Renewing a passport for children born abroad

A child’s application is not a smaller version of an adult’s. It rests on documents the child does not have and cannot produce — the parents’ — and it tends to fail on relationships rather than on identity.

The short answer

• Start by establishing which document the child needs. A Bangladeshi passport, or an NVR endorsement in a US or British passport, depending on the child’s citizenship. These are different applications.
• A child’s file leans on the parents’ documents — their passports, and whatever establishes the parent-child relationship.
• Expect a consent requirement. Missions generally require parental consent for a minor’s application, and often have a view about whether both parents must sign or attend. Ask before you plan the trip.
• The photograph is the practical obstacle. See the photo specification.

Which document does the child need?

Work it out from the child’s citizenship, not the parents’ preference:

• The child holds a Bangladeshi passport that is expiring. This is a renewal, on the e-passport track — see e-passport renewal from the USA and MRP to e-passport.
• The child was born abroad and holds only a foreign passport. Two routes exist in principle: an NVR endorsement in the foreign passport, or a Bangladeshi passport if the child’s Bangladeshi citizenship is established. Which is appropriate — and what the second one requires — is a question for your mission, and the answer can depend on how the parents’ citizenship stands.
• Neither parent is of Bangladeshi origin. Then the child needs a visa, not NVR. See NVR vs visa.

We are not going to tell you which of these applies to your family. It turns on citizenship facts we cannot see and on rules the mission publishes.

The document set

Expect the file to include, in some combination: the child’s birth certificate, the child’s existing passport if there is one, both parents’ passports, and something evidencing the parents’ Bangladeshi status where the claim runs through them. The exact list, and the number of copies, is published by your mission — work from their checklist.

The recurring failure here is name consistency across generations. A child’s birth certificate names the parents; the parents’ passports name them too; and the two do not always agree, particularly where a name was transliterated differently, or where a mother’s name appears in a maiden form on one document and a married form on another. Check this before you submit, and bring whatever reconciles it. Applications with unexplained mismatches are referred back rather than refused, which is worse in practice because it takes longer.

Consent and attendance

Missions generally want to see that both parents are content for a minor’s passport to be issued. How that is evidenced — a signed form, a notarised declaration, both parents appearing, one parent with documentation — differs by mission and can differ by circumstance.

Where parents are separated, where one parent is abroad, or where one parent has died or cannot be located, there is usually a route, but it is a route with specific evidentiary requirements. Raise it with the mission early and in writing rather than turning up hoping to explain at the counter.

Photographs and biometrics

Two practical points.

First, the photograph. Children are held to the same framing standard while being least able to comply. Lay a baby on a plain sheet of the required background colour and shoot from directly above; for a toddler, put the person getting their attention behind the camera. Expect several attempts, and do not submit one you are unsure about.

Second, biometrics. An e-passport involves fingerprint and facial capture, and how that is handled for young children is a mission question. Ask whether the child needs to attend, from what age, and what happens if they will not cooperate on the day.

Validity and the next renewal

Children’s passports are commonly issued for shorter validity periods than adults’ — but the specific rule, and how it interacts with the validity options on the fee schedule, is published by the mission and we are not going to estimate it. Ask when you apply, and put the expiry in a calendar, because a child’s passport tends to expire between trips rather than during one.

Fees follow the same pattern as adults’: the current schedule is published by the mission — check it before you send payment, as it changes. See paying mission fees, and note that a family may need separate payments per applicant.

What we could not verify

• Whether a child born abroad to Bangladeshi-origin parents should apply for a passport or for NVR, and what establishes citizenship in that case.
• The exact document list and copy count for a minor’s application at any mission.
• The consent requirement, and whether both parents must sign or attend.
• The procedure where one parent is unavailable, deceased or estranged.
• The age from which biometric capture is required, and how it is handled.
• The validity period issued to minors, and the applicable fees.

Every one of these is a mission-published rule. Ask before you assemble the file, not after.