The U.S. State Department will begin revoking the U.S. passports of thousands of parents who owe a ton of unpaid child support. The department told The Associated Press on Thursday that the revocations would begin Friday (May 8) and target those who owe $100,000 or more. That would apply to about 2,700 American passport holders, per the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
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What To Know About The Child Support-Passport Update
AP first reported plans for the revocation program in February. Soon, it will be expanded to cover parents who owe more than $2,500 in unpaid child support. That threshold was set by a little-enforced 1996 law, the State Department said. It was not clear on Thursday how many passport holders owe more than $2,500. This is because HHS is still collecting data from state agencies that track the figures. However, the $2,500 threshold could include thousands more people, officials said.
Until this week, only those who applied to renew their passports were subject to the penalty. But, under the new policy, HHS will inform the State Department of all past-due payments of more than $2,500. So, the department said, parents in that group with passports will have their documents revoked.
“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 said. “Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privilege of a U.S. passport.”
Policy Has Been Effective At Collecting Unpaid Child Support
Since the AP reported the expansion of the program on Feb. 10, the department said it had “seen data that hundreds of parents took action and resolved their arrears with state authorities since news broke that the State Department would start proactively revoking passports.”
“While we can’t confirm the causation in all of those cases, we are taking this action precisely to impel these parents to do the right thing by their children and by U.S. law,” the department said.
Even before the policy was expanded, the department said the program had been a “powerful tool” to get parents to pay what they owed. Since it began in earnest in 1998, states had collected some $657 million in arrears. That includes more than $156 million in over 24,000 individual lump-sum payments over the past five years.
What Will Happen After Passport Revocation?
Those whose passports are revoked under the program will receive notification. They will not be able to use their documents for travel. Also, they will have to apply for a new passport once their arrears are confirmed as paid. The revocation program will also affect anyone already abroad as of tomorrow. To return to the United States, the parent with unpaid debt must visit a U.S. embassy or consulate to obtain an emergency travel document.
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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
