New passport rules set to change in 2008

[unhappycamper]

New passport rules set to change in 2008
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, December 4, 2007

SEOUL — New passport regulations go into effect early next year, including a rule that increases the age of a child needing consent from both parents in order to travel abroad, according to a U.S. Embassy official.

The rule is meant to hinder child abductions and runaways, said Hale VanKoughnett, chief of American Citizen Services at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. To that cause, the State Department will change the age of a “minor” for passport purposes from 13 to 15, he said.

That means that starting Feb. 1, all children 15 and younger must be accompanied by both parents in order to apply for a passport.

“Both parents need to appear with the child,” VanKoughnett said during a telephone interview on Thursday. The parents and child must appear at an overseas consular office or embassy, a military passport agent’s office (such as a base legal office), or a passport agent’s office in the States (such as a post office or courthouse).

The State Department will accept a notarized statement on behalf of a parent who cannot attend, he said. This often happens in military families, where one parent is deployed, and the other is with the child, he said.

Also, in the case of divorce or separation, the State Department will continue to review court documents that spell out custody arrangements in order to determine whether one or both parents should be involved in the passport application process, he said.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50698