American Citizen Services

Under current US law, both parents of minor applicants must execute the passport application and appear before a US Consular Officer at a US Embassy. Both parents must provide evidence of identity (such as a passport, photo ID) and parentage (such as the child's birth certificate listing parents' names, Adoption Decree, Consular Report of Birth Abroad.). If only one parent will accompany the child to the embassy, the applying parent must submit a statement from the non-appearing parent consenting to the passport issuance. The statement must also be accompanied by the original or photocopy of the non-appearing parent's passport. This requirement can only be waived under certain limited special family circumstances or exigent circumstances necessitating the immediate travel of the child.

Passport applications made at domestic U.S. passport agencies in the United States and at U.S. consular offices abroad are covered by this law. 

The purpose of the requirement that both parents' consent be demonstrated is to lessen the possibility that a U.S. passport might be used in the course of an international parental child abduction. 

In order to bring age requirements into alignment, the age at which a minor may execute his or her own passport is 14.

Parents having concerns about passport applications for any minor child who may become the victim of an international parental child abduction, including children between the ages of 14 and 18 who are not covered by this new law, should contact the Office of Children's Issues in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at (202) 663-2641 or the State Department's International Parental Abduction Website.  There is also additional information at our Child Custody page.