How to Notarize Form DS-3053 for a Child’s Passport in Massachusetts
When one parent can’t make the passport appointment, that parent signs the Statement of Consent in front of a notary. Get the ID photocopy and the 90-day window right and the application goes through on the first visit.
By Hanson Webb, Massachusetts notary public since 2007Updated September 30, 202613 minute read
Quick answer
To notarize DS-3053, the parent who cannot attend the child’s passport appointment signs the form in front of a notary public and shows valid government photo ID. The notarized Statement of Consent then goes to the passport acceptance facility with the parent who brings the child, together with a photocopy of the front and back of the ID the signer showed the notary. The notarization has to be dated within 90 days of the day the application is submitted. At our office at 1215 Main St, Unit 115, Tewksbury, three miles from Lowell, it costs $45 and takes about 15 minutes, by appointment Monday to Friday 10 to 5. Mobile visits start at $125, and the number is 978-424-4629.
What Form DS-3053 is and when a family needs it
Form DS-3053 is the U.S. Department of State’s Statement of Consent. It is how a parent or legal guardian who can’t be at the passport appointment says, in writing and under a notary’s seal, that they agree to a passport being issued for the child. It rides along with Form DS-11, the application every child under 16 files in person.
The federal rule behind it is simple. For a child under 16, both parents or legal guardians consent to the passport. The easiest way is for both to show up at the acceptance facility with the child. When that isn’t possible, the parent who stays home signs DS-3053 in front of a notary, and the parent who goes brings it.
Families in Tewksbury and Lowell end up needing it for ordinary reasons. One parent works nights at Lowell General and can’t get the afternoon off. A parent lives in another state after a divorce. A father is deployed, or a mother is recovering from surgery and won’t be driving for six weeks. None of those are unusual, and the form exists for exactly these cases.
A typical case: a Tewksbury family books a passport appointment for their nine-year-old ahead of a February trip to see grandparents in Portugal. The father’s shift schedule changes the week before. He comes to our office on his lunch break and signs the DS-3053 in front of us with his driver’s license. He leaves with the notarized form and a copy of his license for his wife to take to the appointment. The whole thing takes about 15 minutes.
If your trip also calls for a consent letter at the airport or the border, that is a different document with a different purpose. Our guide to international travel consent forms for minors covers the letter. DS-3053 is only about getting the passport issued.
Statement of consent for a passport: which form fits your family
Before you book a notary, figure out which situation you are in. Most families need DS-3053. Some need nothing notarized at all, and a few need a different form entirely. The table below is the version we sketch on a notepad for parents at the desk.
| Your situation | What goes with the DS-11 | Notary needed? | Who signs what |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both parents attend with the child | Nothing extra for consent | No | Both parents appear at the acceptance facility and the DS-11 is signed there in front of the acceptance agent. |
| One parent can attend, the other agrees but can’t come | Notarized Form DS-3053 plus a photocopy of the front and back of the absent parent’s ID | Yes, for the absent parent’s signature | The absent parent signs DS-3053 before a notary. The attending parent signs the DS-11 at the facility. |
| Absent parent lives abroad | DS-3053 signed before a U.S. consular officer, plus the ID photocopy | Consular officer instead of a notary | The absent parent signs at a U.S. embassy or consulate and sends the original home. |
| Attending parent has sole legal custody | The court order granting sole custody | No DS-3053 | The attending parent brings the certified order. The other parent’s consent isn’t part of the file. |
| The other parent cannot be located | Form DS-5525, the Statement of Exigent or Special Family Circumstances | Ask the facility how it wants DS-5525 signed | The attending parent explains the circumstances, and the State Department decides. |
One point that confuses people. The DS-11 itself is never notarized. It is signed in front of the passport acceptance agent, and only when they tell you to sign. If you bring us a DS-11 to notarize, we will hand it back and explain why, because signing it early can mean printing a new one at the post office.
