How To Apply For A Baby’s First Passport

We’ve recently become parents and suffice it to say there’s quite a learning curve. As someone who is a bit travel obsessed, I naturally wanted to make sure Miles got a pass as soon as possible, even though we don’t have any immediate travel plans for him.

In this post, I wanted to outline the general process of applying for a newborn’s first passport, as I thought this is something other parents (or parents-to-be) might find useful.

Our experience of applying for a newborn passport

How to apply for baby’s first passport? It definitely requires some attention to detail, but it’s a bit easier than I expected. There are a few important things to understand:

• You need the baby’s birth certificate before you can apply for a passport; This is usually sent to parents after birth and may take a few weeks to arrive
• Once you have received your baby’s birth certificate I would recommend scheduling a fitting appointment first as this is usually required at least a couple of weeks in advance
• Once you have completed the application, both parents must submit the documents to a passport office; fortunately, many post offices are drop-offs, so most people don’t have to go far to do this
• You can expect standard processing to take 7-10 weeks, expedited processing 4-6 weeks and if you are traveling within 14 days you can expedite it even faster
• Once issued, the passport is valid for five years

With that out of the way, let me share my experiences in the order that I went through this process. I would like to point out that the State Department actually has a great website outlining the process which I would refer to.

Get a passport application appointment

Once you have your baby’s birth certificate, I would recommend making an appointment at a passport office first. This includes everything from post offices to town halls and libraries to the district office. For most people, this should be pretty close.

With us, the first appointment was free about two weeks in advance. So once we received Miles’ birth certificate, we made an appointment. After all, filling out the paperwork and arranging all the documents does not take very long, so waiting for an appointment is the limiting factor here.

Fill out the passport application & collect documents

If you are applying for a passport for a newborn, you must complete Form DS-11. You can either download this as a PDF and then enter everything by hand, or alternatively use the form fill-in function. I went with the latter option. Of course, you want to make sure you quadruple-check everything.

Once you print the page, you are not allowed to make any handwritten changes, so you will have to fill out the form again.

On this page you will find all the required documents, as there are sometimes several options for which documents you can submit. In our case, we collected the following documents to take to the passport office:

• A certified copy of the birth certificate and a photocopy of it; This kills two birds with one stone as it proves US citizenship for the baby and also proves the parental relationship
• Both parents need to provide ID as well as a photocopy of it, so we both provided our passports as well as photocopies of our passports
• Additionally, if both parents can attend the appointment, parental consent does not need to be provided, while if only one parent can attend, additional paperwork will need to be completed

Take a passport photo for a newborn baby

You will need to provide a passport photo of your baby and the requirements for this can be found here. If you have a newborn, this is a pretty fun exercise as it’s not exactly easy to photograph a baby who is a few weeks old (good luck getting them to open their eyes, never mind that unable to support his own neck). .

At a time when Miles was awake and alert, we had him laid on a white sheet. That seemed easier than trying to get him to sit up and hold his neck against a white background. Maybe I’m just biased, but the passport photo is probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s probably weird to share here, but new parents might just enjoy it. We then went to a drugstore to have it printed in passport size.

It’s kind of hilarious to imagine that this will be his passport photo until he’s five years old.

Pay fees for a new passport

Applying for a new passport is of course associated with costs and requires some preparation in advance. The passport office charges a $35 fee, which you can usually pay by credit card, debit card, or cash. That’s easy.

The harder part is paying the State Department. Currently you can expect the following payments:

• The cost of a passport book is $100 while the cost of a passport card is $15. So both would cost $115
• If you want to expedite the application, it costs an additional $60
• If you wish to pay extra to have it sent back to you by something other than regular mail this will cost extra, although the fee will vary; You will find out the amount of the fee during the application process

This must be paid by either check or money order made out to the US Department of State. Sometimes the passport office can also get you a money order, but you should check where your appointment is.

Submission of your passport application

We made our appointment at a post office. The process was painless but a bit disorganized. There is no dedicated area for passport appointments, you just wait in the general line. When it was our turn, we told the agent that we were going to apply for a pass and she offered to help us. I’m wondering if you even need an appointment or can just drop by.

The whole process took maybe five minutes. She was just checking our documents, our passports and filling out the section of the application that was supposed to be filled out by an officer. She “admired” Miles’ passport photo, looked at him (even though he was sound asleep) and then sent us on our way.

Track the status of your passport application

We only applied yesterday so will definitely update this post if/when the passport does actually arrive. In theory, you can track a passport application here, although it can take up to two weeks from the date of application before it even shows up as ‘In progress’.

We filed an urgent application on September 12th, so I’m hoping his passport will be in the mail by the end of October. wish us luck!

bottom line

Applying for an infant’s first passport was easier than I expected. Simply wait for the baby’s birth certificate, then make an appointment at a passport office, then fill out the application, then have fun with the passport photo, then make the appointment and wait.

The whole process was painless, and it would have been even more painless if I had a printer or a check book.

If you applied for a passport for an infant, what was your experience?