Sending your child abroad on a trip? One thing every parent MUST do!

Is your child studying abroad for a semester? Taking that graduation trip to an exotic location? Getting the opportunity to compete in an international sports competition?

If you answered yes to any of these questions it’s likely your child has or is going to get a passport to travel. For most international travel, that passport (and maybe a visa) is usually enough to get them on their way.

In the rare chance that your child is injured, lost, arrested, kidnapped or (heaven forbid) dies, do you possess a valid passport that will allow you to immediately travel to be at their bed side? To provide the correct guidance and authorizations to medical providers? Can you meet with the foreign police to assist in the investigation? Retain local legal assistance?

Absent a valid passport, parents reduce their options for providing immediate support to their children. In many cases, remaining at home and helping from afar is the best option. In other instances, being on the ground in the foreign country may be a better option.

Processes do exist for obtaining an expedited passport, but they will require an enormous amount of effort and will still take time…..precious time that could be spent addressing your child’s needs, talking to the medical professionals who are tending to your child, obtaining second opinions, engaging lawyers and coordinating with your country’s embassy. The last thing you will want to be doing is engaging in the bureaucratic administrative tasks of getting a passport such as researching, finding and hiring a passport expediter service, gathering your birth certificate and other documents, getting adequate passport photos taken and printed, filling out applications and waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Do yourself and your child a favor and make yourself as prepared as you can to address unfortunate or unexpected scenarios overseas by ensuring that you have a valid passport ready for travel.

* Although the article specifically addresses children, the same principles are applicable to spouses, parents and other dependants.