Infant Passport – Get Your Baby A United States Passport With Ease
Although it may seem a little ridiculous to some people, anyone with an infant must have an infant passport in order to be able to cross a border with a child. There are actually some very good reasons for this and it is actually for the children’s protection, not to make the parent’s life more difficult. There are some exceptions to the process, but it is very similar to what adults are already familiar with in order to get their passports.
While it may seem silly to force an infant to carry a passport, there are several practical reasons that make it necessary for all U.S. citizens to carry passports during international travel. First of all, it is a matter of national security and border security. The government needs to know who is entering and leaving a country at a given time. Allowing infants to forego passports would make it easy to sneak in infant illegal immigrants–an action that seems innocuous, but could have serious consequences twenty years down the line.
Something else that not many people probably even think of is human trafficking. If the law about infant passports was not in place, people could easily transport illegal children across the borders for a variety of reasons. This goes for kids coming both in and out of the country.
The infant or child will get their passport in much the same way that an adult does. It goes without saying that the child will not be able to do this on their own, so mom and or dad are going to have to do all of the work in order for a valid passport to be obtained. In addition to the forms, do not forget to get the passport photos of the child.
Since the children will not be able to sign the passport, this must also be handled by the parents. This is like more of a co-signature in that the parent signs there name in place of the child. It will go next to the child on the passport and serve as their signature until the child can actually get a passport renewal and sign the passport on their own.
If a parent needs to sign a passport in place of a child, the parent must print the full name of the child, and then beside the child’s name, they must sign their own name and write their relationship to the child (mother, father, guardian, etc…) in parenthesis next to their own signature. Ideally, the parent traveling with the infant should be the parent to sign the passport. However, this is not necessary, as other laws ensure both parents consent to child passports.
When a child that is under the age of 16 is getting a passport, there must be permission given by both parents. For married couples, this is obviously not a problem. However, if the parents are divorced or separated and living far away from each other, they still have to have both signatures on the form. This is done so one parent does not just leave the country with the child without the other parent knowing about it.
It should now be pretty obvious why the infant passport exists. It may sound a little silly when you first look at the law, but it actually there to protect children from various things. Therefore, getting these pass ports is a smart decision for any parent, regardless of how old their child is. If an emergency or surprise trip comes up, the baby or young child will be ready to go with you and there will be no challenges in getting in and out of the country.