What to bring to notarize DS-3053
Only the parent who is giving consent needs to come to the notary. The child doesn’t come, and the other parent doesn’t need to be there either. The signer should bring these items.
- The DS-3053, printed and unsigned. Print it single-sided on plain paper. Fill in the child’s full legal name and date of birth, plus your own details, in black ink. Leave the signature and the date beside it blank.
- A current government photo ID. A Massachusetts driver’s license or state ID card, a U.S. passport or passport card, or a military ID. It must be unexpired. Our ID requirements for notarization guide covers the edge cases.
- A photocopy of the front and back of that same ID. The copy goes to the passport facility with the form. Make it from the ID you will show us, not an older card sitting in a drawer.
- The child’s details, exactly as on the birth certificate. Middle names and hyphenated surnames have to match the DS-11 and the birth certificate, and so do suffixes like Jr.
- Your filing date, if you know it. Tell us when the other parent’s passport appointment is. We will check it against the 90-day window before you sign.
You don’t need to bring the child’s birth certificate, the passport photos or the DS-11 to the notary. Those go to the acceptance facility with the other parent. Bringing them does no harm, but we won’t be reviewing them.
How to notarize DS-3053 at our Tewksbury office, step by step
This is how the appointment runs at 1215 Main St. It is the same routine we follow on a mobile visit, just at your kitchen table instead of our desk.
- Book once the passport appointment is set
Call 978-424-4629 or book online. Because of the 90-day rule, it is better to notarize after the filing date is on the calendar than months ahead. In-office slots run Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM, by appointment only.
- Arrive with the form filled in but unsigned
Bring the printed DS-3053, your photo ID and the photocopy of its front and back. If you forgot the copy, tell us at the start so you can sort it out before you leave.
- ID check
We compare you to the photo ID and confirm the name on the ID matches the name you wrote as the consenting parent. A mismatch here, such as a maiden name on the ID and a married name on the form, is worth fixing before anyone signs.
- Review for blanks
We look for empty fields in the child’s section and yours. Which options apply to your family isn’t ours to say, because that crosses into legal advice. We only point out what is blank.
- You sign in front of us
You sign and date the consent while we watch. This is the whole reason the form has to arrive unsigned.
- Notarial certificate and journal entry
We complete the notary section with our signature and seal, then record the act in the journal Massachusetts notaries keep under M.G.L. c. 222 § 22. You leave with the original, ready to hand to the other parent.
From the time you sit down, the whole appointment usually takes about 15 minutes. What slows it down is almost always a missing photocopy or an ID that doesn’t match the name on the form.
DS-3053 notary rules in Massachusetts: the 90-day window and the ID photocopy
Two requirements cause most of the trouble with this form, and neither one is about the notary’s stamp.
The 90-day window
The date on the notarial certificate has to be within 90 days of the day the application is submitted at the acceptance facility. Count from the notary date forward. If we notarize on October 1 and the passport appointment keeps sliding into January, the form will be too old by the time it reaches the counter.
The fix is cheap but annoying. The absent parent signs a new DS-3053 in front of a notary, with a fresh ID photocopy if the ID has changed. That is why we ask for the filing date before you sign.
The ID photocopy
The passport facility wants to see a copy of the ID the absent parent presented to the notary. Copy both sides on plain paper, and make sure it’s legible. If the license on the copy is not the one the notary saw, expect questions at the counter.
Honestly, the photocopy is the piece we see forgotten most. Parents focus on the signature and the seal and forget that the form doesn’t travel alone. Put the copy inside the folded form the moment you leave our office.
If the absent parent’s license expires between the notary appointment and the filing date, the notarization itself is still valid. But the copy will show an expired card, and some acceptance agents will ask about it. When a license is close to expiring, a U.S. passport is the cleaner ID to show us.
Mistakes that get a DS-3053 sent back
These four account for nearly every returned DS-3053 we hear about from parents. All of them are avoidable.
