Just like an adult, a child who is a US citizen must have a passport to enter the US. The one major difference for a child passport is that they must be renewed every five years instead of every 10 years for adults. In the eyes of the US state department, a child is 16 years of age or younger. If your little one has to travel outside the US when they are one years old then you will need to renew the little one’s passport when they turn six.
The main form you will need for your child for their first passport as well as subsequent renewals is the DS-11: Application for a U.S. Passport form. You can fill this out in paper or click on DS-11 link to fill it out online. Trust me the online form is a lot easier to fill out then the paper form.
Besides the DS-11 form you will also need the following:
- Evidence of you being a U.S. Citizen
- Your Passport or birth certificate
- Only one parent needs to be a US citizen
- Evidence of Parental Relationship
- Marriage certificate
- Photo Identification
- Your drivers license or 15 years or less current passport
- If you use your drivers license and are in a different state then where your drivers license was issued you will need a second form of id.
- You will need photo copies of either form of ID, front and back
- Your drivers license or 15 years or less current passport
- Parental Consent
- See DS-305, right after number 7.
- A 2″ x 2″ Color Passport Photo
- Application Forms
- Passport Fees
Other items to keep in mind is that it is mandatory for a child passport for a parent to apply for the child. It is best for both parents to go to a passport office to fill out paperwork for your child. However, if only one parent is available you will need a Noterized document named, “DS-305: Statement of Consent: Issuance of a Passport to a Minor under Age 16“, with the other parents signature that the child can have a passport. You can fill out this form at home but in order for it to be Notarized you must sign and date it in front of the Notary. The form is self explanatory as to what you can fill out at home and what you need to fill out in front of the notary. As for proof of the parent, the ID that you used for the notary must have a photocopy of the front and back of it to keep with the DS-305 form to be used when you submit the DS-11 form for your child.
But wait, what if I can’t get a hold of the other parent for various reasons? Such as, you have a divorce decree, custody order, protection order, stay away order, restraining order, you are widow/widower, or the significant other is currently incarcerated, then you must have documentation from the court who issued the order and you must fill out form DS-5525: Statement of Exigent/Special Family Circumstances. In this form you need to provide the other parents name, birthdate, their last known address and detailed information as to why this person cannot fill out the form and provide consent.
There is one question here I did not answer, what if you cannot locate the other parent?Unfortunately, this does happen and you will need to fill out the same form DS-5525, provide the same information as before but you will also have to provide information on the last time you tried to contact this person, how many times you tried, their last known work address and even if you tired hiring a third party to locate the person. You must at least try to find this person to give consent. If you do this irresponsibly and the US State department determines you are not telling the truth and committing perjury then the government will either throw you in jail or give you a nice large fine.
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