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Red tape kept her from the red, white and blue

Sure, she was born in Canada but both parents were U.S. citizens. So she was, too, right? Well . . .

By SHANNON TAN
Published October 30, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Tamara Ten Eyck has lived in the United States since she was 6 weeks old. Her mother is a U.S. citizen who lives in Largo. She lives in St. Petersburg with her father, who is also a U.S. citizen.

But because she was born in Canada, the 20-year-old was stuck in visa limbo for the past three years, unable to get her citizenship.

She couldn't drive.

She couldn't work.

She couldn't use the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship she earned to attend college.

After the Times wrote about Ten Eyck's visa problems last month, immigration officials contacted her attorney to set up an interview on Oct. 20.

Fifteen minutes later, she walked out with her certificate of citizenship and a tiny American flag. Her mother snapped a picture of her standing outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Tampa. Ten Eyck excitedly called her father and friends with the good news.

" "It's about time,' that's the response I got from everybody," said Ten Eyck, who graduated with honors from Dixie Hollins High School in 2003.

Now she's busy getting her life back on track.

A day after getting her citizenship straightened out, she called a doctor's office about a job interview for a medical assistant position.

On Tuesday, she went to get a new Social Security card. The one she has says "not valid for employment."

On Wednesday, she called the Florida Department of Education about her Bright Futures scholarship. If she doesn't use the award money by the end of 2006, she'll lose her scholarship.

Ten Eyck has had to rely on her friends and younger brother to give her rides. She made some cash babysitting.

Now she can get a job, a driver's license, and save up for the 2002 Mazda Protege she has her heart set on.

She'll also be able to get a passport and travel. She hopes to visit the place where she was born and tour Niagara Falls. After graduation, she'll take a trip to Italy as a present to herself.

"Things are falling right into place," she said.

Ten Eyck didn't realize she wasn't a citizen until her senior year of high school. That's when everything came to a halt.

She lost her restricted driver's license and went to replace it, but a clerk told her she needed to produce a certificate of citizenship.

Her mother, Rose Bacheler of Largo, says she filled out paperwork registering her daughter's birth at the U.S. consulate in Toronto. Bacheler assumed that because she was born in the United States, her daughter automatically became a citizen.

But after contacting the office of Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, for help, she was told there was no record of Ten Eyck's birth being registered with the consulate.

Bacheler called immigration officials, who sent the family paperwork to fill out. But they filled out the wrong form, and her application was denied.

Ten Eyck's father, David Ten Eyck, then hired an attorney who filed her application for citizenship in October 2003.

Arturo Rios, the attorney, said the citizenship process is taking longer because immigration measures were shored up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"They are overworked there and understaffed," he said.

Others have encountered similar citizenship problems because of an accident of birth.

An Oklahoma woman born in Canada was nearly fined for taking tax deductions available to U.S. citizens, according to the Tulsa World. Her parents are U.S. citizens, and she was born in Canada because the hospital nearest her home in northern Maine was across the border.

Another Maine resident born in Canada was denied Social Security disability benefits and had to prove that her father passed on citizenship to her, reported the Portland Press Herald.

Ten Eyck is just relieved to finally be an American. Immigration officials backdated her citizenship to the date she was born.

She hopes to study mass communications at the University of South Florida. For her college application essay, she may write about her experience in visa hell.

Shannon Tan can be reached at shtan@sptimes.com or 727 445-4174.

[Last modified October 30, 2005, 01:13:18]