How to Fill Out Form DS-3053: Statement of Consent for a Minor’s Passport

Form DS-3053, the Statement of Consent, is how a parent who can’t come to the passport acceptance appointment authorizes their child’s application from a distance. To fill out Form DS-3053, download the current PDF from eforms.state.gov, type or print the child’s information and your own, take the unsigned form to a notary public with a government-issued photo ID, sign and date it in the notary’s presence, and attach a clear photocopy of the front and back of that ID. The other parent then submits the original with the DS-11 application within 90 days of the notary date.¹

Who Needs to Complete This Form

Federal regulation requires both parents or all legal guardians to sign the passport application for any child under 16.² If one parent can’t be at the acceptance facility, that parent completes a notarized DS-3053, and the other parent brings it to the appointment.³

If neither parent can appear, both parents complete separate DS-3053 forms (or one notarized written statement containing the same information) authorizing a third party to submit the application. The third party brings both notarized forms, photocopies of each parent’s ID, and the child to the acceptance facility.¹

Applicants aged 16 and 17 usually apply on their own, but the Department of State may still ask for a notarized DS-3053 from a parent if it isn’t clear the parent knows about the application.⁴

Filling In the Form

Get the current version at eforms.state.gov/Forms/ds3053.pdf. You can type into the fillable PDF, which keeps the entries legible. Print on standard 8.5-by-11-inch paper, single-sided.³ Do not sign it yet.

The form asks for four things:

The child’s full legal name and date of birth, entered exactly as they appear on the citizenship evidence being submitted (birth certificate, Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or similar). A nickname or shortened name creates a mismatch.
The passport type you consent to: book, card, or both. Check the correct box.
Your full name, address, phone number, and relationship to the child. The Department of State uses this to verify consent if questions come up during processing.
The type and number of the government-issued photo ID you’ll show the notary.

Acceptable ID includes a valid or expired U.S. passport, a fully valid in-state driver’s license, a U.S. military or military dependent ID, or a current foreign passport.⁵ Whichever ID you list on the form is the one you must present to the notary and photocopy afterward.

Keep the form clean. White-out, cross-outs, and overwritten text make the document look altered, and the Department of State will reject it. If you make a mistake, print a fresh page.

Signing Before the Notary

The non-applying parent signs and dates the DS-3053 in the physical presence of a notary public authorized to administer oaths. The notary watches you sign, then applies the seal or stamp and enters the date. Your signature date and the notary’s date must match. If they don’t, the form is defective and won’t be accepted.¹

The notary block needs to be complete: venue (state and county), notary’s printed name, official seal or stamp, and commission expiration date. A missing seal or any blank field in the notary block invalidates the form. Notary fees for a single signature typically run between $2 and $15 depending on the state.

After the notary is finished, make a clear photocopy of the front and back of the ID you presented and attach it to the signed form.¹ A blurry, dark, or cropped copy will get the whole application sent back.

If You’re Outside the United States

A U.S. embassy or consulate will notarize the DS-3053 free of charge.⁶ In a long list of countries, a consular notarization is the only option the Department of State will accept, and a local foreign notary won’t do. That list includes Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Moldova, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Yemen. Even outside those countries, consular officers may ask for additional evidence when a foreign notary is used.

Getting the Signed Form to the Application

Consent is valid for 90 days from the notary’s signature date.³ If the applying parent doesn’t submit the DS-11 application within that window, the form expires and you have to sign a new one. Routine passport processing alone runs four to six weeks, so don’t run the clock down before the appointment.

The applying parent brings the original notarized DS-3053, with the ID photocopy attached, to the acceptance facility. A copy or scan of the DS-3053 will not be accepted. Along with the form, the appointment package includes the child (who must appear in person), the completed but unsigned DS-11, original or certified evidence of the child’s U.S. citizenship, proof of parental relationship, the applying parent’s photo ID plus a photocopy, a compliant passport photo, and the fees.

Mistakes That Get the Form Rejected

A handful of errors account for most DS-3053 rejections. Watch for these before you leave the notary’s office:

Signing at home before the appointment. The notary has to witness the signature. Walk in with the form unsigned.
Mismatched dates on your signature and the notary’s stamp. Even a one-day gap causes rejection.¹
A missing or illegible ID photocopy. Both sides, in focus, nothing cropped.
Waiting past the 90-day window before the applying parent submits.³
Sending a photocopy of the notarized DS-3053 instead of the original.
Corrections, white-out, or scratch-outs anywhere on the form.
The child’s name on the DS-3053 not matching the citizenship evidence exactly.

When the Department of State catches any of these, it mails a letter asking for a corrected document, and that cycle adds weeks. Double-checking the form before you leave the notary is worth the five minutes.

When DS-3053 Isn’t the Right Form

The DS-3053 works when the other parent is willing to consent but can’t be at the appointment. Two other situations need different documents.

If you are the child’s only legal parent or have sole legal custody, you don’t need the other parent’s consent. Submit certified evidence instead of a DS-3053: a birth certificate or adoption decree listing only one parent, a certified court order granting sole legal custody, a court order specifically authorizing you to obtain the child’s passport, a certified death certificate of the other parent, or a certified judicial declaration of the other parent’s incompetence.¹ These must be certified copies. A court order granting sole physical custody, without addressing legal custody, may not be enough; look for the words “sole legal custody” in the order.

If the other parent can’t be located, refuses consent, or an emergency makes notarization impossible, you file Form DS-5525, the Statement of Exigent/Special Family Circumstances, in place of the DS-3053.⁷ A senior passport authorizing officer reviews DS-5525 submissions case by case, and a passport issued this way may have limited validity.

The Form Is Sworn Under Penalty of Perjury

The DS-3053 is a sworn statement. Forging the other parent’s signature, fabricating consent, or entering false information is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1542, punishable by a fine, up to 10 years in prison, or both for a standard first or second offense, with higher maximums when the false statement facilitates drug trafficking or international terrorism.⁸ A passport obtained through a fraudulent DS-3053 can be revoked at any time.

1
U.S. Department of State. DS-3053 Statement of Consent: U.S. Passport Issuance to a Child
2
eCFR. 22 CFR 51.28 – Minors
3
U.S. Department of State. Apply for a Child’s Passport Under 16
4
U.S. Department of State. Apply for Your Passport as a 16-17 Year Old
5
U.S. Department of State. Photo ID Requirements
6
U.S. Embassy & Consulates in India. DS-3053
7
U.S. Department of State. Statement of Exigent/Special Family Circumstances
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1542 – False Statement in Application and Use of Passport