# Was Your Passport Denied Without Your Right To Due Process?

- Link: https://thechildsupporthustle.com/was-your-passport-denied-without-your-right-to-due-process/
- Published: 2024-05-06T14:23:36+00:00
- Author: MsRockMon

![Passport red ex](https://thechildsupporthustle.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/
IMG_3839.webp "Was Your Passport Denied Without Your Right To Due Process? 1")

Source: Office of Child Support Enforcement

Kenya N. Rahmaan

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the United States who has not dealt 
with child support or at least heard of the child support system. Whether paying
or receiving, most involved know the punishments enforced when payments are late.
There are late fees and interest, as high as 12%, in Kentucky and a few other states
when payments become past due. Many are familiar with child support enforcement,
such as income garnishments, license suspensions, and incarceration. However, another
enforcement tool often ignored because it seems less important is the denial or 
revocation of passports. The Passport Denial Program was implemented under Section
370 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA),
enacted in 1996. According to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), the
Social Security Act (SSA), subsection 452(k), effective 1997, established the denial,
revocation, or restriction of U.S. passports. When first enacted, a non-custodial
parent had to owe at least $5,000 in child support arrears or debt. The amount was
decreased after the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) was signed in February 2006. Effective
October 1, 2006, Section 452 (k) of the SSA (42 U.S.C. 651 et seq), as translated
by the OCSE (2006), was amended to reduce the arrears amount that triggers a passport
denial from $5,000 to $2,500. It is important to note that since the Passport Denial
Program was modified by the DRA, there have been no other changes to the program,
either by the states or the Federal OCSE. As described in Section 452(k) of the 
SSA, specific criteria must be met before the name of the non-custodial parent can
be forwarded to the OCSE, which, in turn, notifies the Department of State (DoS)
to revoke or deny the passport. This criterion is in place for a very specific reason:
to protect the right to due process for the non-custodial parent. Specifically, 
according to Section 454 (31), the following actions must be taken by the state 
BEFORE the name of the non-custodial parent can be forwarded for passport denial
or revocation. As written on SSA.gov: 

> A state plan for child and spousal support must provide that the state agency 
> will have in effect a procedure for certifying to the secretary determinations
> that individuals owe arrearages of child support in an amount exceeding $2,500
> under which procedure- A. Each individual concerned is afforded notice of such
> determination and the consequences thereof, and the opportunity to contest the
> determination.

A Pre-Offset Notice (PON) must be issued before specific punishments can happen 
regarding debt collections. According to the Administration of Children and Families(
ACF) (2012), PONs must be issued for all new cases within the Federal Tax Refund
Offset Program, Administrative Offset Program, and the U.S. Passport Denial Program.
In addition to the PON requirements, states must decide annually whether they will
be responsible for issuing the PONs or if they want the OCSE to issue the notices.
The Annual Certification Letter, which includes critical information about how the
states ensure that the Federal guidelines are followed when offsetting tax refunds
or denying/revoking, is supposed to act as an accountability tool for OCSE. ⌊Was
Your Passport Denied Without Your Right To Due Process? 2⌉ The Annual Certification
Letter must be submitted by states to verify that every case they submit to OCSE,
and any PONs they may issue, meet the Federal legal requirements (ACF, 2012). There
seems to be a missing link in the process, given so many reports of passport denials/
revocations and notifications issued only after applications have been submitted.
An investigation into this practice must be conducted immediately. Once again, there
is a desperate need for all state child support agencies and the Federal OCSE to
be audited and held accountable for the laws that may have been broken while executing
the enforcement of the child support system. The right for a parent to be notified
before enforcement action is taken against him or her is not a new procedure. Even
with license suspensions, the agency must notify the non-custodial parent. For example,
in Florida, the obligor has 30 days after the second notice to pay the owed child
support or reach an agreement to pay delinquency (National Conference of State Legislators
or NCSL, 2014). Florida appears to follow the mandate requiring notification before
passports are denied/revoked as well. The Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) reports
that before a passport application is denied, a notice is mailed to the parent who
owes explaining the passport denial and how to request a hearing to contest. Unfortunately,
several Floridian parents have surfaced, declaring they were only notified of the
passport denial AFTER they applied for the document. After the denial, none of their
documents or fees were returned. They were told that the only way to reinstate the
passport was to pay the debt in full to bring the arrears to zero. A question that
must be raised after the PON is mailed to the non-custodial parent is whether the
address on file is the parent’s current address. For other court documents, such
as child support complaints or modification requests, proof of service is required.
According to USLegal, proof of service is a document or court paper filed in court
as evidence that the process has been successfully served on a party or a witness
in a lawsuit. While the PON is not a ‘court’ paper, there should be some type of
verification process to prove that the intended party did, in fact, receive the 
PON.In passport denial/revocation cases, there does not appear to be any proof of
a delivery program in place by the states before the names are forwarded to Washington,
D.C.  The ACF (2012) mentions that the Annual Certification Letter is supposed to
ensure that the Director of the respective child support agency strictly follows
the Passport Denial Program mandates. The language, in an example provided by the
ACF (2012), is clear that the following is supposed to happen in every case before
it is referred to OCSE for passport denial/revocation: 

 * the amount of the child support and or spousal support arrearage owed by the 
   individual exceeds $2,500,
 * the agency has verified the accuracy of the arrears and has a copy of the payment
   record or an affidavit signed by the custodial parent attesting to the amount
   of support owed and,
 * the Pre-Offset Notice that we will issue to the non-custodial parent meets requirements
   set forth in section 454 (31) of The Act, or the address information for the 
   non-custodial parent was verified for the notice that OCSE issued.

