Although it may seem a little ridiculous to some people, anyone with an infant must have an infant new 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 to consider are such horrible things as human trafficking and kidnapping. Believe it or not, this happens with parents of children who are trying to get away from another parent. The angry mother who has just lost her child custody case or perhaps the father that has disappeared to another country and suddenly shows up and wants his child back.
Applying for an infant passport is rather similar to applying for an adult passport, save a few practical differences. Obviously and infant will not be able to fill out his or her own passport form. A parent will have to fill out the forms, and a parent will have to aid in the passport photo process.
Since the children will not be able to sign the infant pasport, 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.
If a child is not yet 16 the passport can only be obtained if consent is given by the parents. The obvious reason for this is so that one parent does not get the passport and take the child out of the country without the knowledge of the other parent. This will not be a problem for parents that are still together, but if there has been a divorce or separation, make sure time is allotted to get everything together so there is not a problem in securing tickets or making the trip.
Clearly, there are a lot of sound reasons behind the laws that require an infant passport application. Because international travel is always a concern for national security, it is imperative that all citizens carry their passport, even infants and newborns. Anyone with an infant considering international travel should most definitely take steps to start the passport application process as soon as possible.