Do Babies Need Passports? - Expedited Passports

One question that keeps coming up again and again in the comments section is this: “Do babies need passports of their own?” It’s not necessarily an unreasonable question– after all, they don’t necessarily need their own plane tickets, so why would they need their own ID?

Alas, in most countries the era of the “family passport” has long since passed.  Even the smallest infants now require their own documents for most international travel. Let’s take a look at the question in a little bit more depth:

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) governs travel between the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.  Within these areas, your baby may be able to travel passport-free as long as you are not flying. Here are the applicable rules:

• All air travel requires a passport, no matter how young your baby is.
• For land or sea travel, adults should have a passport, a passport card, or another WHTI-compliant ID like a NEXUS card, FAST card, SENTRI card or an enhanced driver’s license (offered in a limited number of states at this time.)
• Babies (and any other children under the age of 16) traveling by land or sea may do so with just a birth certificate.
• US citizens of any age traveling on a closed-loop cruise (one that begins and ends at the same US port) may cruise with just state-issued ID (if adults) and a birth certificate.

Outside the Western Hemisphere

If you are going outside of the Western Hemisphere, your baby needs a passport no matter what your mode of travel.

Also, when taking your baby to any foreign country, if you aren’t traveling with the other parent, you may need a signed, notarized letter granting permission for the trip. Some countries require this as a safeguard to prevent child abduction. Contact the embassy of your destination country for details.

Now that you know whether or not you need a passport for your baby, here’s  How to Get a Child Passport.

Bear in mind that your child’s new passport may take six weeks to come in if you apply with regular processing.  Pay an additional $60 for expedited processing, and you’re still looking at 3 weeks processing time. For faster service, either make an appointment at one of the nation’s 24 regional passport agencies, or use a private company like RushMyPassport. We personally deliver your child’s paperwork to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours. Plus, there’s no need to make an appointment or wait in line at a passport agency with a fussy infant.

For help getting your child a passport quickly, contact us today!

Adopting a child is an incredibly stressful process, especially if you choose to adopt from another country.  Though the reward of giving a child a family is immeasurable, international adoption often requires an intense commitment in the form of time, energy and money.  You’ll also need to pay extra-special attention to your new child’s citizenship status and the associated paperwork. When it comes time to get your child a US passport, additional documentation is often required. Here’s what you need to avoid delays and added frustration when getting a passport for a child adopted overseas:

Citizenship

To qualify for a US passport, the child must be a US citizen. Fortunately, since 2001, children adopted overseas by US citizen parents automatically become citizens, saving adoptive parents time and energy. However, there may still be a few loose ends for you to tie up. If your child’s adoption was finalized in their home country, and you brought them to the US on an IH-3 visa, your child will automatically become a US citizen when you enter the United States, and you will be automatically sent Certificate of Citizenship. This is proof that your child is a US citizen and can be used when applying for their passport.

One the other hand,  if the child came in on an IH-4 visa and the adoption needs to be finalized in the United States, your child will only automatically be issued a green card when you arrive in the US.  After the adoption has been finalized, your child will automatically become a US citizen, but if you want a certificate of citizenship you will have to apply for one (this is handy but is not required).

Documents Needed

Before you apply, gather all of the necessary documents:

• Proof of identity for both adoptive parents, such as a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.
• Proof of your relationship to the child- in this case, the adoption decree.
• Proof of the child’s citizenship. If you have a certificate of citizenship for your child, that will do.  Otherwise, you’ll need to show the paper trail by which your child became a citizen, including: a certified copy of the final adoption decree (translated if the original isn’t in English); the child’s passport from their country of origin, showing  the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS) I-551 stamp in the passport; proof of your identity as per above and proof of your US citizenship.
• Parental consent: If the child was adopted by two US citizen parents, both parents have to consent for the passport to be issued. To prove parental consent, either both parents must appear in person or one parent must appear with a signed, notarized consent form signed by the other parent (passport forms available here).
• One passport photo.
• The applicable passport fees. (more…)

Do children need passports to travel outside the US? That’s a reasonable question. In fact, in the 19th century, the Department of State issued what were called “family passports” allowing the entire family to travel on the same passport.

