Passport Rules Change to Protect Minors

To protect children from abduction, the State Department will implement a new law that requires the consent of both parents before a passport is issued to minors under 14 years of age.

Those 14 and older have the right to file for their own passports. Until now, 13 was the eligible age.

Requiring the consent of both parents makes it less likely that a U.S. passport is being used by one of the parents to abduct the child, the department said.

Children of parents who hold passports from other countries, however, often are abducted under the parent’s passport or with a passport for the child obtained from the country.