Getting your child a passport should be easy – as long as you follow all of the directions. However, getting a child a passport can be a nightmare if you skip any of the necessary steps. First, when planning a family trip abroad, it is important to understand that everyone – including small children and infants need a passport for air travel overseas. When visiting Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and parts of the Caribbean by land or by sea, the rules differ. Children aged 15 years and younger may use a certified copy of their birth certificate in lieu of a passport.
Children aged 16 – 18 years of age planning to travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and parts of the Caribbean by land or sea under adult supervision such as with a school, religious, cultural or athletic group may also present a birth certificate if they do not possess a child passport.
As a parent or legal guardian, do you think that you may apply for a passport on your child’s behalf? The answer is yes, but your child must present at the time of child passport application. What about if your child has a passport already? Does your child need to be present for the child passport renewal? If your child was under the age of 16 years old at the time that the child passport was first issued, then the answer is yes.
Adults do not have to be present for adult passport renewals.
Here is a list of who and what to bring when applying for a child passport:
1. Application form DS-11
2. Two identical, 2×2 inch color passport photos that were taken within the past six months.
3. Proof of your child’s citizenship. (A certified birth certificate is acceptable.)
4. Proof of your relationship to the child. (As long as you are the child’s parent and your name is on your child’s birth certificate, then the child’s certified birth certificate is acceptable.)
5. Proof of parent’s identity. (An adult passport or valid driver’s license is acceptable.)
6. Child passport fees for the passport application process (Child Passport fees are currently $105.)
7. Bring the child. A child passport application will not be processed if the child is not present.
8. Bring both parents. (If both parents cannot make it, then one parent may appear with a notarized statement of consent authorizing issuance the child passport.)
Single parents may apply alone for the child’s passport as long as the parent has proof of sole authority. A judicial declaration of incompetence of non-applying parent or a death certificate of non-applying parent is acceptable.
A third party may apply on behalf of a minor under the age of 16 years old. (The third party must submit a notarized written statement or affidavit from both parents or guardians that authorizes the third party to apply for the child’s passport.
In the event that the child is too young to sign his/her passport, the parent or guardian must print the child’s name on the child passport and sign their own name. The parent should indicate the relationship to the child in parentheses next to the adult’s signature.
If you need an expedited child passport, expedited adult passport, emergency passport, same day passport, US Passport book, US Passport Card, passport photos or other passport services, be sure to contact Rush Passport™. You can visit us at http://www.rushpassport.com or call us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to speak with a Live Passport Agent. (877) 937-7277 (All 50 States) or (212) 643-9305 New York Passport Agency. Rush Passport™ Official US Passport Expeditors, serving Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan, Westchester County, Nassau County & Suffolk County, Long Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Miami, Florida.