U.S. to revoke passports of parents behind on child support, starting with highest debt

US To Revoke Passports Of People Who Owe 'Significant' Child Support Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The Department of State announced on May 7 that it would revoke the U.S. passports of parents who are significantly behind on child support payments. The department said it would work with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to revoke passports of individuals who owe “significant child support debt,” providing a link to the new guidance. “Anyone owing child support debt should arrange payment now with the relevant state child support enforcement agency to prevent passport revocation,” the State Department said in a post on X. “If outside the U.S. when their passport is revoked, individuals with significant debt will be eligible ONLY for a limited validity passport for direct return to the United States.” In a statement, the department said the enforcement is designed to put “American families first through our passport process.” Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), which was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the government can deny or revoke passports for parents owing more than $2,500 in child support. As the State Department rejects or revokes a passport, it also must send the person a notice and provide the parent with a means to contact a relevant state child support agency, according to the law. The State Department warned on its website that, under federal regulations, people who owe more than $2,500 in child support payments would be affected by the enforcement effort. Parents who owe more than that amount cannot be issued a new U.S. passport, it added. Notices of passport revocations to passport holders will soon be sent out via email or to the mailing address associated with their most recent passport application, it said. The State Department did not provide a timetable and did not make mention of the PRWORA in its statements on Thursday. Those who owe child support should contact the state to pay their debt, and can “be eligible for a new U.S. passport,” the department added. The state will then have to notify HHS to confirm that the individual has paid the debt and remove the person’s name from its records before sending that information to the State Department, a process that can take two to three weeks at minimum. But the department cautioned that a passport that has already been revoked cannot be used to travel, even if the child support debt was paid off. A passport holder who is abroad at the time of revocation will need to visit a U.S. embassy or consulate to obtain an emergency travel document that allows them to return to the United States, according to the State Department. They will also have to contact the state where the child support is owed to pay off the debt, it added. “You are only eligible for a limited-validity passport for direct return to the United States until HHS verifies repayment of the debt,” the website said. The agency did not say what would happen if the debt isn’t paid or if HHS cannot verify the repayment. Until this week, only those who applied to renew their passports were subject to the penalty. Under the new policy, HHS will inform the State Department of all past-due payments of more than $2,500, and parents in that group with passports will have their documents revoked, the department said. The State Department advised parents with child support debt to contact their state with any questions. “We are expanding a commonsense practice that has been proven effective at getting those who owe child support to pay their debt,” Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar told media outlets on Thursday. “Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privilege of a U.S. passport.” The State Department did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 17:40

An aggressive new policy from the U.S. State Department that will force a group of Americans to give up their passports. On Thursday, the department announced that it would begin revoking passports for anyone who owes more than $2,500 in outstanding child support payments. The planned crackdown was first reported by the Associated Press in February, but made official on Thursday. “Under President Trump, the Department of State is using commonsense tools to support American families and strengthen compliance with U.S. laws,” the State Department wrote on its website. “This includes preventing those who owe substantial amounts of court-ordered child support from neglecting their legal and moral obligations to their children.” The State Department has yet to officially announce a timeline for the tightened policies around delinquent child support payments, which will reinterpret an existing seldom-enforced law. The Associated Press reports that it will begin as soon as Friday May 8, and initially focus on parents who owe $100,000 or more in unpaid child support. The initial enforcement is expected to impact around 2,700 people, but the program will reportedly  soon expand to flag anyone who owes $2,500 or more – a much larger swath of U.S. passport holders. Tightened enforcement for an old law While we know little about the logic behind the Trump administration’s decision to crack down on parents who owe child support, the rule itself isn’t new. In 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act introduced new penalties for child support debt holders, but that law has since mostly been applied to block passport renewals.  Under the law’s language, the State Department “may revoke, restrict, or limit a passport issued previously” to an individual who owes more than $5,000 in child support payments, though that threshold was later lowered to $2,500. Now, the State Department says that it will proactively enforce the penalty, seeking out violations rather than responding to the ones it becomes aware of through the renewal process. People who have their passports revoked under the policy may become eligible for a passport again in the future, but only after paying any child support debt and having their record cleared with HHS. On its website, the government urges anyone with child support debt to settle their debt with the relevant enforcement agency now “to prevent passport revocation,” though no deadline is provided. Fast Company reached out to the State Department for more information about the planned enforcement, but the agency declined to provide additional details.  The Trump administration has yet to explain the reasoning behind its stricter interpretation of a long lax law, but the change likely connects to its broadly more aggressive attitude toward immigration enforcement.   In March, ProPublica reported that the Department of Homeland Security was seeking access to a vast government database used by HHS for finding people with outstanding child support debt. That set of protected data, known as the Federal Parent Locator Service, contains detailed information about every child in the U.S., their family members, and their addresses.

Although legal precedent permitting revocations has existed for 30 years, governments have typically chosen to deny renewal applications rather than revoke valid passports.

The State Department announced on Thursday that it will begin revoking passports from people who owe significant amounts in child support. Parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support payments are not eligible to receive U.S. passports. The government can also strip people of these documents under a 1996 law, which has rarely been...

Revocations will begin Friday and will initially focus on parents who owe $100,000 or more in past-due child support.

The United States Department of State says it will begin revoking the passports of parents who owe large amounts of unpaid child support. The post US to revoke passports of parents owing child support appeared first on Vanguard News.