Yeah, but there have been horror stories about one parent who takes the children back to their home country. Typically it's been the dad back to Saudia Arabia

Yeah, but there have been horror stories about one parent who takes the children back to their home country. Typically it's been the dad back to Saudia Arabia but maybe that's just the stories that made the news. The reason (I assume) for the 5-year expiration is that kids look a lot different in 5 years. Here in Portland you can go to several post offices but the easier way is to go to the county headquarters. Very short wait time, photographer on premises (I keep wanting to just stand the kids against a wall but wife vetoes that), etc. Last year I had business on Spring Break and my wife took our kids to British Columbia. I was a little surprised that they made it across the border without a hitch. No notarized letter, etc. We did have to have both parents notarize something for my son to cross the border for Boy Scouts.