The US State Department is set to start canceling the US passports of thousands of parents who have a significant amount of unpaid child support. This move, announced on Thursday, will begin on Friday and will target those who owe $100,000 or more. Approximately 2,700 American passport holders fall into this category, according to data provided to the State Department by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The revocation program, which was first mentioned by the Associated Press in February, will soon expand to include parents who owe more than $2,500 in unpaid child support – a threshold established by a 1996 law that has not been widely enforced, state department officials said.
It was not clear on Thursday how many passport holders owe more than $2,500 as HHS is still gathering data from state agencies that monitor the figures. However, it is estimated that this could involve many more individuals than the initial 2,700.
Previously, only those applying for passport renewals would face consequences for unpaid child support. Under the new policy, HHS will notify the State Department of all overdue payments exceeding $2,500, and parents in this group with passports will have their documents revoked.
“We are expanding a common-sense practice that has proven effective in compelling parents who owe child support to settle their debt,” said Mora Namdar, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs. “Once these parents settle their debts, they will regain the privilege of having a US passport.”
Since the announcement of the program expansion in February, the State Department reported that hundreds of parents took steps to address their arrears with state authorities. The Department emphasized that the goal of these measures is to encourage parents to fulfill their obligations toward their children and comply with US law.
Even before the expansion, the State Department highlighted the success of the program as a tool in collecting overdue child support payments. Since its implementation in 1998, states have recovered around $657 million in arrears, including more than $156 million from over 24,000 individual lump-sum payments in the past five years.
Individuals whose passports are revoked under this program will be informed that their documents are no longer valid for travel and must apply for a new passport once their child support debts are settled. Those overseas at the time of revocation will need to visit a US embassy or consulate to obtain an emergency travel document for return to the US.
