US Passport for Minor with Only One or No Parent present

If you plan to travel internationally with your family, you must know that  every member of the family needs to possess his or her own passport. All children must have passports, and minors under the age of 16 (sixteen) need to renew their passports every 5 (five) years. 

Since 2001, the U.S. State Department has required children to apply for their passports in person with 2 (two) parents or guardians present. But not every child has both parents who can be present and single parents are often confused as to how to go about filing their child’s passport application. This article tells single parents how they can get a passport for their child when one parent is absent.

First of all, parents cannot renew their child’s passport using the renewal form DS-82. DS-11 form for a replacement passport has to be filed. Fill out the form, but do NOT sign it. Make an appointment at your local passport acceptance office (often a post office), and appear there with the applicant (your child) and your supporting documents that include:

   1. The child’s certified US birth certificate OR their old passport, to prove citizenship.

   2. If adopted, the adoption decree to prove the child’s relationship to the parents.

   3. Valid photo IDs from both parents to prove their identity.

   4. Photocopies of everything listed above.

   5. A recent, 2×2 inch passport-quality color photograph of the applicant.

   6. A money order or cashier’s check to pay the fees.

Once the passport clerk reviews all the documents, both parents sign the application. Your child’s passport should arrive by registered mail in 12 (twelve) to 18 (eighteen) weeks.

What if the other parent is unavailable?

Maybe the other parent is living in another state, on active military duty in another country, incarcerated, or otherwise unable to attend. What happens then? Then, parents have some additional paperwork in front of them.

If one parent or guardian is unable to appear, they can simply give their written permission for the child’s passport. Parents or guardians can do this by filling out the “Statement of Consent Form DS-3053“. The form must be signed and notarized within last three months of the US Passport Application appointment. The absent parent must also provide a photocopy of their valid government-issued photo ID (which should be the same ID they use to identify themselves to the notary public). Booking a signing with me is easy as one-two-three, and I can even print this Form for you – visit Booking page. After notarization, add this form to the rest of your application paperwork, and you should be good to go.

What if a third party, non-parent is applying on behalf of the minor?

Then both parents each submit the original Statement of Consent Form DS-3053, signed and notarized within the last three months.