US Passport for Minors 2026 — Consent, Age Rules, Documents and Fees

Why Child Passports Work Differently

A United States passport for a child is not simply a smaller version of an adult passport. Federal law treats issuance to a minor as a consent event, not just an identity event, so the State Department layers extra proof on top of the normal requirements. Two things change compared with an adult application: every minor application is submitted in person on Form DS-11 at a passport acceptance facility, and for children under 16 the consent of both legal parents or guardians is required by default.

Those two rules explain most of the friction parents run into. An adult who already holds a passport can renew by mail or online in a few minutes; a child never can, even if the previous passport was issued only five years ago and is in perfect condition. The department states plainly that you cannot renew a child passport and must apply in person each time, which means the full document set, a fresh photo, and a new acceptance-facility visit are needed for every renewal cycle.

Age drives the rest. A child under 16 gets a passport valid for 5 years and needs parental consent from both parents. A 16 or 17 year old still applies in person on Form DS-11, but the requirement softens from full consent to parental awareness by one parent, and the passport is valid for 10 years. The DS-11 application walkthrough covers the form itself; this page focuses on the rules that are unique to minors.

Start by confirming your child actually needs a passport book rather than a card. A passport card vs book comparison matters here because cards are only valid for land and sea travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda — they cannot be used for international air travel, so a family flying abroad needs the book.

Both-Parents Consent and Form DS-3053

For an applicant under 16, both legal parents or guardians must appear in person with the child at the acceptance facility. Both must sign the application. This is the default rule, and the consent requirement exists to prevent a child from being taken abroad over the objection of a parent.

If one parent genuinely cannot attend, the solution is Form DS-3053, the Statement of Consent for Issuing a Passport to a Child. The absent parent completes DS-3053 before a notary public, and the applying parent brings the signed original plus a photocopy of that parent’s photo ID to the appointment. Two practical details cause avoidable delays: notarized consent documents must be submitted within 90 days after they are notarized, and a notary stamp that has gone stale will be rejected. Re-notarize if your appointment slipped.

Consent is not only about presence. Where a court has granted sole legal custody to one parent, that parent brings the court order and typically does not need the other parent’s signature. Where the parents are married and both live at home, both simply show up. The department looks at legal authority, not marital status, so bring the document that proves who has the right to consent.

Both parents also need to prove their own identity. Bring a valid government photo ID for each parent, and be aware that the child’s evidence of citizenship — usually a certified US birth certificate — will list the parents’ names, which the agent compares against the IDs presented. Mismatches in name spelling are one of the most common reasons applications are held.

Every Child Application Is In Person

There is no exception to the in-person rule for minors. Form DS-11 must be submitted at a passport acceptance facility — a post office, a public library, a county clerk or another authorized facility — or at a passport agency or center if you qualify for urgent travel. You complete DS-11 online, print it, and sign it only in front of the acceptance agent. Signing early invalidates the form.

The acceptance agent verifies the child’s identity and citizenship evidence, witnesses the signatures, seals the envelope, and forwards it to the State Department. The $35 acceptance fee, often called the execution fee, is paid to that facility separately from the passport application fee, and the two payments must not be combined into one check or money order.

Appointments are strongly recommended at facilities that take them, because many locations cap the number of passport applications accepted each day. Book early in the week and early in the travel season. If international travel is already booked inside the 14-day window, the facility route is usually too slow — you would instead seek an urgent appointment at a passport agency or center, which is covered in our emergency passport guide.

Photos must be supplied for the child as well: a 2x2 inch color photo on a plain white background, taken within the last 6 months, with a neutral expression and both eyes open, no glasses and no hats. Infants should be awake with eyes open. Our passport photo print sheet maker produces a compliant 4x6 sheet you can print at home or at a store.

Age Rules: Under 16 vs 16 to 17

The State Department splits minors into two groups, and the difference is more than cosmetic. Under 16 applicants need consent from both parents, receive a 5-year passport, and can never renew. Applicants aged 16 or 17 need only parental awareness from one parent, receive a 10-year passport, and still must appear in person on DS-11.

For 16 and 17 year olds the practical question is how much parental involvement is required. The department asks for parental awareness rather than formal consent: one legal parent or guardian should be aware that the application is being made. If the teenager has an acceptable photo ID of their own, a parent does not have to sign. If the applicant does not have an acceptable photo ID, a parent or guardian who can present acceptable photo ID must sign the application together with them.

A teenager applying alone should still bring a parent’s photo ID as a fallback, plus the same evidence of citizenship and the same photo requirements. Turn 18 does not change anything about an existing passport, but an applicant who turns 18 after the application is submitted is processed under the rules that applied when the application was received.

