Are you signed up for all the apps that show you discount travel deals for your preferred destination and are hovering with your credit card, ready to purchase tickets? Nice. If your plans involve flying with kids to an international destination, please take a few moments now to get your ducks in a row...and prepare your hula hoops because you'll be jumping through some hoops. Some specific regulations for getting and renewing minor passports require you to think a few months ahead.
1. The most important thing is that for children under 16, both parents must show up at the passport appointment—even if you are just renewing an already-existing passport. In our family, we had thought the hard part was over since we were just renewing, but again, we had to book a time when both parents could be there.
2. Book these in-person appointments now for summer travel; they are already scarce and passports now take 8-11 weeks to process after your appointment. Some passport appointments can be located on weekends, but more likely, you will have to take kids out of school to attend the appointment. Also, a key tip hard-earned: if you're using Firefox as your browser, switch to something else for making the appointment; the U.S. postal service website wasn’t working well with it. The appointment will likely be at a post office that offers passport services, a library, or a passport center, and walk-ins may not be allowed. In my northern California region, I was told by a friend to go to the post office an hour before it opened and stand in line for a walk-in appointment; she said there were 30 people in line when the doors opened!
3. Let’s say the other parent absolutely can’t be there. There is another option: the parent can sign a notarized form (Form DS-3053) and provide the notary public with a photocopy of the identification they present to the notary in person. Notaries usually charge a nominal fee for their services, and the absent parent must meet the notary to sign the form. Certified notary publics can be found via an online search. There is plenty of small print on this issue, so study the requirements. For instance, if one parent has sole legal authority, that parent must show documents proving this, including a certified copy of the child’s birth certificate listing them as the only parent. There is also language addressing the situation of a deceased parent, an incompetent parent, a parent who can’t be located, and even both parents not being able to appear.
4. If the child is aged 16 or 17, they need to appear in person for a passport appointment (new or renewal) and show evidence that at least one parent is aware, either by accompanying the child to the appointment or via a notarized statement.
5. Copious amounts of paperwork are required, such as certified copies of birth certificates—hopefully, you got certified copies soon after your child was born, and now you need to find them. (And if you didn't, it's time to order them). It’s important to note that you must bring the original to show at the appointment and return home with, as well as black and white photocopies (one sided) of its front and back that the passport agency will keep. Luckily, if you are renewing, the expiring or expired passport can serve as your documentation—but remember to bring the photocopies.
6. Don’t forget the photos that will appear in the passport. Some passport agencies will include photos as part of the option when you have your appointment, but if they don't you must do them in advance at a place that specializes in doing them correctly since there are a lot of parameters to be met. If you’re a AAA member, you can stop by their offices to do the photos for a small fee.
7. Passport cards are not the same as passport books. To fly internationally, you must get a passport book. The card is just for travel to Mexico and Canada.
8. Once you get your passports, decide on a safe place to put them and text yourself and family members reminders of what that place is. Take a photo of the passport in the safe place and label the photo (hit the letter “i” under the photo so you can add a caption), so you can search for that photo later with the search term “passport.” Create a ritual with candles and Gregorian chants as you place the passport in its safe place so that you will always know where it is. You, the savvy reader reading this, will unlikely lose track of your family’s passports. We’re just… thinking ahead.
9. Finally, passports for a child under 16 will last for five years; passports for a child 16 and 17 will last 10 years, just like an adult. Remember to check passport expiration dates when planning an international trip. Thanks to the pandemic, memories of the last few years seem to have become draped in fog, so you may be surprised when you check that date!