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Does a passport office’s failure to catch a birth certificate name error create criminal liability for the applicant?
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Do you have a lawyer that can help with federal criminal law?
I understand that navigating federal criminal law can be quite challenging. What specific issue or charge are you facing?
Hello. Around two years ago, I submitted the passport application for my newborn. I noticed that on her birth certificate, her dad's name is missing a few letters. I went to vital records, and they said they would need a court order to amend it. I submitted the application in court. Meanwhile, I desperately wanted my daughter to fly and meet her dad overseas, so I decided to book an urgent appointment at the passport office. I presented them with all the paperwork, and they never asked me any questions about the name discrepancy, spelling, or anything else. They processed the passport, and my daughter traveled on it since then. I just realized now that we did not follow up with the application in court. I am just thinking to myself, have I committed a crime by not bringing it up to the passport officer? I was, of course, not going to lie if they had asked or noticed it. I filled out all the application forms with my husband's full name. I just did not bring it up proactively because I wanted to obtain her passport as soon as possible. There is no charge or case.
Have you already been contacted by law enforcement or received any legal documents regarding your case?
No.
Is there anything else the criminal lawyer should know before I connect you? Rest assured, they'll be able to help with your passport issue.
No.
Hello, and welcome. I specialize in criminal, family, immigration, corporate, personal injury, and civil litigation. Note: I am a private lawyer who works with the platform, and not an employee.
Hello.
Thanks for all the details.
Based on these facts, you likely did not commit a crime. Federal passport fraud requires a knowing and willful false statement intended to obtain the passport. You provided the genuine birth certificate and entered the father's actual full name. The DS-11 specifically requests each parent's full name at birth, not merely the spelling appearing on the child's birth certificate. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1542, passport fraud requires a willful and knowing false statement made to induce the issuance of a passport, so a genuine, accurately completed form does not meet that standard on its own. The passport officer had the document, could see the discrepancy, and issued the passport. You generally had no separate obligation to volunteer an explanation that was not requested. Now complete the birth certificate amendment process. Keep the court papers and corrected certificate for the child's next passport application. You ordinarily do not need to contact the State Department now unless the child's own information in the passport is incorrect or the Department contacts you.
Thank you. I am planning to amend the certificate, and I will also reach out to the passport office again to check with them once it's amended.
My husband's name has four words, and one word was missing, essentially four letters. I think when I was filling in the hospital information for the birth certificate, I missed including all four words of his name.
I don't have any concerns with the process. At the time when I went to the passport office, I had already filed the application in court. I just have not followed up with it until now. I am concerned, have I committed any crime under U.S. law by not pointing out the name discrepancy to them, because they never asked?
Federal passport fraud laws require a knowing and willful false statement intended to obtain a passport. In your case, you provided the genuine birth certificate and entered the father's actual full name on the application. The DS-11 form specifically requests each parent's full name at birth, not just the spelling on the child's birth certificate. The passport officer had access to the document, could see the discrepancy, and still issued the passport. Generally, there is no separate obligation to volunteer an explanation unless specifically asked.
I filled in all the forms with his correct name, like the DS-11 form. Everywhere they asked for my husband's information, I provided his full name. But nowhere did they ask me whether his name is missing a few letters on my daughter's birth certificate. I did not proactively and intentionally bring it up to them myself because I wanted to get her passport as soon as possible for travel.
Since they never asked me a direct question on any form or during an in-person appointment about the name discrepancy at any time until now, my voluntarily, proactively not pointing out the discrepancy to them is not a crime, knowing that I intentionally did not want to mention it because I wanted to get her passport made as soon as possible.
I am sorry again, but I am literally crying inside, desperate to know that this is not a crime.
Yes. Based on what you described, not voluntarily pointing out an unasked-about spelling discrepancy was not, by itself, a crime.
Passport fraud requires a knowing false statement. Criminal concealment generally requires more than simple silence, such as a trick, scheme, or duty to disclose.
So that means even though I knew of that discrepancy and intentionally, proactively didn't want to mention it myself because I wanted to get her passport made as soon as possible, that doesn't make me legally criminal? Now, of course, if they'd ask, I would say the truth.
Correct.
Okay, so I don't need to do anything like self-reporting or disclosure to any authority, apart from correcting the birth certificate and reaching out to the passport office once it's amended?
Correct.
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