You might not want to wait until your family wants to travel to get valid travel documents for your children. Getting a US passport for kids can take some time so it can be helpful to get it done when you don’t yet need it. Since you’re the parent, it is your responsibility to make sure that your child’s application is done properly.
Minor Documents
For these purposes, a kid is anyone who is not yet sixteen years old. Even for minors who already have their travel document, if it expires before they reach age sixteen, this is still the process that you’ll have to follow for them. The requirements of proof have gotten more stringent recently with the federal government increasing the safeguards against international child trafficking.
Proof of Citizenship
Your first step will be to get documentation that your child is indeed a US citizen. If you have a certified copy of your child’s long form birth certificate,this will do. If you don’t, you can also present a certificate of naturalization, certification of birth abroad, report of birth abroad or their current valid US passport.
Custodial Parent
The next proof required must show you are both indeed the child’s parents or legal guardian. Any of the documents proving US citizenship can also serve to prove your relationship as long as both parents’ names are listed on the document. If this isn’t the case, you’ll need additional documentation to prove your relationship to the child. You can offer a court order. That order should show either guardianship or custody. If your child is adopted, the decree can suffice as well.
Parental Consent
You’ll have to prove parental consent. Typically, the consent of both parents is needed for a child to get a passport. However, in recognition of the various forms of family, the specifics of showing consents can vary. You can review the table of parental consent on a US passport website to verify what will be required of your family.
Passport Agency
Whatever the family situation, at least one parent or the legal guardian must be present with the child to make the application at an authorized US passport agency. You’ll also need a filled out form of federal form DS-11, which you can get from any number of online sites. However, as the parent, you can’t sign this form before arriving or it won’t be valid. It can only be signed in front of the acceptance agent.
DS-11
Ideally, both parents will be present and sign the DS-11. If only one parent can be present with the child at the application appointment, you will have to submit a federal form DS-3053 as well, which is a notarized statement showing the absent parent’s consent for the 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 passports renewal application.
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