A notary has to watch the signature happen. If the form arrives already signed, we can’t notarize that signature as made in our presence. Print a clean copy and sign it at the desk. It costs you a sheet of paper, not a second fee, as long as it happens in the same appointment.
No current photo ID, no notarization. This is the most common reason we reschedule a DS-3053. Check the date on your license the night before. If it has lapsed, a valid U.S. passport or passport card works, and so does a current military ID.
The notarized form arrives at the post office without the copy of the signer’s ID, and the parent at the counter has no way to produce one because the ID is in another town. Make the copy before the notary appointment and keep it with the form.
The appointment was pushed back twice, and now the notary date is outside the window. The only fix is a new signature in front of a notary. Book the notarization close to the filing date, not the moment you decide to travel.
Two smaller ones are worth a mention. Names that don’t match the birth certificate cause delays, so use the child’s full legal name every time. And don’t let anyone else sign for the absent parent. Nobody signs DS-3053 on the absent parent’s behalf, and that includes a spouse or a lawyer.
When the absent parent lives out of state or overseas
DS-3053 is a federal form, so the absent parent doesn’t have to come to Massachusetts. A parent living anywhere else in the U.S. can sign it before a notary where they live and mail the original, plus the ID photocopy, to the parent who is filing. Allow for the mail when you count the 90 days.
A parent who lives abroad can sign DS-3053 at a U.S. embassy or consulate, in front of a consular officer, instead of a notary. Those offices generally book appointments for this kind of service, so the absent parent should arrange it early and ship the original home by a tracked courier.
Remote online notarization is authorized in Massachusetts, and we do it for many documents through our online notary service. For DS-3053, though, confirm with the State Department that an online notarization will be accepted before you rely on it. When in doubt, an in-person signature is the safer route for a child’s passport.
One limit we can’t work around. A notary can’t notarize for their own spouse, parent, child or sibling. If the absent parent’s brother is a notary, he is the wrong person to notarize this form.
Child passport with one parent in Massachusetts: where to file next
Our part ends when the notarized form leaves the office. The application itself goes to a passport acceptance facility. In the Merrimack Valley, that usually means a post office that takes passport applications or a city or town clerk’s office that does. Most work by appointment, and the list of facilities changes, so use the State Department’s acceptance facility search to find current options near Tewksbury, Lowell, Andover or Billerica.
The parent who files brings the child, the unsigned DS-11, proof of the child’s U.S. citizenship, proof of the parent relationship, a passport photo and the fees. The notarized DS-3053 and the ID photocopy go in the same folder. Acceptance agents check the package and have the parent sign the DS-11 in front of them. Then they send it on.
For travel coming up soon, the Boston Passport Agency handles urgent applications by appointment, and you need proof of travel such as an itinerary or ticket. The DS-3053 rules are the same there. A notarized consent that is 91 days old is still too old in Boston.
A typical case: a Lowell mother learns in late spring that her daughter’s school trip to Quebec needs a passport and the trip is only weeks away. She gets an urgent appointment in Boston. The father, who works in Tewksbury, signs the DS-3053 at our office that same week. She drives into Boston with the notarized form, the photocopy of his license and the itinerary.
If your deadline is tight on our end too, our same-day notary page explains how short-notice appointments work.
DS-3053 notary visits at home or in the hospital
Some absent parents can’t come to Main Street at all. They might be recovering from surgery or caring for a newborn. Our mobile notary service brings the appointment to them. Zone I, within 5 miles of the office, covers most of Tewksbury from $125 flat. Lowell, Andover, Billerica and Wilmington addresses usually fall in Zone II, from $199.
For a parent who is a patient, we arrange hospital bedside notary visits and coordinate the time with the nursing staff. The parent has to be alert enough to understand the form, and needs a current photo ID on hand. Wallets tend to go home with family during a hospital stay, so ask someone to bring the license back. Hospital visits are quoted individually.
