Jo Isaac

My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport, when it arrives (all people over 10 do).

He doesn't write, certainly can't write cursive, and is frustrated about the idea of trying to develop a signature he can easily replicate. He really, really, doesn't like to write. I asked if he could just do his initials at the post office - but apparently it has to be a full signature.

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be very welcome! (his full name is Kai Goodman, if that helps!?)

Thanks, Jo and Kai



Hedy

His fingerprint is an admissible signature. You would just need to sign below as a witness. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 11, 2016, at 9:45 PM, Jo Isaac joanneisaac@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:

 

My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport, when it arrives (all people over 10 do).

He doesn't write, certainly can't write cursive, and is frustrated about the idea of trying to develop a signature he can easily replicate. He really, really, doesn't like to write. I asked if he could just do his initials at the post office - but apparently it has to be a full signature.

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be very welcome! (his full name is Kai Goodman, if that helps!?)

Thanks, Jo and Kai



Joyce Fetteroll


On Jul 12, 2016, at 12:45 AM, Jo Isaac joanneisaac@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:

My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport, when it arrives


Lots of people’s signatures devolve into a scrawl. He could write a K followed by two bumps or waves. Then G followed by a bunch of waves, perhaps with a tall one in the  middle.

If you Google “signature scrawl” there’s some good examples of signatures that have a couple of capitals and the rest squiggly lines. There’s also “creative signature”.

Tire’s a YouTube video on creating a signature.

https://youtu.be/Uq4Ozz3Dwhk

Joyce

Alex & Brian Polikowsky

I showed Gigi my signature, which is a scribble , and told her she could come up with something like that. She took her G and created one. Easy one letter signature!

Alex

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 11, 2016, at 11:45 PM, Jo Isaac joanneisaac@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:

 

My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport, when it arrives (all people over 10 do).

He doesn't write, certainly can't write cursive, and is frustrated about the idea of trying to develop a signature he can easily replicate. He really, really, doesn't like to write. I asked if he could just do his initials at the post office - but apparently it has to be a full signature.

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be very welcome! (his full name is Kai Goodman, if that helps!?)

Thanks, Jo and Kai



Hedy Hanni

<<My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport>>

I think you've been given some misinformation.  I'd thought about it more last night after I'd posted he could use his fingerprint.  His status as a minor had the whole thing sounding wrong to me.  I called my own Treasurer's office here to verify (we leave 20 minutes from the border so passports are pretty commonplace), and she assured me that your son should not sign his passport himself, as he is a minor, and was surprised someone had told you, "my out-of-state-friend," so.   

Instead, there's a standard procedure: you should legibly write his name, then sign your name and in parentheses beside your signature write your relationship to your son.  This can be done by either parent or guardian. 

<< and [my son] is frustrated about the idea of trying to develop a signature he can easily replicate. He really, really, doesn't like to write.>> 

I wouldn't advise that you have him sign, most especially because he doesn't yet like to write, or feel comfortable with a commonplace signature,  or even have one at all.  The woman at my Treasurer's office said that minors don't sign their passports.  It does leave me wondering though if a child, maybe teenager, really wanted to sign their passport, if they could?  I'm betting that because they have a signature, they would be allowed to, but I think a guardian would still also need to sign and parentheses their relationship to the child until they're 18.  I didn't think to ask while I had her on the line.   

What she told me also seems  to be supported by what I found online.  If you google "what if my child is too young to sign their passport" all sorts of pages come up that say the same thing.  Here's one link. 


 There's no counter-search results regarding when a child is required to sign, leaving me to believe they're not until 18, but that they could if they wanted to and had developed a signature they routinely used. 

If you wanted the Treasurer's # here to verify or had more questions, I'm sure there's some way we could pm it too.    

I hope this helps, and I'm glad your son doesn't "have" to do something he doesn't want to do. :) And happy travels if he's planning on using it!

Regards,
Hedy

  




On Tuesday, July 12, 2016 9:24 AM, "Joyce Fetteroll jfetteroll@... [AlwaysLearning]" <[email protected]> wrote:


 

On Jul 12, 2016, at 12:45 AM, Jo Isaac joanneisaac@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:

My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport, when it arrives


Lots of people’s signatures devolve into a scrawl. He could write a K followed by two bumps or waves. Then G followed by a bunch of waves, perhaps with a tall one in the  middle.

