The U.S. State Department will start revoking passports of thousands of Americans who owe substantial unpaid child support, beginning Friday.

Officials told the Associated Press on Thursday that the initial phase targets parents owing $100,000 or more in arrears, covering about 2,700 passport holders based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services. 

The program will soon expand to include anyone with more than $2,500 in unpaid, court-ordered child support, the threshold set under a 1996 federal law that has been rarely enforced. HHS is still compiling data from state agencies, but officials say the number affected could run into the tens of thousands.

Until now, passport restrictions mainly applied when individuals applied for renewal. Under the new policy, HHS will proactively send the names of all qualifying debtors to the State Department, which will then revoke active passports even if they remain valid.

Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Mora Namdar described the move as “a commonsense practice” proven to push delinquent parents to pay. She said passports will be reinstated only after the debt is cleared with the relevant state agency and HHS updates its records, a process that can take two to three weeks.

The State Department said the measure is intended to ensure parents meet their legal obligations to their children. Since news of the expansion broke in February, officials report that hundreds of parents have already paid off arrears.