Weekend visits are mobile only and carry a surcharge. Mobile fees are nonrefundable within 24 hours of the appointment, so if the passport date moves, call us early.
What it costs to notarize DS-3053 in Tewksbury and Lowell
A DS-3053 has one signer and one notarial act. At our office that is $45. A mobile visit in Zone I starts at $125 flat and includes two seals, which is useful if the same parent also needs a travel consent letter notarized. Additional signatures on a mobile visit are $35 each. The full fee schedule is on our notary pricing page.
Passport fees are separate and are paid at the acceptance facility, not to us. We don’t quote them here because the State Department sets them and changes them.
Families who live closer to Lowell often ask whether they should find a notary downtown instead. Our office is on Route 38 about three miles from downtown Lowell, and parents come to us from Belvidere and the Highlands regularly. The notary services for Lowell page has directions and mobile coverage for the city. For everything else we do from the Route 38 office, see the Tewksbury notary public page.
Questions parents ask about DS-3053 notarization
Does Form DS-3053 have to be notarized?
Yes. The consenting parent signs DS-3053 in front of a notary public, or overseas in front of a U.S. consular officer. A signature without that notarization is not accepted as consent. The notary date has to fall within 90 days of the day the application is submitted, and the form travels with a photocopy of the front and back of the ID the signer showed the notary.
How long is a notarized DS-3053 good for?
Ninety days. The date on the notary’s certificate has to fall within 90 days of the day the other parent submits the application at the acceptance facility. If the appointment slips past that window, the absent parent signs a fresh form in front of a notary. We suggest booking the notarization after the passport appointment is set, not weeks before it.
Does the child need to come to the notary appointment?
No. Only the parent who is signing the Statement of Consent needs to appear, with a current photo ID. The child goes to the passport acceptance facility with the other parent, where the DS-11 is signed in front of the acceptance agent. Bring the child’s full legal name and date of birth so the form matches the birth certificate exactly.
Can a notary in another state notarize my DS-3053?
Yes. DS-3053 is a federal form, so a notary public in any U.S. state can notarize the absent parent’s signature under that state’s rules. A parent living abroad can sign it before a consular officer at a U.S. embassy or consulate instead. Either way, the signed original and the ID photocopy have to reach the parent who is filing within the 90-day window.
What if I have sole custody of my child?
A parent with sole legal custody usually does not need a DS-3053. Instead, you bring the court order granting sole custody to the passport acceptance facility with the application. If your custody order is unclear or comes from another country, talk to a Massachusetts family law attorney before the appointment. As notaries we can’t tell you whether a particular order is enough.
What if the other parent cannot be located?
That situation calls for Form DS-5525, the Statement of Exigent or Special Family Circumstances, rather than DS-3053. The parent who is applying explains why the other parent’s consent can’t be obtained, and the State Department decides whether to accept it. Ask the acceptance facility how it wants DS-5525 signed before you book anything with us, because practice varies.
How much does it cost to notarize DS-3053 in Tewksbury?
At our office at 1215 Main St, Unit 115, in-office notarization is $45 per notarial act, and a DS-3053 is one act for one signer. A mobile visit within 5 miles, which covers most of Tewksbury, starts at $125 flat. Lowell and Andover addresses usually fall in Zone II, from $199. Passport fees are paid separately at the acceptance facility.
Get the DS-3053 notarized in Tewksbury
Bring the unsigned form, your photo ID and a copy of both sides to 1215 Main St, Unit 115, Tewksbury, Monday to Friday 10 to 5 by appointment. $45 in office, about 15 minutes. Mobile visits across Tewksbury and Lowell by zone.
Hanson Webb
Massachusetts notary public since 2007, NNA certified signing agent, bonded and insured. Works from 1215 Main St in Tewksbury and travels across the Merrimack Valley and Metro Boston. Speaks English, Arabic and French.