If you Google “signature scrawl” there’s some good examples of signatures that have a couple of capitals and the rest squiggly lines. There’s also “creative signature”.

Tire’s a YouTube video on creating a signature.

https://youtu.be/Uq4Ozz3Dwhk

Joyce


tamara

You can also sign their name and write underneath "mother for minor"
My kids have had passports since they were babies and we've always done this for their first few passports.


Sent from my iPhone

Jo Isaac

Thanks  everyone,
We had some luck yesterday developing a short signature based on his initials, and that seems to be okay. He's just practicing he can replicate it and then we are good to go.

For the people who looked up the law - thanks for going to so much effort, but we are in Australia, the law is different..it states: ' "Children aged 10 and over are required to sign the application form in the box provided separately from the declaration (which is signed by a parent or a person with parental responsibility).

If you are physically or mentally incapacitated and are therefore unable to sign, leave the declaration box blank. Instead you will need to provide either:

a letter from a medical practitioner stating the reasons why you are unable to sign; or
a general declaration form (B11) (pdf) from a person assisting you to apply for a passport, stating the reasons why you are unable to sign."'

Since I'd prefer to avoid drawing attention to us in anyway, and certainly don't want to get a doctor to say he's incapable, we've just gone with a bit of practice and a bit of a squiggle!

As an aside, we googled for weird signatures, and that was kind of fun! I like Barak Obama's!
Jo



From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Alex & Brian Polikowsky polykowholsteins@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]>
Sent: 12 July 2016 16:33
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] Fun way to develop easy to replicate signature
 
 

I showed Gigi my signature, which is a scribble , and told her she could come up with something like that. She took her G and created one. Easy one letter signature!

Alex

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 11, 2016, at 11:45 PM, Jo Isaac joanneisaac@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:

 

My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport, when it arrives (all people over 10 do).

He doesn't write, certainly can't write cursive, and is frustrated about the idea of trying to develop a signature he can easily replicate. He really, really, doesn't like to write. I asked if he could just do his initials at the post office - but apparently it has to be a full signature.

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be very welcome! (his full name is Kai Goodman, if that helps!?)

Thanks, Jo and Kai



Alex & Brian Polikowsky

Take a picture of his signature so he can always look up and copy when needed. I would keep the picture in the phone.

Alex P

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 12, 2016, at 7:54 PM, Jo Isaac joanneisaac@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:

 

Thanks  everyone,
We had some luck yesterday developing a short signature based on his initials, and that seems to be okay. He's just practicing he can replicate it and then we are good to go.

For the people who looked up the law - thanks for going to so much effort, but we are in Australia, the law is different..it states: ' "Children aged 10 and over are required to sign the application form in the box provided separately from the declaration (which is signed by a parent or a person with parental responsibility).

If you are physically or mentally incapacitated and are therefore unable to sign, leave the declaration box blank. Instead you will need to provide either:

a letter from a medical practitioner stating the reasons why you are unable to sign; or
a general declaration form (B11) (pdf) from a person assisting you to apply for a passport, stating the reasons why you are unable to sign."'

Since I'd prefer to avoid drawing attention to us in anyway, and certainly don't want to get a doctor to say he's incapable, we've just gone with a bit of practice and a bit of a squiggle!

As an aside, we googled for weird signatures, and that was kind of fun! I like Barak Obama's!
Jo



From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Alex & Brian Polikowsky polykowholsteins@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]>
Sent: 12 July 2016 16:33
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] Fun way to develop easy to replicate signature
 
 

I showed Gigi my signature, which is a scribble , and told her she could come up with something like that. She took her G and created one. Easy one letter signature!

Alex

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 11, 2016, at 11:45 PM, Jo Isaac joanneisaac@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:

 

My son is 10, and needs to sign his new passport application, and passport, when it arrives (all people over 10 do).

He doesn't write, certainly can't write cursive, and is frustrated about the idea of trying to develop a signature he can easily replicate. He really, really, doesn't like to write. I asked if he could just do his initials at the post office - but apparently it has to be a full signature.

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be very welcome! (his full name is Kai Goodman, if that helps!?)

Thanks, Jo and Kai