• Lumisal@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    From my understanding what you said and texting my friends, sounds like a paperwork issue. They never had trouble, but yeah, they lived in the Philippines. The issue in your case is that she doesn’t live in the Philippines, so yes, she has to go there for the process because that’s the only country she’s a citizen of currently, although it would probably be possible to also do through a Phillipine embassy.

    So they do accept Phillipine paperwork, but only official documents from the country itself.

    Did you not have any official paperwork from there first notorized by the US? That’s what’s usually done in cases like yours, like my Highschool’s friend’s grandmother had to do when she got her US citizenship as well (so it’s something you might want to look into anyway just in case).

    That’s probably your confusion on them “refusing” to accept the paperwork (although of course it also sounds like you had to deal with a racist cunt).

    That said, it’s weird for you to judge entire countries as super racist when you live in Alabama based off a few racists. I mean, even my black friends from when I lived in Texas didn’t like stopping in Alabama. Just, something to consider for the future. I know racism can be extremely infuriating having experienced it both myself and seeing it done to my family, but you always have to remember that the asshole doesn’t make the nation. Otherwise you end up also becoming what you hate.

    • vermyndax@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      We had original marriage certificates from Philippines with the PSA seal. We also had original birth certificates from PSA for my daughter. The USA accepted them without question for our visa and green card processing.

      These are the documents that the consular officer held up to my face and said “these are garbage.”

      We were not aware of the Apostille certification process and the USA, despite being a member of the convention, did not require this extra certification for our documents.

      Greece would only accept them after they have been presented in person at their Manila consulate with the Apostille certification.

      I did not feel it was a racism issue until the consular officers’ behavior made it feel evident there was more to it than a paperwork snafu.

      I agree that I portrayed Finland and Germany as racist in an unfair fashion, that was unintended. The racism was evident only at this Greek consulate.

      The information I received about Finland, Germany and Greece not accepting Philippines documentation was found here: https://dfa-oca.ph/quick-facts-on-apostille/

      Upon opening this page I see that now Austria is now also not accepting these documents.

      • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Yeah, I’m pretty certain that racist asshole used bureaucracy to be an asshole.

        But you should get them notarized in the USA when you can in the future just in case. Harder for smaller countries to not accept diverging when a country line the USA already legally okays it.

        • vermyndax@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          We decided not to stress, finish the citizenship later this year, and enjoy some time in Hawaii.

          • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Hawaii is nicer than Greece. My brother lives in Waikiki. If they exterminate the mosquitoes then it truly would be pretty close to a mythical tropical paradise.