the law, and I was married to a Swede, so I definitely applied for Swedish citizenship. They did warn me though that the US does not recognize dual-citizenship, and it was up to me to relinguish US citizenship due to US law. However, they also told me that there is no way for the US to get info on my status in Sweden, as it is none of their business. It would be up to me to give the US that info, which I don't plan on doing anyway! I intend to keep American and Swedish citizenship until I die, because you never know, the US may also change their laws someday, and I would regret it if I relinguished one of them. Besides, all 3 of my kids have dual-citizenship and who knows where they'll end up living when grown.

Ok, so my point is that you won't have any problems renewing your US passport. There are a couple of options for you though...

(1) You may find it easiest to just renew your US passport in the US. When you send in an expired passport within the US, you don't need any extra documents. Just the application form and your old passport. They say allow a month to receive the new one, but I got mine in a week. So you may even get it back before you're off to Denmark. If not, then you may want to have your mother send it to you in Sweden by registered mail, since you really won't be in a hurry or have a big need to have it, but it's good to have eventually for whatever reason.

(2) I think it is more hassel to go to the US embassy to renew your passport, because then you have to have all of these rediculous extra documents proving who you are, as if the old passport wasn't enough. Sometimes the embassy will give you trouble just depending on who you are dealing with up there. There's no guarantee that you will have an easy time, but I'm sure you'd still get your passport renewed quickly, and safely into your hands directly from the embassy. You may want to take this option if you don't like the idea of your mother sending it to you in Sweden if it were to not be in your hands before you depart to Denmark.

I hope this helps.