This page was written, edited, reviewed & approved by Brian LaVine following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. Brian LaVine the Founding Partner, 10+ years of legal experience as criminal defense attorney.
Key Takeaways
A felony charge does not block a U.S. passport by itself, and neither does a felony conviction in most cases. What stops an application is narrower: An active warrant, a court order forbidding departure from the country, or one of a short list of federal disqualifiers. That difference matters when you have work overseas, family abroad, or a trip already paid for while your case is open.
At LaVine Law Firm, we field these questions from people whose cases are still moving through Harris County courts. If your travel plans depend on the outcome of a criminal case, our Houston team can review your bond order and supervision terms with you.
Yes, in most situations.
A criminal record is not by itself a reason to refuse a passport. The Code of Federal Regulations instead sets out when the State Department must refuse an application, when it may refuse one, and when it may issue a limited document, all at 22 C.F.R. section 51.60.
Only a few grounds are mandatory. The Department may not issue a passport when a state agency has certified child support arrears through the federal system. A second bar applies when a covered sex offender seeks a passport that lacks the identifier federal law requires.
Everything else turns on a separate trigger such as an active warrant or a supervision condition. Someone with an older conviction, no open case, and no outstanding obligations usually moves through the ordinary application process.
Knowing how Texas classifies felony offenses helps you understand your exposure, though the degree of the offense is not what passport examiners review.
A pending charge is not itself a listed ground for denial. Real pressure comes from the orders attached to your release and from anything already on file with the court. Anyone facing felony charges in Houston should read those documents closely before booking international travel.
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 17.40 lets a magistrate impose any reasonable condition of bond related to the safety of the person alleged to have been harmed or the safety of the community. Courts commonly use that authority to limit travel or require passport surrender, although the statute does not name those conditions.
Violations carry immediate consequences. If a magistrate finds by a preponderance of the evidence that you broke a bond condition, the magistrate must revoke the bond and order you returned to custody.
Warrants matter more than charges. Under the federal passport rules, the State Department may refuse an application when the applicant is the subject of an outstanding federal felony arrest warrant. That covers warrants issued under the Federal Fugitive Felon Act, along with outstanding state or local felony arrest warrants.
Court orders work the same way. An application may be refused when a criminal court order, a condition of probation, or a condition of parole forbids departure from the United States and a violation could produce a federal arrest warrant.
An open federal investigation can reach your passport before charges are ever filed. The Department may refuse an application when the applicant has received a subpoena in a matter involving federal prosecution for a felony or a grand jury investigation of one.
Some convictions do create real barriers, though each one requires more than the conviction alone. These are the grounds that come up most often:
Each of these carries conditions and exceptions worth examining case by case.
The drug rule is stricter than most sources describe, and also narrower. Under 22 C.F.R. section 51.61, a passport may not be issued when the applicant is subject to imprisonment or supervised release from a felony drug conviction and used a U.S. passport or otherwise crossed an international border while committing the offense.
Both parts must be present. A state possession conviction with no border crossing does not fall under the rule, while drug trafficking charges involving international movement often do.
That same rule treats misdemeanor drug convictions as discretionary and excludes a first conviction for simple possession. It also lets the Department issue a passport when emergency or humanitarian reasons exist.
Registration status changes the document itself rather than blocking it outright. A covered sex offender as defined by 22 U.S.C. section 212b may hold a passport only if it carries the conspicuous identifier the State Department places on it.
Passport cards are treated differently. Federal regulation directs that no passport card be issued to a covered sex offender, which makes land and sea travel to nearby countries far more complicated.
Two of the most common denials have nothing to do with a criminal record. The State Department publishes guidance on both in its legal matters resources for applicants.
Child support arrears certified to the federal government block issuance until the debt is resolved. Seriously delinquent federal tax debt certified by the Treasury produces a similar result, with narrow exceptions for emergency or humanitarian circumstances.
If your case is open and you are unsure which of these applies to you, call LaVine Law Firm at 713-965-7305 and we will read the orders in your file with you.
Supervision does not automatically bar an application, but the terms of that supervision usually decide the answer. Our team starts by reading the actual conditions rather than assuming what they say.
Article 42A.301 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows a judge to impose any reasonable condition that is not duplicative and is designed to protect the community or reform the defendant. One listed condition requires a person to remain within a specified place, and that is where travel restrictions usually originate.
For people released from prison, Government Code section 508.0441 gives board members and parole commissioners authority to set the conditions of parole and mandatory supervision, including special conditions. A special condition restricting departure from the country becomes a federal denial ground once the State Department learns of it.
The agency publishes a defined path for applicants who are on supervision or have completed it. Follow these steps:
Those requirements appear on the State Department page for applicants on or after probation or parole.
A denial does not end the process, and the deadline is shorter than most people expect. Consider the following moves:
Acting quickly preserves options that disappear once the deadline passes.
Federal regulations let a person whose passport was denied or revoked on most of the listed grounds request a hearing. That request must reach the Department in writing within 60 days of receiving the notice, and missing the window makes the denial final.
In some circumstances, the Department issues a limited validity passport good only for direct return to the United States. Emergency and humanitarian exceptions also exist for several of the denial grounds.
No. Federal rules require a specific ground such as an active warrant, a supervision condition forbidding departure, or a qualifying drug or sex offense determination.
That depends on your bond conditions. A magistrate may impose reasonable travel restrictions, so review your bond order and ask the court before making plans.
Usually yes. The State Department asks for a discharge notice, a letter of termination, or a court order ending supervision from applicants who are on or have completed supervision.
Sixty days from the date you receive the denial notice. Your request must be in writing, and failing to meet that deadline makes the Department's action final.
No. Federal regulation bars issuing a passport card to a covered sex offender, and a regular passport must carry the identifier the statute requires.
Most travel problems we see did not start with a denial letter. They started with a bond condition set at magistration, before anyone had a lawyer reading the paperwork closely.
LaVine Law Firm handles criminal defense throughout Harris County, and Brian LaVine has spent more than a decade in these courtrooms, including time in both the misdemeanor and felony divisions of the district attorney's office. That background shapes how we approach bond conditions, supervision terms, and the orders that follow a case for years afterward.
We can review your charge, your release conditions, and what they mean for a passport application. Call 713-965-7305 or reach us through our contact page for a free case evaluation.
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