Bureaucratic Issue, NYC Finds My Birth Certificate

Four times of the day, originally uploaded by ddbsweasel.

I asked NYC for my birth certificate because the copy I have was not accepted by the US Embassy in Sydney. My copy is a photographic copy, the same one used to acquire my permanent resident visa in Australia in ’78. The same used to acquire my US passport in ’74. It was a copy because in ’72 my mother had burned our house down, and my birth certificate was in the house.
I asked the US embassy in Sydney for a new passport. I am exploring the idea of returning to the US to live and work. This is because I feel my life may be threatened in Australia. My life may be threatened because of NSW Government incompetence which has seen
• The investigation into a year 8 boy’s death compromised.
• The bungled investigation into a possible paedophile public school teacher.
• The ongoing harassment of a public school Math teacher which led to their resignation after 16 years of service.
The issues have been brought to the media on a large number of occasions, but not yet reported.
The US Embassy pointed me to a site which would allow me to get a replacement birth certificate. I bought one. However, I only requested normal snail male delivery as that was cheaper, and the difference in wait times a matter of a few weeks. However, the day after I ordered the certificate, I was advised by an Australian federal agency (Centerlink) I required one. I felt that as I had ordered it by slow method, I would await the delivery rather than order a second. I felt I would have to wait no more than a month.
After a month, I began to explore the possibility of asking NYC where my certificate was. Problem was that I needed to register to ask a question, but to register I required a US postal address. So I waited.
After two months, I began to panic. Centerlink had asked me to prove I was an Australian Citizen as I had said I was. I had understood I was because I was born in NYC to Australian parents. All I needed to do, I thought, was to tell the Australian government who my parents were. The Australian government claimed it had never heard of my parents. I gave them the birth dates and places. Government couldn’t find them. I told them of the work history of my parents. No record could be found, although, I was told, they thought they might know who my father was, there was no evidence he was my father. I needed my birth certificate.
After three months, Australian laws changed, and it was no longer important that I get my birth certificate, but I required my parents ones as well. I cannot get my parents ones because we are estranged .. they really don’t like me. However, I can become a citizen of Australia by showing my birth certificate, passport and passing a citizenship test.
I passed the test, scoring 100%. I got a sister’s US address to register with NYC, only to find I didn’t actually require it. I asked NYC where my birth certificate was, and was told it had been posted out to the given address three months before. I was given a US telephone number to call to resolve any issue. I dialled it, but at 7:30 am in Sydney, it was 5:30 pm in NYC, and they only have office hours for phone answering .. whatever those hours might be.
As I go to the gymn every morning at 5:30 am, and I woke up at 4:30 am to do that, I was going to have to wake up earlier to contact NYC. I finally did that. I woke at 4 am. I was on hold for 25 minutes, before my call was answered. Turned out that the internet service which took down my mailing address for the delivery, which was the same as for billing, billed me correctly, but mailed it to Sydney Canada instead. Canada pointed out that there was no Sydney there, and so my birth certificate has remained waiting in NYC for my collection for three months. NYC assure me it was my fault for not providing the correct address.
Meanwhile, the Australian government have located some flights I was on when I first came to Australia to live, in ’78. I pointed out my mother was on that flight too. The clerk couldn’t work out why I thought that was important.