Key documents recording how DFAT’s passport eligibility letter policy for Australian children or young adults involved in international custody disputes was proposed, shaped, approved and implemented

Written by Claude Haiku 5.5 from the extracted text on 23 Oct 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

The release comprises email chains between DFAT officers in Canberra, the Australian Passport Office (APO) and the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, spanning October 2021 to August 2023, about a proposed letter to Australian children involved in international custody disputes. The 2021 exchanges show Tokyo proposing to send letters to young Australians approaching 18 who would apply for a first adult passport, prompted by concerns that taking parents, mainly in Japan, may cut children off from their Australian heritage. APO did not support the proposal, arguing the passport is an identity and travel credential, not a heritage instrument, and that it does not solicit applications. The 2023 emails show Consular and Crisis Management Division revising the approach to limit it to adult children aged 18 to 21, with a draft standard operating procedure requiring Central Control (CCD) approval of all letter requests and a planned first letter. Tokyo reported assisting 13 affected parents, with four more cases known.