The United States Department of State says it will begin revoking the passports of parents who owe large amounts of unpaid child support.
The department told the Associated Press on Thursday that the process will start on Friday and will first target people owing $100,000 or more in child support payments.
According to figures provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, about 2,700 Americans could be affected at the initial stage.
The new action is part of a wider plan that will later include parents owing more than $2,500 in unpaid child support, in line with a 1996 US law that has not been strongly enforced over the years.
Officials said it is still unclear how many passport holders owe more than $2,500 because HHS is still gathering records from state agencies. However, they noted that the number could run into several thousands.
Before now, only people trying to renew their passports could face penalties over unpaid child support. Under the new policy, HHS will now send the names of all parents owing more than $2,500 to the State Department, which will then revoke their passports.
The assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, Mora Namdar, said, “We are expanding a commonsense practice that has been proven effective at getting those who owe child support to pay their debt.
“Once these parents resolve their debts, they can once again enjoy the privilege of a US passport.”
The State Department also said many parents had already started paying their debts after reports emerged in February about the planned expansion of the policy.
“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 US law,” the state department said.
According to the department, the policy has helped states recover large amounts of unpaid child support since it began in 1998. Officials said states have recovered about $657 million in unpaid support, including over $156 million from more than 24,000 lump sum payments made within the last five years.
Parents whose passports are revoked will be informed that they can no longer use the documents for travel. They will only be able to apply for a new passport after confirming that their child support debts have been paid.
The department added that any American whose passport is revoked while outside the country would have to visit a US embassy or consulate to obtain an emergency travel document to return home.
