THE DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs has warned parents whose children are still travelling on either of their parents’ passports that they should check with the embassy of the state to which they are travelling to ensure they will be allowed to enter the country.
This follows a change in passport policy in a number of countries.
“Since 2004 Irish children regardless of their age have had to obtain an individual passport in their own name but . . . some children may still be on their parents’ passports,” a department spokeswoman said. “These children may continue to travel to many countries up until the age of 16 but it appears that an increasing number of countries do not accept that.”
She said that since June 26th there had been a shift in the policy of a number of countries which previously accepted children travelling on their parents’ passports.
When asked what countries were affected, the spokeswoman said the onus was on the person travelling to contact the embassy of their destination country to check the validity of their child’s passport arrangements. She added that she expected the number of affected children to be “limited”.