LAX_Esq

Getting around to applying for a passport for our 1 year old. The application clearly says to list the BIRTH names of both parents. And the kid's birth certificate also has the BIRTH names of both parents, as is standard practice.

Apparently wife and I are both supposed to show up in person with our DLs. My wife's DL will have her married name as her last name (her maiden name is her middle name now), so her DL won't match up to the name stated on the application and the birth certificate. How does her DL prove that she's the mother, and will there be a problem?

A million other people must have been in the same situation... am I overthinking this?

Jeannietx

Does your wife have her birth certificate?

Jeannietx

If your wife's DL has her maiden name as middle name that should cover it.

Both parents are required when getting a child's passport to keep one parent from getting child PP and then leaving the country with child.

jmastron

I have to believe you're over-thinking it, but that's easy for me to say without consequence. As others stated, the purpose is just to verify parental consent, not to authenticate the child's name history. I have to believe that if you have the kid's birth certificate with the mother's first name and mother's date of birth matching the mother's ID, and that ID's last name matching the kid's (and father's), that it will be accepted for that purpose without issue.

The maiden name being a middle name helps too but shouldn't be necessary. From what I can tell, 70% of women in the USA change their names, and only 18% take their maiden name as middle, so more than half of the mothers' IDs presented are going to be like that; surely there'd be warnings about additional documentation needed if that was an issue.

That's different, of course, from women having trouble getting their own RealID and needing documents to trace name changes since their birth certificate. Of course, in that case having a passport (in current name) helps a lot, since that eliminates the need to show a birth certificate at all (at least in California).

TGarza

This did not cause us any problems when applying for our children’s passport. If you are worried bring your marriage certificate which documents the name change for your wife.

LAX_Esq

Thanks for all the advice. I suppose I could bring an ordinary copy of the marriage certificate just in case, but I don't want to spend $29 and wait a month for the county to send a certified copy. And nobody says that's a requirement.

I do have the wife's birth certificate (again, not an extra certified copy...just an ordinary copy), but I'm not sure what that proves.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but the system just seems a little broken to me without verifying the chain of names for each parent present at the appointment. If the issue is parental consent, and the official accepting the application says "same first name and DOB, good enough for me!", I suppose a guy who had a kid with JANE DOE born 1/1/1990 could find a woman named JANE ROE who also happens to be born 1/1/1990, and bring one JANE ROE to the passport acceptance appointment. The official has no way to know whether one Jane Roe is the mother who changed her name -- or an entirely different person.

(By the way, this reminds me the stories where someone breaks up with a significant other and tries to find someone of the same name to go on a planned vacation so they can use the plane ticket.)

Hipplewm

This is to prevent child abduction
You can sign a form and get it notarized and have one parent absent - This is what we do as my wifes work schedule and the schedule for the passport appointments (all kids passports have to be done in person for the same reason) are only during normal work hours
Also - kids passport good for 5 years instead of 10 - You MUST either both be present or have the form EVERY SINGLE TIME

My daughters was going renew and end 3 months before her 16th birthday - we let it lapse for 6 months (to get to 16th B-day + 3 months) then renewed - so the next time we renew it is good for 10 years - then she will be 26 and she can renew it on her own

LAX_Esq

Good to know. I know kids passports are only good for 5 years, but figured you could renew by mail after the first time -- seems awful to keep going in, especially if you have multiple kids and the expiration dates are all staggered!

The kid has to be present, right? I'm not sure what a 1 yr old baby's presence is going to accomplish...

Travelinangel

You're overthinking it! They do this all the time and the standard docs should be fine. You can take the (non-official) marriage cert with you, but I don't think you'll need it.

And yes, baby must be present to prove that the passport is being issued to a real live human. Easy fraud prevention. It would be a very bad idea to issue passports to invisible people whom someone else claims to exist!

Hipplewm

We have multiple kids and ours are only staggered by their births (but we synced them up after others were born) and their actual issue date - which is only 1-3 weeks off.

We just make one appointment - my wife signs the forms and has them notarized at work - I take the kids in - get pictures - show my ID and give them the forms from my wife (1 per kid) and we do everything at once - they do the money orders (one per application) and I make one payment to the USPS.

We typically do it the week after Christmas and all my kids passports expire mid Feb roughly

No more for me - the last one turns 16 before her passport expires

I am also retired military, so we all renew our ID cards for dependents the same day (2 birds one stone thing)

TGarza

He is definitely over thinking the child application process. I suggested the marriage certificate just to prove how simple it is to prove a name change at marriage.

jmastron

Almost -- 16-17 year olds still need to apply in person one last time; she'll get a 10-year passport and THEN will be able to renew that by mail in 10 years. And she'll still need to show "parental awareness", but it's a lot less strict than for under 16 -- one parent appearing, a signed note (with copy of ID), or apparently even just having the parent write the check from their account is sufficient.

Hipplewm

Correct, i should have clarified - it is very close to an initial passport for an adult, minimal hoops to jump thru etc.