The purpose of this blog has always been to share our experiences while living in Sweden. And while few people reading this blog will ever give birth while living abroad, a few might, and this post is how birth certificates, citizenship, and passports work for US citizens when living in Sweden.
For those who have been following our blog since our arrival in Sweden, you probably remember how long it took us to get our personnummer (Swedish equivalent of a social security number) when we first arrived. Without a personnummer, we could not open a bank account or gain access to any of the societal benefits that accompany Swedish residency. Well, it was about a hour after Toby's birth when he had his personnummer. Yep! Right there in the delivery room, they told it to us and printed it off on his ankle bracelet. Unbelievable.
About a week before Toby was born, we printed out our boy's and girl's name on a piece of paper to give to the hospital officials for the birth certificate. After all, the Swedish language has three more letters than English, not to mention different pronunciations of the letters. We didn't want our much-debated and perfected names being messed up on his/her birth certificate, so we went to the hospital prepared. Well, turns out the hospital does not care what you name your child. In Sweden, you have up to 3 weeks to chose your baby's name, and when you do decide, you fill out the paperwork that arrives at your house about 5 days after giving birth and sent it in. About a week later, the official birth certificate arrives and that's that. Not many people nowadays in the US go more than a day or two without having a name for their child, let alone 3 weeks. But we do have friends who waited at least 2 weeks for both of their children to officially be named in the Swedish system. There is also a long-form birth certificate in Sweden that lists both parents' addresses, personnummers, and citizenship. The long-form certificate is what is needed for US purposes.
In order to bring Toby back to the US to meet his family and friends, we needed to get him a passport. Ah yes, the lovely citizenship/passport/social security paperwork. First, you do a lot of reading online to make sure you have the correct forms that must be completed. Then you print off all the forms and start filling them out. Then you gather all the additional documentation (parent birth certificates, proof of citizenship, birth certificates, marriage certificates, passports, blood and saliva samples - just kidding). And while you're doing all of that, make sure you've signed up well in advance for an appointment at the US Embassy. We made our appointment at the end of January and the first available appointment was in the beginning of March. We were a bit concerned about getting Toby's passport in time for our mid-April flight home to the US, but it all worked out.
If you've ever watched "Bourne Identity," do you remember the marbled floors, granite columns, and mahogany desks of the US Embassy? Well, if US Embassies do exist like that in the world, Sweden really needs to remodel! We were hoping to take pictures of Toby outside the embassy, but no. We were going to take pictures inside the embassy - definitely not. In sum, we are hoping never to visit the US Embassy in Sweden ever again. What a disappointment!
We arrived about an hour before our appointment, as instructed. This was a brisk Swedish day in March, so it was about 10F/-12C and windy. The embassy was mainly out of view due to the 12ft cement walls topped with barbed wire rolls. Incoming cars had to go through the equivalent of a lock & damn surrounded by cement barriers a tank couldn't roll over. And the flag outside was about 3ft wide. Really!?!? Car dealerships in the US have bigger flags than the embassy! We waited in the appropriate line while the 3 guards in the guardhouse slowly called others in line to come in one at a time. After at least a hour, we were finally at the front of the line. They inspected our shoes and then allowed Toby (in the stroller) and me into the guardhouse. Tyson had to wait outside. They kept our phones, put us through a security machine like at the airport, and asked that I move a bit faster to repack all of Toby's gear and Toby so others could come through. Yeah, the guard got a crusty look on that one!
We entered a side door and were greeted by another armed guard. He directed us to a waiting room that oddly resembled the inside of a DMV. Okay, so we got in line #1, got a case number, and had a seat. When looking around, it was easy to be underwhelmed. No USA posters, no flags, no pictures of the President or White House or Capital building. Signs in Swedish and English about what line to stand in for instructions and payments abounded, but nothing more. So there we sat in what was essentially a triple-wide trailer with 70s wood paneling - talk about underwhelming. What we did appreciate, however, was the nice man who took all of our paperwork to get Toby's US citizenship, passport, and social security number. He was a true-blue American who was super friendly and very appreciative of the work I had put in bringing all the appropriate paperwork along with numerous copies of about everything. We sat down again, spoke to another nice lady as she went over all the forms making sure we had everything in order, and then left.
Many people have asked and assumed that because Toby was born in Sweden that he automatically is granted Swedish citizenship. This is not the case. The US is actually one of the very few countries in the world that grants citizenship to everyone born within the border. Toby was given a personnummer immediately, but we had to wait until after the US sent us his birth certificate and passport before going to immigration here to get his residence permit card. We obviously received all the logistical paperwork before we returned to the US, with the exception of his residence permit card. Our nice neighbors who were watering our plants, however, sent us his permit card so there were no problems for all of us to get back into Sweden.
Even though the embassy did not live up to our expectations of representing the US, we were pleasantly pleased with the people working inside, as well as the ease of navigating the State Department's website to get the necessary forms and documentation. We learned afterward from a friend that the embassy building was built during the Cold War, thus the drab and rather cookie-cutter cement exterior. Security is obviously a concern everywhere, even in peaceful Sweden, where many foreigners reside who are not as pro-American as we are :) But I still think a bigger flag and a picture of President Obama with Bo and Sunny wouldn't hurt ;-)
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