VRO Team
Articles written by VRO Team on The VRO Blog.
Certificate of Foreign Birth: The U.S. Birth Certificate for an Internationally Adopted Child
Your child is a U.S. citizen but was born abroad, so no state recorded the birth. A Certificate of Foreign Birth fills that gap — and it explicitly is not proof of citizenship.
Accents, Tildes and Hyphens: Why Your Name Is Different on Every Document You Own
José on the birth certificate, Jose on the Social Security card, JOSE on the passport. Here is why systems drop diacritics, which mismatches matter, and how to fix them.
What the County Clerk Actually Wants Before They'll Issue a Marriage License
Marriage licensing is a county function and there is no national checklist. Three counties, three different answers, and two situations that reliably derail an appointment.
Annulments: Whether a Record Exists, and What You Can Actually Get a Copy Of
An annulment treats a marriage as never validly formed, but it still creates a court record. Here is what exists, who holds it, and which document an agency actually wants.
Social Security Says You're Dead: How the Error Happens and How to Get It Reversed
Benefits stop, accounts freeze, and the fix runs through a field office that will only accept originals or agency-certified copies. Here is what to bring and what to ask for.
VA Burial and Survivor Benefits: The Records the VA Asks For, and the Two-Year Clock
VA wants a death certificate that includes the cause of death, and for most non-service-connected deaths the burial claim has a two-year deadline families miss while grieving.
Enhanced Driver's Licenses: The Five States, and the One Trip They're Actually For
An EDL is a driver's license that also proves citizenship at a land or sea border. Five states issue one, and it will not get you on an international flight.
The 250th Anniversary Passport: How to Get One, and Why You Have to Show Up in Person
The commemorative passport costs no extra and is a fully valid passport, but it is issued only in person. That single constraint is what most applicants are unprepared for.
Apostilling a Death Certificate: Settling an Estate, Pension, or Property Abroad
A foreign bank, pension, or land registry needs the death certificate authenticated, not just certified. The sequencing is what catches families out, and the deadline is usually already running.