American Born Abroad Certificate

sgndep Active member

37POSTS

6 years ago

Hello Expats,

Does anybody have exprience with CRBA or American Born Abroad Certificate here. My friend lost her orginal. She now has to go thru the State Department. It says on many sites that you can only pay with an International money order.

If anybody has any experience, drop a comment please.

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Guest2023 Guest

0POSTS

6 years ago

jefJones wrote:
What would you like to know?

I think he wants to know how to pay for it.

jefJones Banned

90POSTS

6 years ago

ATM Card, Credit Card, Cash..... The HCMC US Embassy is basically a 1 stop shop for most of their Citizen Services.

Everything is listed here: https://vn.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-se … pointment/

sgndep Active member

37POSTS

6 years ago

Hello Jef,

Not really. Thats only for the orginal Born Abroad Cert. If its a copy then you have to go
thru the State Department. The real issue is paying the state department as they only accept International Money Orders. It seems we are short of options to pay them.

Any free advice would be highly appreciated.

Steve

jefJones Banned

90POSTS

6 years ago

sgndep wrote:
Hello Jef,

Not really. Thats only for the orginal Born Abroad Cert. If its a copy then you have to go
thru the State Department. The real issue is paying the state department as they only accept International Money Orders. It seems we are short of options to pay them.

Any free advice would be highly appreciated.

Steve

I am at a complete loss as to what you mean by "original cert" ....

1) The Birth Certificate is issued by Vietnam. THAT is what you take to the embassy along with your application form.

After a few weeks, you can return and apply for the child passport. Technically you CAN apply for the passport at the same time as reporting the birth, my suggestion is to wait and do things step by step ( one step my depend on the other, and time frame may not match forcing you to go to the embassy more times than just by letting them take their time )

As for payment .... you pay at the embassy ( window to the far left when facing the wall with all of the staff ). Who told you you have to mail in a money order?

Are you not IN Vietnam ? ... and another odd question since you claim "payment" is an issue .... Have you ever been charged with Criminal Fraud? or have you ever disputed a digital payment to any US Embassy? Short of those two points, I have never heard of a credit card, or atm card not being accepted at the embassy.

How the hell do you think the rest of us do it?

sgndep Active member

37POSTS

6 years ago

Hi Jeff,

Thank you for the info. All info is more than welcome.

The Anerican Born Abroad Certicate is a document issued to US Citzens born abroad.
Its really a birth certificate. You can only apply one time at Embassy/consulate. My friend lost hers. That's the issue here. Her son had an American Father who passed away some years ago. He has also an American Passport.

She is applying for Social Security and must have an orginal copy (no foto copies) of the American Born Abroad Certicate. This can only issed ny the State Department.

Steve

jefJones Banned

90POSTS

6 years ago

ok, THAT makes more sense! I was under the impression YOU were registering YOUR childs birth. In which case, there is NOTHING the Embassy can do ....

Her Issues is directly with the Social Security Administration. Considering he is now deceased, and she somehow does not have his paperwork ( sounds fishy to me )... She will have to fight tooth and nail to get anything from them ( if she is in fact even entitled to anything ).

As for sending money via Money Order ... Western Union provides money order services.

sgndep Active member

37POSTS

6 years ago

Jef,

Western Union is not accepted at State Department.

Are you living here? It doesn't seem you are. What is fishy ??

Google replacing American Born Abroad Certificate.

Steve

jefJones Banned

90POSTS

6 years ago

#10

i've been living here for 3 years ....

State Department does not accept "western Union" transfers, it DOES however accept "International money orders" that are offered THROUGH Western Union. TransferWise is also an alternative option ( that i know nothing about ).

Why would "Google" be needed when DoS gives CLEAR instructions in a step by step checklist of the process? Link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel … -CRBA.html

Western Union Money Orders: Link: https://www.westernunion.com/blog/fill-money-order/ ( Step by step Instructions!!! ) Western Union has locations all over Vietnam ... do you need help finding a location too?

maps.google.com and type in "Western+Union+Near+Me".

What exactly is the problem your "friend" is having aside from the fact that she is relying on you to help fix her bad choices and irresponsibility in life?

Did Her house burn down? How in hell does a parent LOSE their childs birth certificate?

Accordion to the SSA website, ACCEPTABLE forms of identification in lieu of missing documentation ( like the birth certificate ) are:

School ID Card .... School Transcripts ... blah blah ...
https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm ( click the "Foreign Born US Citizen Tab ).