However, this is not the case any more. Each US citizen needs his or her own passport to travel, even newborns. So yes, in most circumstances, a child of any age will need a separate passport to travel outside of the country. However, there are a couple of exceptions for land and sea travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. These regions are covered under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), and under this law children under the age of 16 are allowed to travel using a birth certificate only, provided that they are traveling by land or by sea and are NOT flying.

Children and young adults aged 18 and under may also travel on a birth certificate alone as part of an organized group such as a school group, church groups or sports team. The children must be traveling under adult supervision, and this exception only applies to land and sea travel. If they are flying, they’ll need a passport.

Getting a Passport for Child

Due to concerns over international child abduction, you’ll need to jump through a few extra hoops to get your child a passport, providing proof of your relationship to the child and documenting that you have the other parent’s consent to apply for the passport if they are not with you.

For details on how get your child a passport, see How to Get a Child Passport.

It takes the same amount of time to get a passport application processed for a child as it would for an adult. Generally speaking, you should allow at least six weeks for processing, but always verify current processing times with the Department of State. If they have a backlog of applications, it could be longer.

For an additional $60, you can purchase expedited processing from the government. This will reduce the time you spend waiting for the passport to about three weeks. If you need to get it more quickly, you can make an appointment at one of 24 regional passport agency offices  or use a more convenient private expediting service like RushMyPassport. We offer processing in as little as 24 hours, with no need to make an appointment or travel to a passport agency office. Contact us today for fast passports for the entire family!

Planning an international trip with your little one? You’ll need more than just a child passport to take your little monster overseas, in many cases. Here’s the lowdown on the all the documents your child needs to travel:

• A child passport, in most cases (see below for exceptions). Getting a passport for a child is different from getting a passport for an adult in several respects. First of all, you’ll need the following documentation in addition to the child’s proof of citizenship and photo: proof of identity for yourself, even if you’re only applying for a passport for the child, and proof of your relationship to the child. Ideally, both parents should apply for the child’s passport together, but if only parent can go, he or she must bring a notarized consent form signed by the other parent. See How to Get a Child Passport for additional details.

• If only one parent will be traveling with the child, many countries require that the parent carry a notarized consent form signed by the other parent, or documents showing that you have sole legal custody of the child. It’s always a good idea to have a document like this with you, just in case, even if the country in question doesn’t specifically require it.

• If you have an older child who will be traveling alone, you may need to pay an additional fee to the airline so that the flight attendants can look after him or her.

When does your child not need a passport to travel out of the country? The only exceptions are land and sea travel to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean. If you’re traveling to these countries, you can simply bring your child’s birth certificate as long as he or she is under 16. Children under the age of 19 are eligible to travel by land or sea to these countries with only a birth certificate if they are traveling as part of an organized group like a school, sports team or church group.

However, a child passport is always the best option because it is required for air travel. So, having a passport for your child will make life much less stressful if you need to fly back to the US for an emergency. Normally, it takes about six weeks to get a child passport issued if you request regular processing, and about three weeks if you request expedited processing.

For faster service, you can either make an appointment at a regional passport agency office or use a private company like RushMyPassport for faster service with no appointments necessary!

All children, no matter how young, need a passport of their own to leave the country by air and in some cases by land and sea.

The procedure for getting a child passport is somewhat different from the procedure for getting an adult passport. Concerns about children being abducted and taken overseas have prompted the Department of State to build safeguards against this practice into the passport application process for minors. Here’s what you need to know to make the process go as smoothly as possible:

Applying in Person

All children must apply for their passports in person, even if the child has been issued a passport previously and you wish to renew it. In most cases, you can simply apply at the nearest passport acceptance office, often a post office or library.

Even though you do have to appear at an acceptance office in person, an expediting company like RushMyPassport can still help you get your child’s passport more quickly. The acceptance office will “seal” your documents, then you send them to the expediting company to be processed in as little as 24 hours. Compare that to the Department of State’s typical processing time of 2 to 3 weeks for their expedited service, and the advantage is clear!

