Although some people seem to think otherwise, infants engaging in international travel must have a valid U.S. passport. All U.S. citizens must have a valid passport for international travel. An passport is very similar to normal passports, with a few exceptions.

There are plenty of people that merely shake their head as the prospect of having to have a passport for their child. First and foremost, it is still a matter of national security. If children were able to come in and out of the country with no checks and balances, pure chaos could ensue. As any parent can imagine, this could lead to plenty of legal problems.

Requiring passports for infants is also an issue of human rights. Requiring children and infants to carry passports helps to seriously curb illegal human trafficking. By requiring infant passports, the government has made it much more difficult to deal in the illicit trafficking of children.

The infant or child will get their passport in much the same way that an adult does. It goes without saying that the child will not be able to do this on their own, so mom and or dad are going to have to do all of the work in order for a valid passport to be obtained. In addition to the forms, do not forget to get the passport photos of the child.

Since an infant cannot sign their own name, mom and or dad are going to have to handle the task for them. It is actually a co-signature that goes on the passport until the child can sign the passport by themselves. When the child is able to sign their own name, the passport can be renewed with their actual signature on the passport.

In order for the co-signature to be valid, the parent will have to sign their child’s name and then their name next to it along with their relationship. In other words, it would read: child’s name, parents’ signature and then mother, father or guardian in parenthesis. The ideal situation would be that the parent that is signing the passport would actually be accompanying the child on the trip. This could alleviate any challenges that may be faced going through customs.

When a child that is under the age of 16 is getting a passport, there must be permission given by both parents. For married couples, this is obviously not a problem. However, if the parents are divorced or separated and living far away from each other, they still have to have both signatures on the form. This is done so one parent does not just leave the country with the child without the other parent knowing about it.

It may have seemed a little silly before reading all of this as to why an infant U S A passport is required, but it should be clear now. Unfortunately, international travel is not always about business or fun. There are a lot of people with ulterior motives that would love to be able to get children in and out of countries with no records being kept. While it can take some time, infant USA passports are a necessity and always will be.