By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
A BAHAMIAN woman of Haitian descent yesterday said she felt trapped in the United States after waiting more than two years for a new passport.
Fanett Tallegrand, 47, said she submitted her application for a Bahamian passport in March 2013 in a bid to update the citizenship document she obtained in 1967 when the country was still a British colony.
She questioned whether her application process has been stalled due to her Haitian background.
“I’ve gone to the (Bahamas) consulate in New York, and they told me I needed to call Nassau, but I can’t speak to anyone,” she said. “No one can tell me anything about my file, and it’s been over two years.’
“The last passport (I had) was as a child.
“The one I had was actually a British one, it was the hard black copy, and I never applied for another one as an adult.
“I think that might be what’s complicating it, but I just would like to know who is handling it?
“I can’t get anyone to tell me anything.”
“I can’t leave the country, I can’t travel, I don’t have documentation,” she said.
Born in the Bahamas in 1967, Ms Tallegrand has been living in New York as a permanent resident since her Haitian parents emigrated to the US in 1975.
She said she was told her passport application was under special investigation, but has not received any details on the status of this probe for more than two years.
Persons born in the former Colony of the Bahamas Islands and are citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, according to the Bahamas’ Constitution, “shall become” a citizen of the Bahamas on July 10 1973.
Ms Tallegrand, a former certified nursing assistant, said she lost her British document several years ago.
While she has travelled throughout the US, Ms Tallegrand said she decided to finally apply for her Bahamian passport because she wanted to visit her birth country, and her parent’s homeland, Haiti.
“I was eight years old when we moved to the US,” Ms Tallegrand said.
“My 77-year-old dad is the only one still alive, my mom has passed away. My dad is a citizen of the US.
“I think the issue might be because my parents are of Haitian descent.
“I was born in the Bahamas, but I don’t know what their status was in the Bahamas at that time.
“I’ve never left the country, wherever I did travel I didn’t need a passport. But you know a few years ago I decided it was time to travel back to Haiti or to the Bahamas to visit. I thought because I had all of my paperwork it would be done in at least six months, but then a year passed, and another year but no one can tell me anything.”
Ms Tallegrand suggested that another challenge to the processing of her application might be discrepancies on her birth certificate.
On the document, her gender and date of birth are incorrect.
Ms Tallegrand said that when she applied at the Bahamian Consulate in New York, officials acknowledged the errors as common during that year.
“I had a birth certificate that stated that I was a male, and it had a date of birth that was wrong,” she said.
“The consulate said that you cannot change it, and you had to find a priest to write a letter to change it.
“It has the correct spelling of my name, but the gender has male.”
She added: “At the consulate, they told me that year there were a lot of errors but there was no way to fix it. I have a US driver’s license and I have documentation from the US that shows who I am. It’s crazy that this is taking so long with no response or answers.”
Comments
Frosty 8 years, 8 months ago
Legitmate question, She was born her in 67' and immigrated to the US in 75'. So she would have obtained US citizenship after 75. Don't we have a law that disallows dual citizenship? Therefore wouldn't she be automatically ineligible for a passport even with the instantaneous 73' provisions since she became a US citizen
spoitier 8 years, 8 months ago
It said she have been living in the US as a permanent resident, however, it also said that her father is a citizen, which should have given her rights to US citizenship in any event. If this is in fact correct she should just go ahead and obtain her a citizenship and passport.
TalRussell 8 years, 8 months ago
My advice Comrade Fenett, is from sounds it you spent years in no rush to travel, so whats the the urgency in waiting for your new passport to arrive? Secondly, you can always undergo a sex change procedure to match your passport's gender.
Bahamianpride 8 years, 8 months ago
LOL, almost fell out my chair..
TalRussell 8 years, 8 months ago
Comrade Bahamianpride, you'd think someone at the passport office or Consulate would have instructed her stop submitting her child photos with her applications cuz she looks nothing today like those 1967 photos. And, if she keeps sending photos of a different gender one can see good reasoning for her be under special investigation. This good lady is confused if she thinks she was issued a British Passport, by any colonial Bahamaland government, no such passport ever existed. When the British left, there were no special privileges for her former colonial subjects to come live in England. The British did to us Bahamalanders, exactly what they did to the former colony of Hong Kong, stay out England.
My2cents 8 years, 8 months ago
Ms. Tellegrand, I think the issue is that you sat on your passport application for decades, and when you suddenly decided to travel, you wanted it now despite the myriad of issues surrounding your documents. With that said, one has to wonder about your sudden interest in obtaining a Bahamian passport when you also meet the requirements for a U.S. passport as a legal permanent resident of more than five years. You can also potentially renew your UK passport since you never received a Bahamian one. Immigration would be remiss if they did not wonder the same. There seems to be no reason for you to be trapped.
If your last passport was UK and you lost it, I would think that you would file a police report in the U.S., take the report to the British consulate and go through the process of getting your UK passport renewed. With that crucial document in your possession, you should then apply for your 1st Bahamian passport. I'm sure this route would have been less painless for all.
TalRussell 8 years, 8 months ago
Comrade she needs read what her "British" passport reads, she was never and is is still not entitled to live in Britain.
Bahamianpride 8 years, 8 months ago
My2cents I totally agree with this statement "one has to wonder about your sudden interest in obtaining a Bahamian passport when you also meet the requirements for a U.S. passport as a legal permanent resident of more than five years". Furthermore many Bahamians would love to trade places with her but these days it is very difficult to get U.S permanent residency. The Bahamas is not the same place she sees on TV or probably remembers as a child. Citizens here live in fear of crime, and it is this fear that prevents any form of long term happiness. It appears to me like she running from something....
licks2 8 years, 8 months ago
Her case is just too confusing. . .investigation is in order!! For example, she left the Bahamas in 1975. . .three years after Independence. . .on a British Passport. . .without a Bahamian Passport. . .which she " lost"!! However, she lived in the USA as a permanent resident. . .did not renew her British Passport for 40 years? Also, she could not get a permanent residence while inside the borders of the USA. . .so she was in the Bahamas when she applied for that status!! Yet she choose to file as a British Subject and not as a Bahamian. Further more, the Americans would have advised the good lady that the new rule was that former British Subjects were then considered Bahamians and not British after July 10, 1973!
This case just has too many loose ends for comfort.
jackbnimble 8 years, 8 months ago
Boy, they love to share these we-are-deliberately-frustrating-the-Haitians stories with the newspaper. What is the hope? That somebody would actually take heed and you would get your papers faster? Who feeds the newspapers these bullsh** stories without checking the background or facts first anyway? I guess they don't think educated persons or persons with common sense are reading it. Boy I tell ya!
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