Also, the Department of State won’t issue a passport for a child under the age of 16 without the consent of both parents. To meet this requirement, both parents must appear in person at the passport office with the child. If both parents can’t be there, you can provide the appropriate document from the list below to demonstrate that the other parent consents to the passport being issued or to show why consent is not needed. (more…)

Getting a passport for a minor can be a bit of an ordeal. Once you finally have your child’s passport in hand, another question arises: Who signs it? Do you, or does the child? What if your child is too young to write?

You’re not alone in wondering – this is a common question for parents to ask. The answer depends on the age and writing ability of your child. You have to make a judgement call: can your child sign the passport legibly, in pen, within the space provided? If the answer is yes, then he or she can do so. If your child is too young, then either you or the other parent must do so instead. Here’s how:

• On the signature line of the child’s passport, print the child’s name.
• Sign your name in the space next to the child’s name.
• After your name, write “mother” or “father” in parenthesis.

When it comes to child passports, there are a couple of other important things to remember. For starters, if your child is under the age of 16, his passport will only be valid for 5 years. Adult passports are valid for 10 years, so it’s extremely common for parents to overlook their children’s expired passports until the last minute. Considering that the standard time frame for processing a passport application is 6 weeks, this common mistake has ruined many a family vacation.

If you do need to get a passport for your child in a hurry, RushMyPassport can help. We’ll walk you through the paperwork, step by step, to help prevent common mistakes that could cause delays in processing. Then, we’ll personally deliver the application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Getting a passport for a minor can be a complicated, lengthy process. We make it easy and quick. Contact us today!

If you’ve found yourself staring at the expiration date on your passport in shock, wondering how a decade could pass in a blink of an eye, you should know that you’re not alone. The same thing happens even to people who travel for a living.

For example, travel writer Crai S. Bower recently planned to jet off to Mexico with his family. Unfortunately, as he explained on the Huffington Post:

Like the cobbler who fails to provide his kids with footwear, this writer of more than 100 travel stories a year failed to get his kids’ passports together for a weeklong multigenerational trip to Sayulita, Mexico, forcing him to cancel the trip, an especially aggravating gaffe considering said travel writer’s partner is a sun-starved school administrator with limited vacation windows.

In his defense, it’s easier to overlook the expiration date on a child’s passport because they are only good for 5 years after they’re issued, instead of 10 years like an adult passport is. Mr. Bower ended up canceling the trip to Mexico and heading to California instead. However, if you find yourself in this predicament, there are ways that you can get your passport renewal rushed. Depending on the method you use and when you discovered the issue, there’s a good chance you can even keep your original travel plans.

If you have at least three weeks to go, you can simply request expedited passport renewal service from the Department of State. This will set you back an additional $60, and you should get your passport back within 3 weeks. Do check the processing timelines at the Department of State’s website, though – they sometimes vary depending on the number of applications that need to be processed.

If you’re really short on time, you can make an appointment to get your passport renewal at a regional passport agency office. The issue here is that there are only 22 of these offices serving the entire US, so it may be a trip in and of itself to get there. Plus, they have limited operating hours, like a bank but more so. If you work during the day, this means you’ll definitely have to take time off.

The third option is to use a private company like RushMyPassport. We’ll personally deliver your passport renewal application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Apply for your passport renewal today!

Passport applications forms are getting a makeover in March. What’s changing? So far, the major change that’s been announced is changing the “mother” and “father” fields to ensure that same-sex couples and people in other non-traditional family structures can more easily apply for a child passport for their children.

The current application just says “Mother” and “Father.” But not every family has a mother and a father. Same-sex couples often struggled with how to fill out the forms, having to cross out the incorrect word and replace it with a more appropriate designation. The experience often made them feel like second-class citizens, like their families weren’t real families in the eyes of the government.

According to deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services Brenda Sprague, the old forms were “imprecise. It just didn’t capture the reality of their situation. Clearly, we want to be sensitive to the feelings of other people, but we are also very conscious of our need to introduce the greatest degree of precision to the process.”

Sprague further explained that “We find that with changes in medical science and reproductive technology that we are confronting situations now that we would not have anticipated 10 or 15 years ago.”

