How to Apply for Your Child’s US Passport in 10 Steps

Happy Memorial Weekend! May has been a very busy month for my family so we will be celebrating quietly at home, but we do have some future travel plans. Will you and your family be traveling abroad this year? If so, start applying for your passports now!

I am not going to lie to you this process is painful. It’s extremely tedious and difficult, but what made this so particularly awful was trying to figure out what all we needed and where we needed to go.

This included going to multiple different websites, portals, and appointment schedulers as well as going to physical locations for appointments (and in my case, interviews in another state).

If you want to save yourself the headache of jumping from website to website in search of answers, read on for the most comprehensive guide to applying for your child’s US Passport! Everything that you need is all here in one convenient spot.

Ideally you want to allow yourself about 8 weeks to apply for a first time passport; but before you start, gather everything that you might possibly need. This will make everything go much smoother. For your convenience, I have made a FREE downloadable checklist available here.

Step 1: Fill out form DS-11 and print it.

You can use the online form filler for this step or you can also print out form DS-11 and fill out with a black ink pen. Do not sign anything until instructed to do so by the passport interviewer and do not attach the passport photo to the application. The passport photo must be loose.

Step 2: Gather your child’s proof of citizenship.

This would either be your child’s US birth certificate, consular report of birth abroad, or certificate of citizenship. Be sure to have the original paper copy of your proof of citizenship as well as a black and white copy.

I strongly recommend that you make two copies of your birth certificates so that you can still have one copy while the original is mailed off. I did end up needing my son’s extra copy when I enrolled him into preschool.

Step 3: Compile proof that you are the parent/guardian.

• Your child’s birth certificate listing you as the parent will suffice.

• Adoption decree for an adopted child or also court paperwork listing you as a guardian will also work.

• You will need proof for each parent/guardian listed on the birth certificate or court paperwork.

Step 4: Bring valid government issued id for each parent/guardian along with a black and white copy of the front and back.

The original birth certificate or other proof of citizenship has to be mailed with the passport application, but you will get your parent/guardian ids back after it is verified by the passport interviewer.

The following are acceptable:

• US Passport
• Driver’s License
• Military ID
• Government ID
• Green Card

Step 5: Obtain statement of consent if only one parent can be present.

If you are the only parent listed on the birth certificate/custody papers, only you need to be present.

However, if another parent or guardian is listed, they will also need to be present or fill out form DS-3053 and have it signed and notarized. My husband was unable to come to our passport appointment, so he filled out two DS-3053 forms, one for each of our children.

You may also need sole custody documents, a death certificate if one parent is deceased, or other relevant court orders.

Step 6: Take a Passport Photo.

There are a few different ways that you can go about taking a passport photo for your child. Some passport offices offer this as a service, but because my husband would not be joining us for this appointment, I wanted to be in and out with my two toddlers as quickly as possible.

I opted to go to my local Walgreens and have my kids photos taken and printed there. An appointment is not necessary, but I would recommend calling your Walgreens to find out when would be the best times to come in.

If your children are very young (which mine are) I would recommend taking your photos at home where they would be more comfortable. We had a really hard time getting my one-year-old to sit for her photo because she kept reaching for mama. I ended up using the store’s camera and taking her photo myself.

If you take your photos at home, you can bring them in on a flash drive so that a Walgreens employee can plug it into the photo kiosk and edit your photos if necessary before printing.

Here are the basic guidelines for taking passport photos:

• taken less than six months ago
• use a plain white or off-white background
• head must face the camera directly with full face in view
• no glasses or hat/head covering unless for religious or medical reasons

It costs $16.99 for each photo set which includes two copies of each photo and a digital copy sent to your email. You can find a Walgreens photo location near you here.

Step 7: Know What You Owe.

The state department conveniently has a fee calculator to determine how much you may owe for your passport, but this does not include other fees like passport photos or applying for a Trusted Traveler Program like TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

A passport card is also different from a passport book. A passport card is not valid for air travel but will allow you to enter land border crossings and sea ports of entry from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. This could be especially helpful if you go on cruises often or live near a border so that you do not have to carry your full passport book every time. It is also a valid form of photo id for your child in the form of a convenient card.

Here is a basic table of what fees you can expect for a minor’s passport book and card. Note, I recommend you choose a large passport book over standard because it includes extra pages for visas at no additional charge. It is a little thicker than a standard passport but the length and width are the same.

If you need your application expedited, it is an additional $60. If you would like your passport to be mailed with 1-2 day shipping once approved, it is an additional $21.36.

