Do Babies Need Passports 2024? Apply for a Baby’s Passport?

Are you excited to travel with a new addition to your family? But worried about the baby and his passport. Do babies need passports or not?

Yes, babies do need passports!

Every citizen belonging to the US needs a passport regardless of age, whether they are newborns, infants, or children. If you are willing to travel with children, ensure you have your baby passport along with you.

However, if you travel by land to Canada or on a closed-loop cruise, you won't need an infant passport for entry.

The processing time for a baby passport application varies between 4-6 weeks, so it is best to apply for a baby's passport as soon as possible like the same-day passport. To get complete details of the entire process, check out the details below:

Passport Requirements For Minors - Know the Legal Challenges

How to get a Baby’s passport with one parent absent?

Unfortunately, the process of applying for a passport for infants is a little unbending. To avoid any kind of abduction or any other custodial issues, there are some additional passport requirements for minors:

Generally, to get a US passport for a baby, both parents need to stay present at the time of getting the infant passport. Again, this criteria reaches for all the children under 16 including newborns, toddlers, infants, or kids.

However, there is a flexibility in this law as if one parent is absent to get the child's passport, you will need additional documentation when going to the passport office in front of the acceptance agent.

If one parent cannot show up at the passport office in front of the acceptance agent, then the parent who shows up needs to offer some documents, which include the following:

• Notarized DS-3053 - statement of Consent for Absent Parents of the parent who didn't show up
• The driving license photocopy of the parent who didn't show up
• The state ID of the parent who shows up at the passport office.
• Apart from that, you also need to provide extra information to get the baby's passport.

What do I need for a child's passport - How to Apply for a Baby's Passport?

You need the following documents to apply for a baby’s passport:

First, make sure to fill out the DS 11, which needs to be printed on a single-sided page. Avoid signing the form until you are present for the appointment at the passport office.

Next, get a copy of the birth certificate for the baby and take the original as well as a copy of the birth certificate. Once you get the infant passport, you will get the original US birth certificate back.

Then get an appointment with the local post office or passport agency to accept the passport application.

Both parents must show up at the passport office with the baby when getting the passport. You can also visit the state department website to find out the complete documentation list. The usual list of documents for proving parental relationships includes:

• A U.S. birth certificate
• Certification of Birth
• Adoption decree
• Birth certificate from another country
• Divorce/Custody Decree
• A court document demonstrating child custody

Finally, bring copies and originals of your state ID and driver's license for complete identification of yourself and your partner.

Another important thing that you need to bring for a passport for a newborn is two passport-sized photos with the specifications mentioned on the website.

Make sure that the baby is facing the camera alone. If the baby is small and cannot sit upright, then make sure he lies down on the floor with a white background.

When a parent visits the passport office at the time of the actual appointment, you need to sign the DS 11 form and pay the application fee, which is $100 for the application, and $35 for the acceptance fee, which needs to be paid individually.

For tracking applications, you can click on the following link.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/status.html

Do both parents need to be present for the child's passport?

Planning to get the child’s passport, you need to fill in the required information, ensuring that you have the necessary documents, which are listed on the website. You should get an appointment and present all the information in front of the passport acceptance agent.

For approving the application of the baby's passport, it is important that both parents are available at the time of the appointment.

In the event that one parent is absent, it is important to get additional documentation which includes the following:

• Notarized DS-3053 of the parent who didn't show up
• The driving license photocopy of the parent who didn't show up
• The state ID of the parent is important when showing up at the passport office.

Apart from that, you also need to provide extra information to get the baby's passport. In any case, some of these circumstances didn’t go in your favor like one absent parent isn’t reachable and you can’t get a signed DS-3053 Consent statement from the other custodial parent, you can apply for Statement for Special Family Circumstances DS-5525.

This gives you leverage to travel solely with your baby without the consent of the other parent, but you have to give strong evidence about your efforts made to connect the other parent. It's luck by chance to get an approval for a minor passport.

How Much Is a Minor Passport - The Actual Cost of Minor Passport

The cost of the child's passport makes you wonder whether you are getting a passport card and a passport book for proving your USA identification. The passport card tips for using sea and land ports and the passport book tips for international travel.

The child’s passport fee for each of them is different, which is as follows.

The passport book for first-time applicants costs you around $165 for those 16 years and older, while for children under 16, the cost of a minor passport book is around $135, and for renewals, it's $30.

For passport cards, the first-time applicants are 16 years or older; the cost is around $65. For applicants under 16, the price is $50. For renewals, it's $30.

For newborns, the baby passport application fee for a passport book is $100 with a $35 acceptance fee, while for a passport card, the application fee is $15, and the acceptance fee is $35.

Conclusion

For families traveling internationally, always shoot queries like, do babies need a passport? So I collected all the related information here!

It is a once-a-five-year process and is not so complicated.

For kids under 16, they need guardians to apply for a passport, and to apply for a children's passport, you need some documents. It is a straightforward process if both parents are available at when applying for baby’s passport

However, for single parents, it might seem a difficult process, but there is a list of certain documents which you need to present at the time of baby passport application.