I’m a Canadian having a hard time acquiring U.S. citizenship from my dad. If there’s any consular officers out there, feel free to DM me, I’d love to chat about this privately. More about me… I work in professional sports (more than happy to discuss that in greater detail privately).

Long story short, he was born there and lived there until he was 9, so he doesn’t directly satisfy the 2 years of physical presence after age 14 requirement. However, we live in a border town, and his family still resides 5 miles from us. With the help of affidavits, newspaper articles, year books, and photos, I’m claiming he was present weekly for family dinners before I was born, and it’s absolutely true! The most recent affidavit I added was from his cousin that’s a retired high ranking state police officer, so I thought for sure his status would help prove the legitimacy of what we are claiming (more on that in a sec). He grew up in an Italian religious family, so church and lunch/dinner every week was a requirement! (You did not want to mess with Nonno if you weren’t there. You’d better have been in a hospital bed). Also, this was the 80’s and 90’s. Passports weren’t even needed to travel. They were crossing back and forth multiple times per day in some cases (there’s no way to prove that because prior to 9/11, they were not tracking people’s travel across the bridge).

Anyways, I’ve been denied 3 times already, and my experience with each respective officer has been drastically different:

The 1st officer was very professional and blunt, but never rude. She believed our story, but said I needed a more robust application. She explained that I just needed some more supporting affidavits, and notarization of those affidavits. She denied us that day on the spot.

The 2nd officer was a kind gentleman that was very understanding of our situation, and you could tell that he really wanted to approve me. He said he needed a little bit more from me, although what I added to my application was “very helpful” and “strengthened my case substantially.” He did not make a decision that day, but rather told me he wanted more time to review it all and get back to me. A few weeks later the consulate contacted me and asked for a written statement from my dad outlining how many hours he spent in the U.S. for each day we were claiming he was there. I was so excited! I was like wow, it’s gonna happen this time. They just wanted this one extra document. Why else would the contact me after the fact and ask for it? Well, I sent it in, then got a mailed noticed a week later saying I was denied again. I was very surprised considering how they asked for bit more info, and I gave them exactly what they requested.

The 3rd officer was an absolutely miserable woman (sorry, she really was). She didn’t even acknowledge or look at my latest evidence that I presented the 3rd time around, which included the affidavit from my dad’s cousin that was a high ranking state police officer. She did not even look at it. In fact, she was the first officer of the three that questioned whether my dad even lived there until age 9. I was like, excuse me? That was never in question. You’re the first person that’s asked for that. We have proof he was born there and immigrated to Canada when he was 9 as per his immigration papers. She said, “how do I know he wasn’t in China for those 9 years.” I get her point, but it’s like, really? Obviously that wasn’t the case. How could the person before her be so reasonable and understanding, and she was the complete opposite?

So, I know with the 3 denials my case is a difficult one, but I honestly feel like I should keep trying based on how different my experience has been with each of these 3 officers. Perhaps I will just get lucky and get someone that will approve this? Clearly each officer has a different opinion. The only issue is they’re charging me $150 every time I walk into that consulate, so I don’t want to keep wasting my time or money. It’s a grey area. Again, if there’s any kind consular officers out there reading this sub that would like to discuss on their free time, I’d love to set up a zoom call or something. It’s very frustrating seeing the situation at the southern border right now, and I, clearly a normal dude from a good family, that has an American father, am being fought hard on a case that’s very subjective. If I were in their shoes, I would want to approve cases like this. These are the people that I would want coming into my country - good, hard working people that clearly want to live, work, reside in the U.S., and pay a lot of taxes. Okay, rant over!