Busy! (ACS work)

Life is different since I joined the American Citizens Services (ACS) unit. Every unit in the consular section is busy, but ACS has a unique feel to it. We are only 5 officers plus our Chief, serving more than a million U.S. citizens who live or visit here. We work tremendously hard to answer every email and phone call, to make sure that nothing falls through the cracks, to help U.S. citizens in trouble, and to manage expectations of U.S. citizens who sometimes feel we are not doing enough.

Services provided by ACS include medical assistance, welfare and whereabouts (eg, trying to find a U.S. citizen that someone is worried about), assisting with the death of a U.S. citizen, visiting U.S. citizens in prison, managing children's cases, repatriating destitute U.S. citizens, and much, much more.

The medical assistance cases are some of the hardest. When a person is hospitalized in the DR, their family members are really upset to learn that the U.S. Embassy cannot medevac them or pay for their care. I understand that people are desperate in that moment, and I empathize. We do our best to help in whatever way we can- sometimes it is just visiting and letting the patient and the hospital know that we care. Sometimes it is urging the hospital to do what it is supposed to do already or making calls for the patient. Since I joined ACS, I have become a big proponent of travel insurance. Hospitals here don't accept U.S. insurance (including Medicare), and they won't allow a patient to leave until he/she has settled her bill, which can be in the tens of thousands. The NY Times recently had a great article on travel insurance. I highly recommend it now for our visitors, and will buy some the next time we travel outside the country.

ACS officers also adjudicate U.S. passport and Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) cases. Some are quite simple- a citizen lost her passport at a resort and wants to travel soon. A U.S. citizen and his wife had their baby in the DR and want to register her as a U.S. citizen by birth. But some are quite complicated, like the case of a 17 year old who claims to have been born in the U.S. (often Puerto Rico) but never applied for a U.S. passport before. We are usually on the interviewing line for about 3.5 hours every morning except Friday. That is a big difference from IV, where we interviewed for approximately 7 hours daily. That is also good, because we have so much else to do OTHER than interviewing.

In the midst of all of this, we are preparing for hurricane season and for our move to the New Embassy Compound next year. I also participate in many consular section-wide projects. I have been working longer hours lately, because there is just so much to do. I'm feeling guilty about my kids, though they are just fine. I almost always make it home for dinner.

All this to say: I am exhausted at the end of the day, and by Friday, I am like a wet noodle. My husband knows there is no way we can watch a movie on a Friday night, because I will be asleep within 15 minutes.

I haven't yet figured out whether I am an "ACS person" or a "visa person." Rumor has it that consular officers are usually one or the other. I really enjoy helping our citizens and I enjoy the variety of our work - every day I handle a million different things. I like interacting with so many different sections of the Embassy. The work is never boring, and it is often quite rewarding. But it is also highly stressful, and I don't know yet if I will pursue ACS jobs in the future.

I must mention that we could never achieve our objectives without our absolutely amazing local staff. They are dedicated, tremendously patient, kind, empathetic, and hard working. The ACS team is truly top-notch.

We have only four months left at post. The days are racing by.