What to Bring to the Appointment

Gather everything the night before. Missing items are the single biggest cause of a wasted appointment slot, and rebooking can cost weeks during peak season.

• Proof of the child’s US citizenship — usually a certified US birth certificate. A Consular Report of Birth Abroad works for children born abroad. Bring the original and a photocopy.
• Proof of the parents’ relationship to the child — the birth certificate listing both parents normally satisfies this, along with a marriage certificate or divorce decree if names differ.
• Photo ID for each parent or guardian — a valid driver’s license, passport or government ID, plus a photocopy of each.
• Consent paperwork — notarized Form DS-3053 plus a photocopy of the absent parent’s ID, or the sole-custody court order, if applicable.
• Form DS-11 — completed online and printed, but not signed until the agent witnesses it.
• One 2x2 inch passport photo for the child, meeting the current photo rules.
• Payment — separate payments for the application fee and the $35 acceptance fee, by check or money order.

Bring originals and copies. The facility keeps photocopies in many cases and returns originals, but rules vary by location, so duplicating the paperwork avoids a same-day trip to a copier. If a document is in a foreign language, bring a certified English translation with the original.

One more check before you leave the house: the child must appear physically. A sleeping infant is fine, but a child who is represented by a photograph or by a grandholder standing in is not. Every applicant, from a newborn to a 17 year old, must be present for the acceptance agent to verify identity.

Validity and Renewing a Child Passport

A passport issued to an applicant under 16 is valid for 5 years. This is a frequent surprise for parents who assume ten. The shorter term is deliberate: children’s facial features change quickly, so the department re-verifies identity more often. A passport issued at age 3 expires at age 8, well before the child could use it for a teenage trip.

Because the book cannot be renewed by mail, the renewal process is identical to the first application: complete Form DS-11, gather the full document set, book an acceptance-facility appointment, appear in person with the child, and pay the application fee plus the $35 acceptance fee again. The old passport must be submitted with the application. If the previous passport is lost, stolen or damaged, the replacement route changes — see our lost passport replacement guide for Form DS-64.

Timing matters more with a 5-year clock. Start checking expiry about six months before any international trip. Most countries require at least six months of passport validity beyond your dates of travel, so a book with eight months left can still fail an airline check-in. Our passport validity checker tells you how much validity remains and flags destinations with the six-month rule.

Once a child turns 16, the passport they hold still runs on its original 5-year term, but they become eligible for the 10-year book at the next application. From age 16 onward they also become eligible to renew by mail with Form DS-82 once they meet the other renewal conditions, which makes the first post-16 application the last one that requires an acceptance facility visit for a decade.

One-Parent Cases and Special Circumstances

Not every family can produce two parents at a post office on a Tuesday afternoon, and the department has forms for each pattern. Using the right one is the difference between a five-minute acceptance and a rejected application.

Form DS-5525 is the statement of special family circumstances. It is used when one parent or guardian cannot locate the other, or when the other parent refuses to consent. The statement should explain, in specific detail, what has been done to reach that parent: letters sent, addresses tried, phone calls placed, and the dates involved. Vague statements are the ones that come back with a request for more evidence.

If consent is being withheld as leverage in a custody dispute, contact the National Passport Information Center at 1-877-487-2778 before your appointment. In cases where a court order addresses travel, bring the order itself — judges often include explicit passport and travel provisions precisely so the department can act on them.

Families in this situation should also budget extra time. Once a DS-5525 or a custody question enters the file, the application moves to a more careful review, and you cannot predict the outcome from the appointment desk. Build the delay into your travel planning rather than discovering it two weeks out.

Child Passport Fees 2026

Fees are split into two payments that must be made separately: the application fee goes to the Department of State, and the $35 acceptance fee goes to the facility that accepts your application. Expedited service and return delivery are optional add-ons.

Expedited service reduces processing to roughly 2 to 3 weeks instead of the routine 4 to 6 weeks, and neither figure includes mailing time in either direction. Families with a fixed departure date should add up to two weeks of postage on each end when working backwards from a trip. For a child travelling in under two weeks, the mail route is not viable at all — that is a passport agency appointment.

Payment must be by check or money order, one payment for the application fee and a separate payment for the acceptance fee. Passport book fees for a child are not prorated, and adding a card later means filing a fresh application rather than paying the difference. If you want both products, buy both at the first application.

Use the free passport renewal fee calculator to total a mixed family application before you write the checks, and confirm current amounts on travel.state.gov on the day you file — fee schedules change on short notice and published guides lag behind.

Frequently Asked Questions