Passport for teens

In 2013, we used our passes to go to the d'Orsay. We didn't carry our passports on us that day and they didn't believe my tall 13 year old daughter (6 foot tall) was only 13! They thought she was 18. After explaining how old she was and having the person say she was too tall to be 13, I pointed out my 6-5 husband and myself and said of course she's tall - we are! They relented and let her in but it was a good lesson on making sure she carries id to prove her age. So, I wouldn't buy your boys passes but make sure they have passports to prove their ages.

I thought this might be a problem with my son on our last trip. We brought along his passport but was never asked for it.

I would not buy them the museum passport. They do not need it. Enjoy your trip

Thank you for sharing your experiences! I really helps!

Kids just walk in with their parents; it would be silly to buy Museum Passes for them. I would have them carry photocopies of their passports but they will probably not be asked. The only two spots where they need to get a ticket (for free) are at Invalides and the Arc du Triomphe and the lines are not generally terrible there. At their age they generally don't need to line up and get tickets except at those spots, they just walk in with you. My 14 year old was never asked for ID but she did look her age.

I had the opposite experience at the Musee d'Orsay. My husband accidentally bought our daughter a ticket. She was just about a touch over 6 feet tall at the time and was 16 at the time and the ticket taker asked me why I bought her a ticket when she was obviously under 18. I explained what happened and that we figured that they would think my daughter was over 18 anyway because of her height and the woman looked at me (6' tall) and my husband (6' 5" tall), shook her head (no doubt thinking what an idiot) and gave me back the ticket. Other than that incident we have not bought tickets for our children nor carried ID for them to prove their ages and never had a problem with anyone challenging their ages.

I guess the moral of these stories is that you don't know how the ticket taker will react to your children! 😀

My kids are little. But when I got their passports I also got their passport cards. It was only an extra $15 each. That's cheaper than a DPS/DMV ID CARD.

Do your kids have any type of school ID card they can take with them?

Please bear in mind that the only legally valid ID for a non-EU foreigner is a passport. Passport card, school ID, photocopies are all not valid. The person checking may never have seen such documents before, will not be able to tell if they are genuine and may not know enough English to read them. They may be accepted, or you may get a "non".
Safest thing is to carry a passport if you need to prove age.

Whether the 'safest thing' to do is carry a passport depends on your definition of 'safe' -- I don't want to spend a day at the US EMbassy getting a very expensive emergency passport and maybe missing my plane if the loss or theft happens on a weekend. You are very unlikely to be asked for the ID; if you are a good copy of the passport will almost certainly suffice. If it doesn't you have a story to tell.

Oh and I have used the passport card for ID in France, Spain and Russia when I needed ID to pick up tickets or whatever and it has always worked just fine. You need the real deal when crossing borders, flying, banking and certain phone business like getting a sim card; that is about it.

Thank you for all of the helpful feedback!

My 6'2" 16 YO son who could pass for 18+ was never stopped or questioned at any museum last summer.

Please bear in mind that the only legally valid ID for a non-EU foreigner is a passport. Passport card, school ID, photocopies are all not valid.

An ID for a museum to rent an audio guide or prove the age of a child is NOT the same as a legal ID for the authorities.