You will need a check or money order made payable to the U.S. Department of State for the passport application, however the acceptance facility you choose (like a local USPS office) will likely accept a debit or credit card for their separate processing fees. Cash will not be accepted.

Application and processing fees are non-refundable.

If you have your passport photos taken and printed at Walgreens, it is $16.99.

If you apply for TSA PreCheck, it is $76.75 per adult. A minor cannot apply on their own.

If you apply for Global Entry, it is $120 per adult and includes TSA PreCheck. Children are free if they have a parent already in Global Entry or have a parent applying for Global Entry however they must have their own Trusted Travel Program Account.

Step 8: Schedule and attend your passport interview.

The easiest way to do this is to schedule with your local USPS office using this appointment scheduler.

This was the step that I dreaded the most because the only time that I could take my children was during nap time. I was worried that there would be a wait, we would be stuck there a long time, and my children would be cranky.

Fortunately this ended up being the easiest step because I had all of our documents ready and we took our passport photos ahead of time. We were in and out in less than 10 minutes.

Step 9: Track your passports and the return of your birth certificates.

This may seem like an obvious step, but your passports and birth certificates are returned to you separately so you want to make sure that you get everything back. This is why I recommend making extra copies of your birth certificates just in case you need them in the 3-6 weeks they would be mailed off. In our case, we got our passports first and our birth certificates came back in the mail about 5 days later. If you applied for a passport card, this will also come as a separate mailing.

Step 10: (Optional) Apply for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

I strongly recommend that you apply for a Trusted Traveler Program. Going through TSA and customs is already a nightmare even without small children; but it is especially gruesome with tired children, carseats, strollers, and luggage.

If you don’t intend on traveling abroad very often, then you may only need or want TSA PreCheck.

TSA PreCheck expedites traveler screening by allowing trusted travelers to pass through TSA without the need to remove shoes, belts, 3-1-1 liquids, laptops, or light jackets. Children 17 and under can join an adult with TSA PreCheck when it is listed on their boarding pass. In order to do this, you must have the adult’s Trusted Traveler Program’s known traveler number/membership number.

TSA PreCheck costs $76.75 per adult. Check with your existing credit cards because some may include TSA PreCheck as a free benefit.

Apply for TSA PreCheck here. Once pre-approved, schedule your TSA interview with a local center here.

TSA PreCheck has about a 90% approval rate with an average processing time of 3-5 days and a maximum of 60 days.

Global Entry expedites the customs process when re-entering the USA by eliminating the need to fill out paperwork. Global Entry also includes TSA PreCheck.

Each traveler needs their own Trusted Traveler Program or TTP account, and you need an individual email for each account. This means you will need to create an email for each of your children. You need to have your passports in hand before you can apply for Global Entry.

Apply for Global Entry here. Once pre-approved, you will need to schedule interviews for each Global Entry applicant at an international airport here. This is where I ran into a problem because I only had a regional airport in my city.

Our nearest international airport was an hour and a half away, but it did not have four available interview appointments available until four weeks out. By the time we got our children’s passports, our trip was five weeks out. I searched the next closest international airport to us which was two hours away. It was in the next state but only 30 minutes farther from the original airport we wanted. This airport had appointments available within the same week.

Although it was grueling to make a four hour round trip in one day, the actual interview was pretty simple. I scheduled for the last four appointments of the day, but the agent saw our family of four all at one time. We were asked simple questions about our current address and if we had every been convicted of any crimes. All of our photos were taken, and my husband and I were digitally finger-printed. The entire interview for all four of us took maybe 15 minutes.

Global Entry costs $120 per adult, however minors are free if they have a parent already in or applying for Global Entry.

Most applications are reviewed within two weeks but can take up to 12 months or longer depending on criminal history. We were all approved by the end of the day and received our traveler numbers via the TTP portal. You will also get cards in the mail however you can use your member numbers immediately. This is important because you will need to update your boarding passes to include your TTP numbers.

Both TSA PreCheck and Global Entry are valid for 5 years after which they can be renewed for an additional fee.

Applying for your child’s passport can be a really intimidating process, but once you gather all of the required documents and schedule your necessary interviews, processing times tend to be faster than anticipated.

I started the process a little later than I would have liked (about 6/7 weeks out), but with expediting, I was able to get my children’s passports within 3 weeks. We were able to apply, schedule our interviews, and get approved for Global Entry a week after that.

This passport guide is the start of a travel series that I will be posting throughout the month of June. Please follow on my other social media for upcoming travel tips and products to make traveling easier!

I hope this guide was helpful to you. I wish I had something like this to reference when I was applying for my children’s passports. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!

Enjoy more, stress less.

Bubba and Bee