Government plans to take away passports from Americans who owe up to $100K in child support.

State Department to Revoke Passports for Parents with Overdue Child Support

The U.S. State Department is set to revoke the passports of thousands of Americans who have significant unpaid child support, officials announced. This initiative will kick off on Friday, focusing initially on parents who owe more than $100,000 in child support that has gone unpaid.

Reportedly, about 2,700 passport holders fall into this category, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) data. Federal law permits the denial or revocation of passports for individuals with over $2,500 in unpaid court-ordered child support, as outlined in a State Department release on Thursday.

In an effort to strengthen the enforcement of this law, the State Department will be working more closely with HHS to identify parents surpassing that debt threshold. The goal, officials emphasized, is to apply pressure on those who are behind in their child support payments to meet their legal obligations.

Notably, the State Department indicated that once a passport expires, it can’t be used for travel, even if the outstanding child support is later paid. Therefore, they urged Americans facing large child support debts to reach out to their local child support agency before applying for a passport.

“To regain eligibility for a new passport, all child support debts must be settled, and it needs to be verified that the individual is no longer considered delinquent by HHS,” officials commented.

Those affected by this measure are required to cooperate with the appropriate child support enforcement agencies in their respective states. Only after these records are updated will the State Department be able to process new passport applications, a process the department says might take two to three weeks.

As of Thursday, it wasn’t clear how many passport holders owe more than $2,500 in delinquent child support, as HHS was still gathering data from state agencies. However, some officials suggested that this number could also include thousands more parents.

For passport holders who are overseas when their passports expire, they will need to get in touch with their local state agency and can visit a U.S. embassy or consulate to apply for a new passport. The State Department cautioned that these individuals may only qualify for a limited-expiry passport to return directly to the United States until their debts are confirmed paid by HHS.

“The State Department prioritizes American families in the passport process,” they stated. Passport denial programs have been implemented for years by both federal and state authorities as a strategy to enforce overdue child support obligations.