Expedited Passports

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…)

Are you trying to decide what to do when the kids get out of school for summer vacation? Here’s a surprisingly cheap idea: take the family on  a cruise! B-Net.com has a post up that describes the deep discounts the cruise industry is offering to keep itself afloat.  According to the post, some cruises are even cheaper than staying in a nice hotel!

Of course, if you have little ones, you’ll want to make sure they have fun, too.  Royal Caribbean is offering family-friendly Nickelodeon-themed cruises over the summer. So, adults get all the luxuries of life at sea, and kids get green slime and their favorite Nickelodeon characters. Everyone wins!

If you decide to take the family on a cruise, remember that you may need passports. Currently, only air passengers need US passports to enter the country from Mexico or the Caribbean. However, on June 1st, 2009, the rules change and getting a passport will become a necessity for land and sea passengers as well.  (more…)

The holidays are here! Most people have time away from work and kids are out of school, so now is a great time to travel. Holiday events and festivals make this an especially magical time to visit someplace new, and you can often find last-minute travel deals that make traveling more affordable.

If you have kids, why not take them to visit Santa?  Where does Santa Claus live, anyway? Every child knows that Santa lives at the North Pole. However, geographically speaking, the North Pole is at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. In reality, Santa maintains a number of different residences and workshops.  Since 1953, he has lived in North Pole, Alaska . Every year, the town has a North Pole Christmas in Ice Festival. Among other attractions, this year’s festival features a giant, illuminated ice sculpture of a frozen turkey. Don’t try to take a bite, unless you want to end up like the kid in A Christmas Story! Of course, there’s also the Santa Claus House, with Santa Claus, his reindeer and a gift shop selling Santa-approved presents.

Before Alaska claimed him as their own, Santa lived in the Lapland region of Finland. You can still visit him there year round at Santa’s Village. (How does Santa manage to live in two places at once? Magic!) Santa’s Village features Santa Claus, his workshop, snow, igloos and reindeer galore.

If you want to take the kids to see Santa in Lapland, of course, you’ll need passports.  Don’t forget to get child passports for the kids-even babies need child passports to leave the country. If you’re just going to Alaska, you don’t need a passport if you have a direct flight. However, if you have a flight that stops in Canada, or if you plan on crossing the border into Canada, you will need a passport.

If you don’t have a passport and would like to go before Christmas, all is not lost. You can use an expediting service like RushMyPassport.com to get a passport (or a child passport) in just one day!