Anyone else have amazing plans for traveling with their baby? As most of you know...Kevin and I LOVE to travel and we want to make sure that we have everything lined up for when Lorelai takes her first international trip. (we are hoping for a quick one this Spring....but we will see). Waiting on a passport is the LAST thing you want to deal with when it comes to hindering your travel plans.
My sister also loves to travel, and her little girl is about 4 months old now, so we decided to work on her passport photo for her application until Lorelai arrives and we can apply for her passport!
A couple interesting facts about passports for babies:
Your baby's passport is good for 5 years, just like any other minor. I know a baby changes a ton during those 5 years, but may as well get it early if you think you'll be planning a trip for him/her!
If you've never gotten a passport for a minor child before (if you got one when you were a minor your parents probably took care of this) there is a bit of a different process here compared to renewing your adult passport. For example, I had no idea both parents needed to show up in person to an appointment (or have a notarized form from the absent parent).
Do I even need a passport?
This is post current as of the end of May 2017, so please double check anything written in here as things could certainly change!
When in doubt, get a passport. You never want to be stuck not being able to travel because you don't have one for your little one. Its $105 and worth every penny if you have any doubt as to whether you need one.
-If you are flying into any other country, the answer is YES you need one, even if your child is 1 day old. If you are driving or cruising, the answer is maybe not...but I still suggest doing it.
-If money is truly an issue, a passport card works for DRIVING or CRUISING only into Mexico, Canada, Caribbean or Bermuda (more info here) It is $40 for a minor.
-If you are on a closed loop cruise (start/end in the U.S) technically you don't need either as of 2009, but I highly suggest confirming that with your cruise line. Also, I would still get a card, because laws could change before your cruise. You do need other documents like a birth certificate.
-Both a passport card and book are good for 5 years. A passport book is much more usable, and more common...so again, I would push for that.
The Paperwork
You can complete this online or print and do a hard copy. This should go without saying, but you can't apply for a passport til you have all the baby basics like social security and birth date. You can, however, get started on it before hand just so you have it all ready to go. For example, I had no idea where Kevin was born when I was filling out this paperwork. From talking with friends, rumor has it it can take a few weeks to get your child's social security number after birth. Ours took a week.
You can find passport forms here
The Fees
For a minor right now the fee is $80 for the application and $25 for the execution. You can find more on the fees here
The Photograph
This is the most technical and difficult in my opinion! The rules for passport photos are the same whether you're 5 days old or 80 years old. White background, straight on, eyes open...it's not always easy to do this with a newborn. Here are some requirements:
White background
Baby's face straight forward
Both ears showing (as a way to show that the face is straight on)
Mouth closed/neutral expression
Eyes open
No other body parts in the photo (hands, arms fingers etc.)
No other objects in the photo (pacifiers)
No shadows
No bows/hats etc. (they say no head coverings...I'd stay on the safe side and not do bows)
Color photo
No red-eye
Non-blurry (if they are moving a lot and its blurry you need more light to get your auto on your shutter speed up)
Taken within the last 6 months
Just an example of a few of the many tries it took to get my daughter's photo
Sound like a lot of work? Yeah, it certainly can be. Here are a few tips I suggest:
-Snap a bunch of photos. Babies move a lot...just keep going.
-Use a friend to help. One to keep the baby in place
-Don't Photoshop the photo together. It's tempting to just Photoshop out a finger or something, but don't do it. That's a big no-no in passport photos.
-Take the photo using natural light (from a window) but diffused so in the shadow not direct sun. You're going to get the best white balance that way so you're background stays white looking and not yellow from a light bulb.
-Babies don't really have necks....so to accommodate take the photo further back than you think because you'd rather have too much photo and crop it out, then not enough and have to retake because the baby's head is too large for the photo dimensions required. (see "cropping" below)
Cropping
The toughest part I find about passport photos is knowing the dimensions that the baby's head is to fit in. The photo is a 2x2 inch in size, and the head must be between 1-1 3/8 inch from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. Rather than trying to guess at this, I found a great website that will help you crop the photo for you. And they size it to be printed on a 4x6 photo so you can send it to your local print store for a few cents to have printed.
The US passport office also has a cropping tool online here (I didn't like this one as much, as it seemed to reduce the resolution and didn't have a way for you to size it to print on a 4x6, so you want to make sure to physically take out a ruler and measure the photo when you print to make sure it doesn't get stretched)
Timing
Timing is the same as any other passport. Right now they anticipate it will take 4-6 weeks weeks. I've always been of the opinion that it takes longer to get your passport in the spring because so many people are trying to travel internationally for spring break or summer. However, I'd suggest never booking a trip until you have the passport in hand because you never know what will come up!
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