Falling behind on child support could affect many different aspects of your daily life as well as your future. Whether you lose your driving privileges, have difficulty sleeping due to stress or face other hardships, child support arrears can shatter your life. In fact, you could even lose your U.S. passport (or the ability to successfully apply for a passport) if you do not stay caught up.

It is critical to familiarize yourself with passport denial over child support if you owe arrears. Moreover, make sure you go over your options to get caught up (or avoid falling behind in the first place) if you owe support.

Passport denial due to child support

The administration for Children and Families goes over passport challenges that you could encounter if you do not stay current on child support obligations that you have. If you owe $2,500 or more in child support arrears, the U.S. government will not process your passport application if the child support agency in your state informed them of your arrears.

Passport revocation over child support

On top of denial, the government also revokes valid passports belonging to parents who owe more than $2,500 in back support. For example, if you need to add pages to your passport, change your name, repair your damaged passport or update your picture, the government could revoke it when you give it to an embassy representative or passport agent.

Without a passport, you could miss out on an important event in your family or a crucial business trip, which highlights the importance of staying current on child support payments.