Parents who are more than $2,500 behind in child support payments won’t be able to get a passport or have their current one renewed, the Lieutenant Governor’s Office advised in a press release.
“It’s very effective; suddenly people come up with the money,” said Sara Lezema, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, which administers the Division of Paternity and Child Support.
In other passport news, the Passport Division announced that it won’t accept birth certificates issued before July 1 for people born in Puerto Rico. According to the U.S. State Department website, the Puerto Rico government passed a law invalidating all birth certificates issued before the July 1 date. The law went into effect Oct. 1.
Reports published in the mainland media indicate the new law is needed to help combat identity theft.
The law, however, does not affect Puerto Rican-born citizens who already have a U.S. passport.
To order a new birth certificate and for information on the Puerto Rico birth certificate law, visit the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration website or call 787-767-9120 for more information.
For more information on passport applications, contact the Passport Office on St. Croix at 773-6449, on St. Thomas at 774-4024 or at www.ltg.gov.vi.
