Can I get a passport with a felony?
Usually yes. The State Department denies passports for a short list of specific reasons - and “convicted felon” is not on it. What stops travelers is supervision conditions and a few named statutes, not the record itself.
The actual rule.
A felony conviction, by itself, does not disqualify you from a U.S. passport. The statutory denial list is narrow: certain international drug trafficking convictions where a passport was used or crossing borders was part of the offense (22 U.S.C. § 2714 - a mandatory denial during sentence and supervision), seriously delinquent child support over the federal threshold, certain unpaid federal loans/taxes scenarios, and outstanding federal warrants or court orders forbidding departure. Millions of Americans with records hold valid passports. The document is about identity and citizenship - not virtue.
What actually stops people.
Supervision, not the conviction. Probation, parole, supervised release, and pretrial release all carry travel conditions - typically confining you to a judicial district and always requiring permission to leave the country. Applying for or using a passport in violation of those conditions is a violation with jail attached. Bond conditions frequently require surrendering the passport outright. And an open case anywhere - state or federal - makes international travel a flight-risk exhibit the government will read aloud at your next hearing.
The sequence matters: finish supervision (or get the court’s written permission), then travel. The passport office is rarely the obstacle. The judge is.
The half nobody checks: getting in.
A U.S. passport guarantees exit, not entry. Canada bars travelers for DUIs and many felonies without advance rehabilitation applications; the UK, Japan, and Australia ask criminal-history questions on visas and refuse serious records; visa-waiver travel under ESTA requires disclosure that a record can complicate. International travel with a felony is a two-country problem, and the second country’s rules are usually stricter than ours.
The playbook.
Still under supervision: motion for permission first - courts grant documented, legitimate travel more often than people expect, especially late in clean supervision. Denied under § 2714 or a support hold: those clear when the triggering condition clears, and counsel can sequence it. Record blocking a destination country: entry waivers exist - Canada’s rehabilitation process, visa applications framed correctly. This is solvable logistics, not a life sentence - it just has an order of operations.
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