my concern is that we wouldn’t have any ID for our child.
Children under the age of 18 years do not need to show ID to pass the TSA checkpoint:
Adult passengers 18 and older must show valid identification at the airport checkpoint in order to travel.
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification
This leaves the airline’s ID requirements, but you haven’t mentioned which airline. As an example, United:
Children under the age of 18 traveling with an adult are not required to show ID at time of check-in.
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/id/travel.html
In an edit, you note that your wife has only a learner’s permit. If it’s a photo document that resembles a driver’s license, it should be ok. Otherwise, your wife may have trouble and it might indeed be a good idea to check with TSA about that. Another possibility is to ask whether the consulate can allow her to retain her passport for the flight home and then send it to the consulate by mail or courier. Finally, TSA has a procedure for identifying travelers who have lost or forgotten their identification document; my wife (a foreign resident of the US in nonimmigrant status) did this several years ago; it basically consisted of giving them her bank cards whereafter they asked her about various facts that they checked against her credit report. It took a bit longer than usual, of course, but the additional time needed was fairly reasonable.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
5 Mar, 2024
5 Mar, 2024