From this Friday, May 8, parents with child support debt exceeding $2,500 risk having their passport revoked by the administration.
This is a radical and surprising decision! The United States has implemented new legislation stating that divorced parents with child support debt could now have their passport revoked. This would effectively prevent them from traveling abroad. “This measure contributes to the well-being of American children by imposing serious consequences for late child support payments,” said the US State Department in a statement to the Associated Press.
Specifically, this measure targets parents with child support debt exceeding $2,500, or 1,844 euros. While emphasizing that child support is a “legal and moral obligation of parents to their children,” the State Department ensures that services will prioritize debts that are deemed “significant.” They promise that the passport will be returned to the “bad payer” as soon as they pay their child support. The first affected will be those who owe over $100,000 in child support arrears: and there are nearly 500 of them!
In effect starting today
American law has included this provision since 1996, but until now, authorities could simply refuse a passport renewal to delinquent parents. The new aspect is that they could now be deprived of their right to travel at any time, starting from this Friday, May 8, based on data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Since 1996, this law has helped recover over $621 million in child support arrears, with nine recoveries of over $300,000.
