An assortment of questions
Hello -
searching for answers / insights to the following:
1: Are the consulates in the US all linked to each other somehow? After considering a possible jaunt to Chicago for a "family appointment", I just read this on the Atlanta page in red:
>"If you book an appointment outside of the Atlanta Consulate General's jurisdiction, the Consulate General reserves the right to reject your application during the appointment if no emergency is evident. A long waiting time for an appointment does not constitute an emergency."
This statement is not on the Chicago site. While I agree with this statement, the issue isn't waiting time...it's the consulates' different levels of understanding of derivative citizenship (in my case). Many others here have successfully chosen to do this from outside of Chicago's jurisdiction. When it states that they (Atlanta?) reserve the right to reject your application, but you're hypothetically making the appointment outside of the jurisdiction, this would seem like they are aware of anyone making an appointment outside of their jurisdiction. Is this a permanent rejection or just a rejection from the consulate outside the jurisdiction? or both?
2: I wrote to the Atlanta consulate asking about which appointment I should book (visa? temporary passport(wishful)? consular matters?) to certify all original supporting documentation for Feststellung when my son has to register his residence per the advice I got here the other day. (His Feststellung application has not yet been submitted as we are waiting on others in my family to send together. My mom and I already have the AZ#.) I also included this documentation as a compressed file along with my son's FSJ contract in case someone there could grant him direct to passport. I wrote:
>It has been a few months and so I would like to check in as we have had some developments that will require an appointment. Please advise on which type of appointment I should schedule. My son has accepted a volunteer position through FSJ and I will attach that certificate of acceptance below. He will be volunteering there from 01.09.2026 for one year. He is 18 and is a citizen by descent and we will need to submit his Feststellung application to his local Ausländerbehörde once there. As such, I will need to make an appointment to have copies of all of our original supporting documents certified. That said, we are also waiting to hear about a possible ‘direct to passport’ decision. He and I will be traveling together in the beginning of August.
the reply:
>Dear Madam,
>your son will be able to start his FSJ as a US-citizen without any problems. He should contact the foreigner's office once he arrives in Germany. If there is a decision regarding the citizenship application which can be used for his case, the Consulate will be able to start a passport application for him right away. Before starting a passport application he should check whether a name declaration is needed in his or in your case.
I responded to the effect of : yes, exactly....and he will not be taking all of the original documents overseas with him so we would like to have them all stamped in Atlanta before his departure date. So, which appointment? Then they bring up
3: ...the ever elusive name declaration. I have read so many posts here about different people's questions on the matter and I remain confused. My takeaway is to contact my consulate (Atlanta) to ask them specifically. I have done this and haven't gotten a straightforward answer. Can someone here advise? Some have said that the May 1 change only applies to births / marriages after this date while the Germany.info page says otherwise. Here are the 3 cases we have:
>My mother : born in Germany in wedlock to German parents. Changed her last name upon marriage in 1970 (this is actually recorded in her first issued US passport to note the name change / reason for getting a new passport). Does she need one?
Myself : born in wedlock to my mother (an as of yet unconfirmed dual German / US citizen). I did not change my name when I got married. Do I need one?
My children : born in wedlock to me and my husband. They have their father's last name. Do they need one?
See how poorly I understand German naming law by my likely incorrect interpretations :
>My mother : no idea. Her surname on her marriage cert. is her maiden name but her married name would not match what would be on record in Germany ?
Myself : I do not need one because my surname on birth certificate matches the name on my marriage certificate ?? I did not take my husband's surname.
My children (age18) : does not need one because "A declaration of name under German law is only required if a different name than the one previously used is to be chosen." His country of habitual residence is the US and his last name matches his birth certificate.
I don't know if I now need a name declaration appointment and a consular matters appointment and am frustrated at not getting clear answers.
Thanks for reading my mini chapter book.