Know How To Get A Us Passport For Kids
Children have more opportunities to travel abroad than ever. Getting a passport for your child can be an important step ensuring that your family can be as mobile as it wants to be. Below is the basic process to follow when you want to get a US passport for kids. As the parent, it will be your legal responsibility to see this process is followed correctly.
New Standards
For the purposes of applying for a passport, a child is anyone below the age of sixteen. It doesn’t matter if your young child already has one. If a new one will be needed before their sixteenth birthday, this is still the necessary process to follow. The documentation required has gotten stricter in recent years as the federal government cracks down on international child trafficking.
Citizenship
The first proof required is that your child does in fact hold US citizenship. If you can offer a certified copy of your child’s long form birth certificate, you have this covered. If you can’t, you can also prove US citizenship through a report of birth abroad, certificate of birth abroad, certificate of naturalization or a valid current US passport.
Custodial Parent
You’ll also have to show that you have legal standing, either as their parents or legal guardian, to make this application for them. If any of the documents you use to prove US citizenship list both your names as the parents for the child, this document can serve as proof for both issues. However, if both the names of the parents aren’t on the proof of citizenship document, you’ll have to provide something else. This could be a court order that shows custody or guardianship, or it could be an adoption decree.
Parental Consent
A child can’t make an application without full parental consent. Normally, this means that both parents must show their consent. However, in recognition that there are complicated family statuses, there are specific requirements to follow in case there is only one legal parent or guardian. If that is your situation, you can consult at the table of parental consent, which is online, to determine your exact requirements.
Passport Agency
At least one parent must accompany the child to the authorized US passport agency to apply. You’ll have to fill out federal from DS-11, the actual application, which you can download off the Internet. However, you can only sign it for your child in the presence of the acceptance agent.
DS-11
The DS-11 anticipates that both parents will be at the application appointment and sign the form there. However, if only one parent can be with the child,then you’ll also have to provide federal form DS-3053. This form is a signed and notarized statement that confirms the absent parent also consents to the child’s application. There’s a different form for passport renewal application.
To finish up your child’s application, you’ll have to bring along a photo of your child. The photo must be in color, sized at two by two inches and be no more than six months old. Bring your checkbook as you’ll have to pay an application fee as well. Once you make the application, getting a American passport for kids is then just a matter of waiting for the application to get accepted. A photo is also needed for your U S online passport renewal application.
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