Getting a passport for a child in the United States takes about four to six weeks with routine processing, or two to three weeks if you pay the $60 expedite fee.1U.S. Department of State processing time estimates as reported in the source file. Those windows start the day a processing center scans the application into its system, not the day you hand it over at the post office, so add a few days of mail time on each end when you’re counting backward from a trip.
The Three Processing Speeds
The Department of State offers three timelines, and which one you get depends on what you pay and how close your travel is.
Routine service runs four to six weeks from the date the processing center receives the application. It’s the default when you don’t add anything extra. Expedited service runs two to three weeks and costs an additional $60 on top of the standard fees. Both estimates cover only the government’s review and printing time.
The third option is an urgent travel appointment at a regional passport agency or center. This is reserved for families whose child is flying internationally within 14 calendar days, or who need a foreign visa within 28 calendar days. You have to book the appointment through the State Department’s online system and bring proof of imminent travel, such as a flight itinerary or cruise booking. Regular acceptance facilities like post offices and libraries can’t handle urgent cases; only passport agencies and centers can, and they see applicants by appointment only.
What the Week Estimates Don’t Include
The four-to-six and two-to-three week ranges cover verification and printing. They don’t cover the mail time on either end. Your application travels from the acceptance facility to a processing center, and the finished passport travels back to you. Paying for 1-3 day return delivery, currently $22.05, speeds up the shipment back to your house but does nothing to the review itself.
Peak season matters too. From roughly March through August, applications pour into processing centers and turnaround drifts toward the longer end of each range. If your trip is in July, six weeks may become seven or eight in practice. Build in a buffer.
What Can Slow You Down
The timeline assumes a clean application. A few things routinely add weeks.
Both parents or legal guardians must appear in person and sign Form DS-11 for any child under 16. This two-parent consent rule exists to guard against international parental child abduction, and there’s no shortcut around it. If one parent can’t be at the acceptance facility, they need to submit Form DS-3053, a notarized Statement of Consent, together with a photocopy of their ID. The DS-3053 is only valid for 90 days from the notary date, so don’t notarize it months ahead of the application.
When the second parent’s consent genuinely can’t be obtained, the applying parent files Form DS-5525 explaining the circumstances. The State Department accepts specific reasons: a parent whose location is unknown, a parent who is incarcerated, domestic violence, or a court order granting sole custody. Vague explanations get rejected. Documented ones, backed by custody orders or death certificates, are more likely to clear.
Documents can hold things up too. The child’s citizenship evidence is usually a certified birth certificate showing full name, place and date of birth, parent names, and the seal of the issuing office, with a filing date within one year of birth. If the birth certificate doesn’t meet those requirements, the State Department will consider secondary evidence such as hospital birth records, baptismal certificates, early medical or school records, and sworn statements from people with direct knowledge of the birth. Those alternatives generally need to have been created within five years of birth.
Any document not in English needs a certified word-for-word translation, signed by a translator who is not a family member and has no personal stake in the application. Missing or improper translations bounce the file back.
On the DS-11 itself, don’t sign ahead of time. The acceptance agent has to witness the signature. And if your child doesn’t yet have a Social Security number, enter all zeros and include a signed statement declaring under penalty of perjury that no SSN has ever been issued.
Applying in Person
The child has to appear in person at an authorized acceptance facility, along with the required parent or parents. Acceptance facilities include many post offices, public libraries, and county clerk offices; the State Department’s website and USPS.com both have location search tools. Many locations now require appointments, so call before you drive over.
At the appointment, the agent administers an oath, watches the parents sign the DS-11, checks IDs, reviews the original citizenship documents and the photo, and seals everything for secure mailing to a processing center. You’ll leave with a receipt containing your application number, which you’ll use for tracking. The $35 execution fee is collected on the spot by the acceptance facility; the application fee, expedite fee if any, and any delivery upgrade go in a separate check or money order made out to “U.S. Department of State” that ships with the file.
Tracking and Delivery
Once the application is in the system, you can check status at passportstatus.state.gov using the child’s last name, date of birth, and last four digits of the Social Security number. The status will move from “In Process” to “Shipped” when the passport has been printed and sent out.
The passport and the original supporting documents come back in two separate mailings. That’s intentional, so a single lost envelope doesn’t take everything. The passport itself usually arrives first, with the birth certificate and other originals following a few weeks later. Faster return shipping applies to the passport, not necessarily to the documents.
Plan Ahead for the Next One
A passport issued to a child under 16 is valid for five years, not the ten years an adult passport gets. And a child’s passport cannot be renewed by mail. Every time your child needs a new one, you go through the full in-person process again: Form DS-11, both parents present, fresh birth certificate, new photo, another four-to-six week wait. Most children will go through this two or three times before turning 16. When you’re planning a trip, check the expiration date early, because you’re not renewing, you’re reapplying from scratch.