Originally, the Department of State planned to deal with this problem by replacing the terms “mother” and “father” with the gender neutral terms “parent one” and “parent two.” This caused controversy as some conservatives were outraged. According to Politics Daily, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped in with a common-sense solution. “Mother” and “Father” will remain on the new application forms, which will now read “mother or parent” and “father or parent.” The State Department can accurately capture information about applicants, nobody has to cross out parts of the application, and mothers and fathers won’t have to bicker about who gets to be “parent one” and who gets to be “parent two.” Everyone wins!

The new forms will be available March 01, 2011. Child passports take about 6 weeks to arrive if you apply with normal processing and about 3 weeks if you apply with the Department of State’s expedited service. An expediting company like RushMyPassport is the easiest and most convenient way to get your child’s passport more quickly, though you also have the option of making an appointment and traveling to the nearest passport agency office.

Let us help you apply for a child passport today!

Getting a child passport is a bit more complicated of a process than getting a passport for an adult. This is primarily due to regulations enacted to prevent child abduction.  To help you through the process, here is a step-by-step breakdown of what is required:

Step 1- Apply in Person

All minors must apply in person to get a passport, either at a passport acceptance facility (like a post office) or a Regional Passport Agency office (for rush passports, requires an appointment).

Step 2: Gather Documents

To apply for a child passport, the following documents are required:

• Proof of identity for you. You will need to bring the original to the passport office and also make a copy to send in with your application.
• Proof of citizenship for your child.
• Evidence of your relationship to your child, such as a birth certificate or adoption decree with your name on it or a court order establishing custody or guardianship. Nope, it doesn’t matter if little Jane or Johnny is the spitting image of you-the government still needs to see proof.
• 2 identical passport photos

Step 3: Establish Parental Consent

In most cases, the consent of both parents is required for a child to be issued a US passport.  You have a few different options for proving parental consent:

• Both parents can show up in person when the child applies for a passport
• One parent shows up bringing a notarized statement of consent from the other parent (Form DS-3053). The consent form must have been completed within the past 3 months to be usable.
• One parent with sole custody of the child can bring proof that he or she has sole custody, such as  a birth certificate/adoption decree with only that parent’s name on it or a court order.
• If the other parent’s consent cannot be obtained, you must bring a notarized statement explaining why it cannot be obtained. These requests are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Step 4:  Submit Passport Application with Required Documents and Fees

At the passport office, you will need to submit a copy of passport application form DS-11 along with all of the documents listed above. Don’t sign the form until you are instructed to do so by the passport agent.  You will also need to pay the appropriate fees, currently $85 for a child passport book plus an additional $60 if you need it expedited.  These fees are expected to increase in the near future, so see the Department of State’s web site for current information.

If you need to get a passport for your child in a hurry,the quickest and easiest way to do so is to use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.com. We’ve helped tens of thousands of people get their passports, with processing times as low as 24 hours.

Get a passport for your child today!

Adopting a child is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, it can be a rather bureaucratic process even under the best of circumstances.  Compared to biological parents, adoptive parents often  have to deal with an extra layer of red tape,  especially if they adopted their child from overseas. If you need an expedited passport for your internationally adopted child, here’s what you need to know before you apply.

Make Sure Your Child is a Citizen

In order to get a US passport, your adopted child must have US citizenship. Per the The Child Citizenship Act of 2000, most children adopted by parents who are American citizens gain citizenship automatically once the adoption is “full and final.”

Usually, if your child came to the US on a IR-3 visa, that means that the adoption process was completed in the foreign country and the adoption is considered “full and final.” If your child came in on an IR-4 visa, you will need to have the adoption finalized in the US before you can apply for a passport.

Gather All Relevant Documents

To get an expedited passport for your internationally adopted child, you will need the following documents:

• The adoption decree
• Both adoptive parents’ US birth certificates OR the child’s Certificate of Citizenship.
• 2 passport photos.
• For children under the age of 16, both parents must appear with their child, bring proof of identification, and provide consent for the child to be issued a passport.
• If both parents are unable to appear at the acceptance agency to give consent, read this post on getting a child passport to learn about other options for meeting the parental consent requirements.
• Minors age 16 and 17 only need one parent to appear with them when they apply for an expedited passport. (more…)