When traveling outside of the United States, all persons must have a passport; a birth certificate is no longer acceptable as a travel document. This includes countries like Canada or some Caribbean nations where the birth certificate was once accepted as an appropriate document.
You can find instructions and forms for applying for a passport for your minor child at the State Department's website. The government is also helpful enough to post current processing times for a passport here. In general, plan on at least 6 weeks processing time to get the passport after submitting the application if you don't want to pay the extra feeds for expedited service. Also take into consideration any time for applying for a visa for the country you're visiting; entry/exit requirements for countries can be found here.
For passport pictures, there are specialty places where you can get them, but it might be cheaper and more convenient to stop in to your local Walgreens or Costco to get them. The passport processing facility might also do a passport picture for you for an additional fee. Expect to pay about $10, give or take, for the passport pictures. If you're looking for a more frugal method, I used a free software called Cam to Print* for my daughter's recent visa application pictures. The software produced a 4 x 6 photo with 6 passport pictures on it; I had the photo printed at my nearby Walgreens for a total cost of 19 cents (including tax) for the six pictures. However, using this software is at your own risk; please evaluate your risk level before using.
* This software puts a lot of 'extra' software on your computer. Please be aware when adding it and use your Control Panel to remove if desired.
You can find instructions and forms for applying for a passport for your minor child at the State Department's website. The government is also helpful enough to post current processing times for a passport here. In general, plan on at least 6 weeks processing time to get the passport after submitting the application if you don't want to pay the extra feeds for expedited service. Also take into consideration any time for applying for a visa for the country you're visiting; entry/exit requirements for countries can be found here.
For passport pictures, there are specialty places where you can get them, but it might be cheaper and more convenient to stop in to your local Walgreens or Costco to get them. The passport processing facility might also do a passport picture for you for an additional fee. Expect to pay about $10, give or take, for the passport pictures. If you're looking for a more frugal method, I used a free software called Cam to Print* for my daughter's recent visa application pictures. The software produced a 4 x 6 photo with 6 passport pictures on it; I had the photo printed at my nearby Walgreens for a total cost of 19 cents (including tax) for the six pictures. However, using this software is at your own risk; please evaluate your risk level before using.
* This software puts a lot of 'extra' software on your computer. Please be aware when adding it and use your Control Panel to remove if desired.
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