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From: ccrse@ucdavis.UUCP (Steve Ehrhardt)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: INS problems
Message-ID: <254@ucdavis.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Mar-86 20:13:26 EST
Article-I.D.: ucdavis.254
Posted: Fri Mar 21 20:13:26 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Mar-86 00:12:05 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: University of California, Davis
Lines: 35

My wife has been having some rather frustrating problems with the INS of
late, and I'm hoping that perhaps some of you on the net may be able to
provide some advice on how to deal with it.

My wife was born in Canada, with her mother being Canadian but her father
American.  The rub is that he was living under an assumed name and claiming
to be a Canadian citizen at the time, so that all the legal documents, such
as her birth certificate, indicate that she is Canadian *only*.

Her mother contacted the INS to get this whole thing straightened out when
she was 10, but it wasn't till some 12 years later that they finally got
moving on it and requested that we go to the San Francisco INS office for
an interview.  (Her sister's records, submitted at the same time, seem to
have been lost forever.)

The interviewer indicated that he was convinced that she was a citizen,
and told us what sort of records we would have to produce to prove it.
He then transferred her file to the INS office in Sacramento, advising us
to contact them when we had the records together.  They, in turn, would
confirm everything and issue a "citizenship certificate", or something
to that effect, confirming her status as a US citizen.

We managed, with some difficulty, to gather the records suggested, and
contacted the local INS office (in writing) to request the interview.
Nothing happened.  We have since contacted them several times, both 
by phone and by mail, but everything sent or said to them seems to
disappear into a black hole once it arrives.  The most recent contact
indicated that they have no record of her case at all!

Does anyone have any ideal of a way to light a fire under the INS to
get this matter resolved?  They appear to be, on the whole, a rather
discourteous bunch at best, and downright incompetant at worst.  Any
advice, especially that based on experience, would be appreciated.
Please reply by mail, since I am not a regular reader of this newsgroup,
and thank you in advance for your help.