I had a passport when I was a kid. My dad was USAF and I spent about 40% of my childhood overseas. However, I have not had a passport since and I have not left the country since I was in college. What do I need to get a passport?
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posted by COD
on Mar 25, 2013 -
12 answers
What are your strategies and best practices for being a cog in an inefficient bureaucracy? How do you compartmentalize the frustration and leave it in the office?
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posted by anonymous
on Mar 11, 2013 -
14 answers
I want to change the world. Or at least make it easier/faster/cheaper to send my niece and nephew, currently living
less than 500 miles from where I live, a flipping Christmas package. Who should I bother to help get this done?
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posted by SMPA
on Dec 19, 2012 -
21 answers
How do I deal with the conflict between my therapist's professional boundaries and the information my college wants? Also, how to deal with the trust issues this is creating?
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posted by anonymous
on Jul 12, 2012 -
19 answers
I go to a California community college that writes course descriptions for every class it offers, but it doesn't display them on the actual class schedule. The college has an obscure web application (which I just found) that will give you the description if you enter in the course number, but it's barely advertised (it took me three semesters to find it). How do I go about getting the (much needed) course descriptions displayed with the class schedule? Is this an issue I need to join the ASB to get publicised? Is there another way to go about this? I want to make a stink, because for a year and a half now I've been dealing with inadequate or often nonexistent class descriptions which have made choosing the appropriate classes a challenge.
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posted by malapropist
on Nov 14, 2011 -
10 answers
I want to take some intensive language classes in Germany for 6-7 months. I'm not affiliated with a university, and I have a bunch of question about visas and one short question about stipends from the Goethe Institut.
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posted by colfax
on Sep 20, 2011 -
3 answers
I am fixing to renew my US passport, and want to know if I should mail it in, or if I have to renew it in person. I'm concerned about what level of damage is unacceptable to the U.S. State Department.
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posted by baniak
on Aug 15, 2011 -
10 answers
What exactly constitutes "proof of payment" for the purposes of 501c3 accounting standards? Are my accounting demons tormenting me for their own sick pleasure, or because they actually have to?
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posted by col_pogo
on Jan 12, 2011 -
8 answers
How do I (or we) speak to my manager about his increasing lack of involvement in what we feel are the core components of a product's (re)launch, especially when the stakes in the launch include: our careers, the fate of the company, and the jobs of fellow colleagues in the office?
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posted by mistertoronto
on Aug 11, 2010 -
5 answers
I am in a bit of a bureaucratic bind and I need some advice. Short story: I leave for a trip in 10 days and at this point have no visa for the country that I will be living in for a year. The consulate just emailed me a couple of hours ago and informed me that I need to send my passport to them (who are located in a city 12 hours away) in order that they can issue me the visa. Problem: I have been trying to get this visa for months now, and they have been terribly slow every step of the way. I am worried that I will not get my passport back in time before my flight. What do I do?
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posted by anonymous
on Jul 22, 2010 -
18 answers
Having lost my wallet three times in six months, I need to streamline the process for replacing a Driver License and dealing with the California DMV as much as possible.
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posted by slidell
on Jul 8, 2010 -
18 answers
Ｃan any of you less-frustrated Japanese readers or super sleuths find the address of my former bank in Japan? It is moneykit.net, the all-electronic division of Sony Bank (ソニー銀行). So electronic, I can't find a physical address, which is required for US tax forms. All documentation is in boxes, the account is since closed, I am no longer in Japan, and my eyes are burning from all the googling in Japanese. お願い致します。
posted by whatzit
on Jun 11, 2010 -
3 answers
The food stamp program screwed me out of c. $100 in benefits. Can anyone recommend an agency or pro bono clinic in NYC that could help me if I decide to file a complaint?
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posted by jason's_planet
on Mar 2, 2010 -
6 answers
I have had a perfect storm of bureaucratic screwups take $400 and many hours of my life from me. Can I get my money back? I've been fighting up to now with no success so I don't even know who or what to do anymore. Help! (Companies involved: AAA, DMV, LA Parking Violations Bureau)
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posted by miss lynnster
on May 20, 2009 -
22 answers
Registering for British citizenship by descent: do they return the documents? Also: cutting a check in foreign currency?
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posted by paultopia
on Oct 29, 2008 -
7 answers
Obscure political science filter: What is the name of the political science/urban studies law [___'s Law] of bureaucracy that states that, over time, agencies have a tendency/need to invest much of their energy and resources into sustaining themselves, often at the cost of more completely and directly fulfilling their original missions?
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posted by lunit
on Sep 24, 2008 -
5 answers
Which later-famous-for-something-else supply clerk began reporting on the number of flies that he'd killed?
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posted by dws
on Aug 27, 2008 -
7 answers
We want to get married in Gibraltar. Among the documents we have to present to the registry office is a Certificate of Non Impediment which, from what we've googled, isn't a standard US document and is a requirement to get married in most European countries. Where can the future Mr. Dada, an American citizen, get one of these?
posted by lucia__is__dada
on Jan 22, 2008 -
11 answers
When you find yourself in a life-harming situation due to a unique administrative hiccup in a government bureaucracy (and since no one's anticipated this sort of hiccup, no one's empowered to override it)....what do you do?
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posted by jimmyjimjim
on Oct 13, 2007 -
38 answers
ResearchFilter Part 2: Some weeks ago, I asked about
theories of collaboration and received some excellent research suggestions. Now, I'm reworking my thesis proposal and would like to include some details about the history of corporation. Not critiques the modern corporate entity, but an overview of the origins of incorporation, bureaucracy, etc. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
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posted by aladfar
on Mar 9, 2007 -
4 answers
Let's say you emigrated to the USA from Italy with your family when you were just a child and you're now in your 20's. You find yourself in a situation where, for one reason or another, you've lost your birth certificate, your citizenship papers and your passport and you want to set about obtaining them again. How would you go about doing it? Where would you even start? Could you come up with a detailed step-by-step plan? It would seem to be a Catch-22. Can you get one document without having the other.
posted by TheManticore
on May 24, 2006 -
20 answers
Who writes all those pages and pages of text that the US government generates? More to the point, might someone pay
me to write some of them?
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posted by nebulawindphone
on Feb 10, 2006 -
23 answers
Why do signs to deter trespassers use the convention "Posted: No Trespassing" when the very fact that such a sign is physically posted makes the use of the word "Posted" redundant?
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posted by eschatfische
on Jun 26, 2005 -
15 answers
Unexpected death in the family. I'm in charge of finding out how to obtain a memorial bench on the California coast, preferably in a state park.
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posted by mudpuppie
on Jun 20, 2005 -
5 answers
What is the best non-cynical advice you have heard (or can offer) on how to excel within a government bureaucracy?
posted by profwhat
on Apr 12, 2005 -
29 answers
