Traveling with children is often a crazy idea- even locally. Taking all three hooligans to the grocery store feels like an excursion requiring preplanning and a well packed diaper bag and car. Since traveling is challenging no matter where we go, we had the brilliant idea to take our children international.
I had the privilege to travel in high school to Spain, where I was first bitten by the travel bug. I then spent 4 years abroad in Ireland for a graduate program. During that time, I was blessed to travel Europe and a bit of Asia. I think it is important to expose my children to different cultures and experiences to allow them to decide on whats important to them and how they want to live their lives.
Unfortunately, that does mean I need to navigate all the red tape that is the government to get my children passports. We have a 5- year old (Bug), a 2-year old (Bean) and a 2 month old (Beastie). My three kiddos are the light of my life, however, bringing them all into a government facility to fill out applications and take pictures and be quiet- was not my idea of a fun and quick trip. It is important to complete this in the most efficient method for your family. That being said, here is my recommendations:
1- Book an appointment for all your children on the same day, at the same time. Or with back to back appointments. Both parents need to be present. For us, it was much easier to find a 1 hour window for us both to be off work- its the government so you typically need to go Monday thru Friday- than to find 3 separate days to go for a 15 minute appointment.
This has an additional benefit for younger kids as you can manage all the passport renewals together. Children under the age of 16 years old have a passport for only 5 years. If all the appointments are on the same day, they are typically approved on the same day and will expire on the same day. I don’t know about you, but my children have melted my brain. The fewer dates I need to remember the better for everyone.
2- Book your appointment at a facility that also does photos. You can take your kids to a Walmart or AAA facility to have passport photos done, but honestly, finding another time or three to get photos done and wrangle 1 to 3 children was more hassle than I wanted. We were able to get the photos done with the application on all three children and were out the door in an hour. No extra stops, no extra visits.
3- Have all your paperwork ready to go.
For each child have the following:
- Passport application: fill this out prior to booking your appointment. Nothing is more irritating than trying to fill out applications last minute and realizing you forgot something. When filling out hair and eye color for children, it honestly does not matter what you put as long as it matches what any reasonable person would see. For my 2 month old, I had to guess since in five years, her eyes are unlikely to be the hazel they are today and my 2-year old is unlikely to have white blonde hair (my children tend to change hair color several times in the first 5 years).
- Certified copy of Birth certificate
- Copy of Birth certificate
- Copy of mom’s drivers license (FRONT and BACK)
- Copy of dad's drivers license (FRONT and BACK)
- I assume both parents have their actual drivers licenses on them, if not bring them, just in case
There you have it. My simple recommendations to make this Passport as painless as possible with young children. Keep exploring!