I applied late on July 29th, the package was received by the processing office on August 1st, and I received it on August 23rd. Overall, it took ~4 weeks. 2025’s wait time certainly beat the time my other first-time passport for a minor took to process in 2023!
It went about as expected, except for one thing: Although the United States travel.state.gov website only mentions a marriage certificate under “Step 3: Show Your Relationship to Child”, the intake agent at the post office wanted the marriage certificate.
The government website says under Step 3, “If your name is different than the one on the document showing your relationship to your child, submit proof of your legal name change. Examples include a name change decree, or marriage certificate.” Although the birth certificate for the minor had the same name as on my ID, I still had to bring in a marriage certificate.
So, how does one get a new passport? Well, if you follow the steps on https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/under-16.html, you basically need the following documents:
- Form DS-11, filled out.
- ID for Parent 1 and a photocopy of the front and back (Used a driver’s license. The intake agent made their own photocopy and gave my copy back.)
- ID for Parent 2 and a photocopy of the front and back (Used a driver’s license. The intake agent made their own photocopy and gave my copy back.)
- Proof of Minor’s US Citizenship + photocopy (Used a Birth Certificate.)
- Proof of Relationship to Child (Used a Birth Certificate.)
- Check or Money Order for the $100 made out to “U.S. Department of State” with the minor’s name and birthday in the memo.
- Some method to pay $35
- Photos or $15
- And what was not listed as an outright requirement was the marriage certificate of the parents.
Both parents and the minor in question must be present, else the parent who is not present must fill out another form to confirm that they agree to the minor having a passport and get this form notarized. Although this requirement is a little annoying, my understanding is that this is a preventative measure against international kidnapping.
Boy Sophie’s photo was done by throwing a white blanket on the car seat, putting him in, and then photographing him. (Slight shadows are okay for infants.) The photo we used has the baby’s arm lifted by his head. (I asked the post office worker if that is okay, and she assured me that standards are different for infants.)
Boy Sophie will not need a passport to travel domestically in the United States, but he will certainly need it to go abroad with me! That lack of identification required for minors domestically helps me understand the constant human trafficking posters in the airport more. When I was young, I only ever traveled internationally, so I thought those posters were silly given everyone had presented ID… right? I always had. It is not like someone could grab a random child and travel with them. I only later learned that minors really do not need identification to cross the country.