This sure as hell does not seem to be a complicated process, just time consuming.

sgndep Active member

37POSTS

6 years ago

#11

Jef,

I'm sure you never used Western Union here, many restrictions.
You just might be out of your league here on what's really needed.

Thanks

jefJones Banned

90POSTS

6 years ago

#12

i guess this screenshot of a stack of WU receipts of Western Union with Vietnamese titles WITH my screen-name on them are a bunch of forgeries ?

You are right ... nobody here knows anything .... but the scammy girl you are trying to diddle must be the expert!

THIGV ViP

4427POSTS

6 years ago

#13

Despite his rather caustic tone

, jefjones link to the US State Dept. is a good one. Actually the instructions say that you can pay for a replacement with a "check or money order" However, I have never seen a Vietnamese national who had a checking account as one would in a western bank. I was going to suggest that you just write the $50 check and square it up later, until I saw that you are Irish so I expect that any home country bank you have is in Euros. One other thing that I noticed is that the fee includes the shipping of the certificate by "USPS First Class Mail." They seem to be anticipating shipping to a US address and say nothing about shipping overseas. Also, if they do ship overseas without an added fee by USPS, that means once it lands in Vietnam it goes into VNPT and we know that can be a bottomless pit. I once paid for tracking with USPS to VN and the tracking stopped as soon as the package was on the plane. Does the child have any relatives with a US mailing address that you could use? If so you could ship to them then they could ship to VN with a reliable courier like FEDEX or UPS.

Guest2023 Guest

0POSTS

6 years ago

#14

jefJones wrote:
https://i.ibb.co/Wkp70Pf/WU.jpg
i guess this screenshot of a stack of WU receipts of Western Union with Vietnamese titles WITH my screen-name on them are a bunch of forgeries ?

You are right ... nobody here knows anything .... but the scammy girl you are trying to diddle must be the expert!

Your picture proves nothing.

1 member reacted to this post

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7620POSTS

6 years ago

#15

jefJones wrote:
i've been living here for 3 years ....

State Department does not accept "western Union" transfers, it DOES however accept "International money orders" that are offered THROUGH Western Union. TransferWise is also an alternative option ( that i know nothing about ).

Why would "Google" be needed when DoS gives CLEAR instructions in a step by step checklist of the process? Link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel … -CRBA.html

Western Union Money Orders: Link: https://www.westernunion.com/blog/fill-money-order/ ( Step by step Instructions!!! ) Western Union has locations all over Vietnam ... do you need help finding a location too?

maps.google.com and type in "Western+Union+Near+Me".

What exactly is the problem your "friend" is having aside from the fact that she is relying on you to help fix her bad choices and irresponsibility in life?

Did Her house burn down? How in hell does a parent LOSE their childs birth certificate?

Accordion to the SSA website, ACCEPTABLE forms of identification in lieu of missing documentation ( like the birth certificate ) are:

School ID Card .... School Transcripts ... blah blah ...
https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm ( click the "Foreign Born US Citizen Tab ).

This sure as hell does not seem to be a complicated process, just time consuming.

Did I tell you how happy I am to see you posting regularly in the forum?

I can no longer be accused of being the most antagonistic person here...

😁😁😁

1 member reacted to this post

Guest2023 Guest

0POSTS

6 years ago

#16

OceanBeach92107 wrote:
jefJones wrote:
i've been living here for 3 years ....

State Department does not accept "western Union" transfers, it DOES however accept "International money orders" that are offered THROUGH Western Union. TransferWise is also an alternative option ( that i know nothing about ).

Why would "Google" be needed when DoS gives CLEAR instructions in a step by step checklist of the process? Link: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel … -CRBA.html

Western Union Money Orders: Link: https://www.westernunion.com/blog/fill-money-order/ ( Step by step Instructions!!! ) Western Union has locations all over Vietnam ... do you need help finding a location too?

maps.google.com and type in "Western+Union+Near+Me".

What exactly is the problem your "friend" is having aside from the fact that she is relying on you to help fix her bad choices and irresponsibility in life?

Did Her house burn down? How in hell does a parent LOSE their childs birth certificate?

Accordion to the SSA website, ACCEPTABLE forms of identification in lieu of missing documentation ( like the birth certificate ) are:

School ID Card .... School Transcripts ... blah blah ...
https://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/ss5doc.htm ( click the "Foreign Born US Citizen Tab ).

This sure as hell does not seem to be a complicated process, just time consuming.

Did I tell you how happy I am to see you posting regularly in the forum?

I can no longer be accused of being the most antagonistic person here...

😁😁😁

Not sure Jef is still here. He posted 90 posts in three days and nothing over the last hour.

