K2 child, his own passport

[truemetal 0]

Iryna received her K1 visa in July in US consulate in Kyiv, Ukraine. Her son's K2 was put into here passport. We decided to get him a new "child" passport just in case (she was running low on empty pages in her passport). In the airport the airline has checked us in for the flight Kyiv-Paris, but in Paris refused to give us boarding passes for the flight to the US, saying that the child must have his own passport. Luckily we had it, so we flew to the US - and then I asked the immigration officer in Salt Lake City, he confirmed the fact that the child would not be admitted without his own passport and that people in the embassy were "idiots", since they put his visa into mom's passport.

I cannot not stop thinking about what kind of mess we would have been in if we did not get that extra passport. So beware!

PS Can we get the FAQ entry updated somehow?

[raymaga 25]

Good advice... I always thought the K-2 child had to have their own passport.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

This varies from one country to another. Some countries do not issue passports to children under 18 (under 16 in some countries), and require children to travel on their parent's passport. This is to prevent child abduction. In those countries, a child's visa is always attached to the accompanying parent's passport.

Generally, Ukraine does not issue international passports to children (there is an exception if the child is adopted by a foreigner). They issue "Travel Document for a Child", which looks similar to a passport.

[Iuliia+Nick 0]

JimVaPhuong

But how old is her child? Do you know if that passport is for some age. I heard that passport is only for kids after 7. Or not? Thanks!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Iryna received her K1 visa in July in US consulate in Kyiv, Ukraine. Her son's K2 was put into here passport. We decided to get him a new "child" passport just in case (she was running low on empty pages in her passport). In the airport the airline has checked us in for the flight Kyiv-Paris, but in Paris refused to give us boarding passes for the flight to the US, saying that the child must have his own passport. Luckily we had it, so we flew to the US - and then I asked the immigration officer in Salt Lake City, he confirmed the fact that the child would not be admitted without his own passport and that people in the embassy were "idiots", since they put his visa into mom's passport.

I cannot not stop thinking about what kind of mess we would have been in if we did not get that extra passport. So beware!

PS Can we get the FAQ entry updated somehow?

Strange. Our younger son is (was) in Alla's passport and has traveled back and forth multiple times with no problem including his intial entry. Ukraine does not require children to have their own passport until age 18. We only recently received a child passport for Pasha (after he received his green card and no longer needs a visa) so that he can travel without Alla.

Had the visa been in your fiancee's passport, their would have been no problem, except possibly from idiots that do not know what they are doing. You will run into them and YOU need to be prepared to train them.

Good advice... I always thought the K-2 child had to have their own passport.

It is wrong information, not good advice.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

JimVaPhuong

But how old is her child? Do you know if that passport is for some age. I heard that passport is only for kids after 7. Or not? Thanks!

You are correct. What Pasha has is not truly an international passport. It is a travel document which allows international travel without the accompaniment of his mother (he remains in her international passport) When he travels with Alla, they use her passport only, We had to receive permission from the natural father to get this document, something that was easier to obtain than the intial letter allowing him to leave, but may not be for all people. Being added to a parents passport requires only the permission of that parent (this is all Ukraine specific)

In fact, since we live 6 miles from Canada and Montreal is our nearest city, Pasha travels internationally very often by himself and with us (he frequently plays in school sports games against teams in Quebec) and has no problem just with his green card (for Canada)

Our older son has his own international passport which he was not allowed to be issued until age 18. He was 18 when he had his interview and had his visa placed in his passport. Pasha, age 13 at the time, had his in Alla's passport. No problems whatsoever.

[truemetal 0]

Had the visa been in your fiancee's passport, their would have been no problem, except possibly from idiots that do not know what they are doing. You will run into them and YOU need to be prepared to train them.

It is wrong information, not good advice.

I am not trying to say I know the ultimate truth , my advice is that K1/K2ers who are about to fly to the US have a choice:

a) Get the passport/travel document for the child (IMHO it is not too expensive and does not require too much of efforts), fly risk-free

b) Leave the child only registered in the parent's passport and face the risk that you will encounter idiots, who will try to send you back home.