State Department to Revoke Passports for Child Support Defaulters
The U.S. State Department announced plans to start revoking passports for parents who have fallen behind on child support payments. This process will kick off on Friday, specifically targeting those who owe more than $100,000.
Additionally, individuals owing over $2,500 in court-ordered child support may face passport denial or have their current passports seized, as stated by the agency.
“We are expanding common-sense practices that are proven to be effective in getting those who owe child support to pay their debts. Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privileges of a U.S. passport,” commented Mora Namdar, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs.
Since the program commenced in 1998, it has enabled states to recover $657 million in back child support. Of this, over $156 million has been collected through more than 24,000 individual lump-sum payments since 2021.
After announcing an expansion of the program on February 10, the department noted an increase in compliance, reporting that many parents resolved their past due payments upon hearing the news about passport revocations.
“Although we cannot confirm the causal relationship in all these cases, we are taking this action precisely to encourage these parents to do the right thing by their children and by U.S. law,” the department added.
Once a passport expires, it is entirely invalid for international travel until child support obligations are met. The State Department clarified that eligibility for a new passport can only be reinstated after the outstanding amount is paid to the state child support agency and the individual is removed from federal delinquency records.
After payment is made, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must update its records before the State Department can process new passport applications. This updating process can take a minimum of 2-3 weeks.
As of last week, it was unclear how many passport holders were affected by the $2,500 threshold, as HHS was still gathering data from various state agencies. However, federal officials anticipate that thousands more could be included if the lower threshold is fully implemented.