The amount to trigger the denial/revocation process is meager at $2,500, considering
that almost every state is permitted to charge the non-custodial parent retroactively
for a child’s age.[https://youtube.com/shorts/WWphjiNIbeI](https://youtube.com/shorts/WWphjiNIbeI)
A method like this is common even when a father (sometimes non-biological) has never
been notified of the child’s existence.  Equally as common are cases where the non-
custodial parent has been financially supporting their child by paying child support
directly to the custodial parent without a court order. And suddenly, the custodial
parent decides to file a child support order against the other parent. This is one
of the primary reasons that so many men begin their relationship with the child 
support agency deeply indebted to their ex or to the system. Secondly, because so
many relationships that involve child support enforcement are often tumultuous, 
bitter, and filled with negative emotions, affirmation from the custodial parent
regarding child support in any way, let alone payments and punishments, could possibly
be unreliable and untruthful information. Any disgruntled parent could sign an affidavit
stating that they were owed a million dollars if it meant that the non-custodial
parent would be punished all while being promised the possibility of reaping a financial
benefit. It is unreasonable to depend on the word of a person who can be described
as an enemy to sign an affidavit that can determine life-altering outcomes for another
person. Likewise, the government should take extreme caution when granting a person
that type of responsibility. The next requirement of The Annual Certification letter
is not only pivotal to the process but is most likely ignored or inaccurate when
and if the information is provided. The PON is critical because the non-custodial
parent can deny the amount that he/she is accused of owing, and often, the total
amount of arrears has been over-exaggerated. This is why every parent accused of
owing any amount of child support debt should demand an itemized statement to verify
every penny being charged in their child support case. Additionally, requesting 
and receiving a payment record from local child support agencies to verify child
support debt for any reason, more often than not, results in the non-custodial parent
being ignored and the request going unfulfilled. It should be a mandatory guideline
that agencies provide account statements annually so that both parents can verify
that the amount on their case is accurate.[⌊Was Your Passport Denied Without Your Right To Due Process? 4⌉](https://youtu.be/0he2mzwxNbs)
Finally, the Social Security Administration makes it law that the non-custodial 
parent receive a PON before their passport is denied or revoked. So many instances
have proven that child support agencies, local, state, and Federal, are ignoring
the guidelines and laws that have been mandated in order to effectively and efficiently
operate the child support system. For example, there is a soldier stationed in Europe
who cannot fulfill his mission of traveling around the world protecting a high-ranking
general simply because his passport has been revoked due to allegedly owing child
support debt. According to the soldier, he did not receive proper notification before
the revocation, which means his right to due process has been violated. Not only
can he not fulfill his duties, but he can also not return to the U.S. to visit his
children. The only remedy offered is to pay your child support debt in full. Tens
of thousands of parents are being denied their right to due process, whether dealing
with license suspensions, incarceration, and/or passport denial. Supporters of the
Passport Denial Program state that parents seeking a passport should not be able
to travel overseas anyway, suggesting that they must be ‘rich and vacationing.’ 
In reality, many non-custodial parents need passports to visit sick and dying relatives
or to work abroad. It is time to quash this myth and force the overseers of the 
child support agencies to adhere to the rules and laws that have been implemented.
There is a right to due process in this country, and you have the right to defend
yourself against your accuser. No, passport denial is different from a criminal 
or civil complaint. However, the law states that a non-custodial parent must be 
notified before any action is taken to revoke or deny their passport. Non-custodial
parents have a right to contest the accusations being made against them, most importantly,
and in this case, to dispute the amount of debt they allegedly owe to their ex or
the state. The time has arrived when we must stop allowing child support agencies
to get away with violating The Constitution and the laws of the land. 

 

References:

Collection of child support through federal income tax refund offset, administrative
offset, and passport denial. (1998, July 6). Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.
gov/archive/css/resource/federal-income-tax-refund-offset-administrative-offset-
passport-denial

Administration for Children and Families. (2006, March 7). Child support provision
in the deficit reduction act of 2005. Retrieved from [https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/resource/child-support-provision-in-the-deficit-reduction-act-of-2005-dra](https://thechildsupporthustle.com/was-your-passport-denied-without-your-right-to-due-process/"https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/resource/child-support-provision-in-the-deficit-reduction-act-of-2005-dra")

Administration of Children and Families. (2012, December 10). Federal offset program.
Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocse/fop_user_guide.pdf

Administration of Children and Families.Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/
default/files/ocse/at_10_04a.pdf

Florida Department of Revenue. (n.d.). Florida dept. of revenue – Passport denial.
Retrieved January 30, 2019, from [http://floridarevenue.com/childsupport/compliance/Pages/passport_denial.aspx](https://thechildsupporthustle.com/was-your-passport-denied-without-your-right-to-due-process/"http://floridarevenue.com/childsupport/compliance/Pages/passport_denial.aspx")

Social Security Administration. (2018, February 22). Social security act §454. Retrieved
January 30, 2019, from https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0454.htm#act-454-
31

Social Security Administration. (2018, February 22). Social security act §452. Retrieved
January 31, 2019, from https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0452.htm#act-452-
k

US Legal, Inc. (n.d.). Proof of service law and legal definition | USLegal, Inc.
Retrieved January 30, 2019, from https://definitions.uslegal.com/p/proof-of-service/