2 members reacted to this post

sgndep Active member

37POSTS

6 years ago

#17

Thank you for your understanding.

We have sent the documents to a friend in California. He will issue the check to
state department and will also call them about the postage costs for it to be send to
Vietnam. Yeah, they never mentioned International costs on postage on the website.

There are family in the US, however, they will not help.

Jef should open a consultant buro here.

Steve

1 member reacted to this post

THIGV ViP

4427POSTS

6 years ago

#18

sgndep wrote:
Thank you for your understanding.

We have sent the documents to a friend in California. He will issue the check to
state department and will also call them about the postage costs for it to be send to
Vietnam. Yeah, they never mentioned International costs on postage on the website.

There are family in the US, however, they will not help.

Jef should open a consultant buro here.

Steve

I see that you sort of followed my advice before I gave it. One thing you might run afoul of is if the US friend is unrelated, he may need a power of attorney. I think that is mentioned on the webpage.

Ciambella ViP

3482POSTS

6 years ago

#19

colinoscapee wrote:
Not sure Jef is still here. He posted 90 posts in three days and nothing over the last hour.

He’s banned.

THIGV ViP

4427POSTS

6 years ago

#20

Ciambella wrote:
He’s banned.

I was never sure if he was truly knowledgeable about Vietnam or if he was just good at making it seem that he was. Some days he gave what seemed to be good advice and other times he was so hostile that you could barely finish reading his posts.

1 member reacted to this post

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7620POSTS

6 years ago

#21

THIGV wrote:
Ciambella wrote:
He’s banned.

I was never sure if he was truly knowledgeable about Vietnam or if he was just good at making it seem that he was. Some days he gave what seemed to be good advice and other times he was so hostile that you could barely finish reading his posts.

Looking back on his many posts, he seemed to get especially agitated once he was facing the prospect of a proctoscopy.

A trigger?

Ciambella ViP

3482POSTS

6 years ago

#22

OceanBeach92107 wrote:
A trigger?

Ewgh!

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7620POSTS

6 years ago

#23

Ciambella wrote:
OceanBeach92107 wrote:
A trigger?

Ewgh!

Is that an ethnic slur???

Watch it!

Ciambella ViP

3482POSTS

6 years ago

#24

OceanBeach92107 wrote:
Is that an ethnic slur???

Watch it!

It's a vocal reaction when reading about the PITA that you mentioned.

Why is it boys and men are always ready to talk about indelicate matter, and very gleeful to boost?

1 member reacted to this post

THIGV ViP

4427POSTS

6 years ago

#25

I notice that posts on three different threads including this one by a JamesDean19844 have disappeared into the vapor. Could it be that our friend Mr Jones has been apprehended very swiftly this time?

Guest2023 Guest

0POSTS

6 years ago

#26

THIGV wrote:
I notice that posts on three different threads including this one by a JamesDean19844 have disappeared into the vapor. Could it be that our friend Mr Jones has been apprehended very swiftly this time?

He will be back, serial pests don't die that easily.

You do have to wonder about his mental state. 🤪

2 members reacted to this post

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7620POSTS

6 years ago

#27

THIGV wrote:
I notice that posts on three different threads including this one by a JamesDean19844 have disappeared into the vapor. Could it be that our friend Mr Jones has been apprehended very swiftly this time?

Hope springs eternal...

1 member reacted to this post

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7620POSTS

6 years ago

#28

colinoscapee wrote:
THIGV wrote:
I notice that posts on three different threads including this one by a JamesDean19844 have disappeared into the vapor. Could it be that our friend Mr Jones has been apprehended very swiftly this time?

He will be back, serial pests don't die that easily.

You do have to wonder about his mental state. 🤪

Are there any OTB places in VT?

Guest2023 Guest

0POSTS

6 years ago

#29

OceanBeach92107 wrote:
colinoscapee wrote:
THIGV wrote:
I notice that posts on three different threads including this one by a JamesDean19844 have disappeared into the vapor. Could it be that our friend Mr Jones has been apprehended very swiftly this time?

He will be back, serial pests don't die that easily.

You do have to wonder about his mental state. 🤪

Are there any OTB places in VT?

There is a large psychiatric hospital in Bien Hoa.

1 member reacted to this post

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7620POSTS

6 years ago

#30

colinoscapee wrote:
OceanBeach92107 wrote:
colinoscapee wrote:

He will be back, serial pests don't die that easily.

You do have to wonder about his mental state. 🤪

Are there any OTB places in VT?

There is a large psychiatric hospital in Bien Hoa.

Shocking!!!