a notarized or witnessed travel consent form with all itinerary details, copy of the other parent passport, copy of child birth certificate, copy of marriage certificate and/or custody arrangement agreement.
What about when you are travelling with a child who is related to you (niece, cousin etc.) but has a different surname? Same deal? Both the adult and the child will be travelling on non-EU passports.
Thanks for any advice
However, travelling with a child that is not related to you in the first-degree (so you're the grand-parent, aunt, cousin, etc.) in theory at least does require formal permission; especially if you're intending on crossing state borders.
You won't need birth cerificates and so on, but a letter from the responsible adults or possibly a certified letter from a notary. As you're non-EU it might be best to ask what is required at your embassy or consulate.
I doubt that somehow, but I do know that the separated/divorced parent who doesn't have everyday parental control can ask for a court ruling that the child/ren aren't allowed to travel outside their country of residence without their agreement. Which is usually granted if there's a suspicion that the child/ren will not be allowed to return.... basically kidnapping.
My ex's current wife (for the first two years they were not married) and my parents also travel with my daughter, all with a different surname to the child. (ex's wife had not yet changed her passport last time either). For them me and/or my ex write a letter including flight and passport details of all persons and contact details of both parents.
My parents were stopped once and my ex's gf/wife was never stopped.
Passport officials are mostly looking at the behaviour of the child-adult(s). Quite often (well once with me, twice with my parents and once with ex's wife) they will ask the child some questions (in my case it was checking her name, in my parents it was who are these people and in ex's wife I don't know) but at the desk, and do not stress them out.
Mind you that is UK-CH and it might be different outside EEC.......
I have never had problems traveling anywhere with my own children (inevitably without dad/husband - as our travel schedules/itinerary rarely overlap even if we end up in the same place).
When I have taken a "friend" along I make sure to have a letter from the parent (w/signature) and a copy of parent's passport to validate identity. Once returning to UK from Norway, I was stopped at immigration and put through an absolute grilling about the 10 yr old who was with me and on British passport. The Norwegian immigration had just smiled at him and wished him a good holiday, but getting back into his "own" country was rather more harrowing. We waited close to an hour by which point the boy was a nervous wreck. The mother had not included a copy of her passport. The officer gave me a very long lecture about it being his responsibility to protect the safety of the child, blah blah, while just past the desks I could hear the wailing of a child being physically and verbally smacked by its mother
Last time I traveled into CH w/same friend I had all the necessary paperwork, the officer at immigration asked to see the letter then said " Enjoy your holiday"
Better safe than stressed but my experience is only within EU/EEA. If traveling further afield I might consider contacting the embassy of country you will be entering. Some airlines will not accept unaccompanied minors on certain routes, particularly to Far/Middle East/Africa, and I presume it is due to immigration difficulties.
Neither kids look remotely like their passport photo, both had passports done as weeks old babies and they are now 4.5 years and 1.5 years old!
But for the sake of adding a data point:
I traveled frequently with my nieces and nephews, minors at the time, family name different from mine, from the late 90s through about 2010. I would pick them up at LAX or ORD, flying with them then to Zürich, and from there elsewhere in Europe.
I was always asked for proof of parental consent when flying from or to the US. I was never asked for anything, infact nobody blinked an eye, when flying within Europe.
If any parent/relative is traveling alone with a child who is or isn't theirs they should always have some sort of documentation to prove they have permission to travel with the child. This to me is beyond basic common sense, especially as more and more children are taken across borders on a daily basis.
Why chance it? Just get everything together and have all of your bases covered.
Just wait - someone will start a thread claiming to have been arrested at the airport because they were trying to fly alone without the right papers.
We have different surnames, although her father and I are definitely married.
All I can say is I was glad I'd thought to bring a copy of her birth certificate and our marriage certificate with me. It probably saved a bit of hassle, and made for a less stressful journey.
I will make sure I have these documents with me again next time we fly without her father.
Tom
I have never had the children's identity or travel permission queried.
However, our kids all travel under the same surname And with the same country-of-origin passports.
My children have travelled with their grandparents (different surname) to Singapore, USA, uk and Netherlands, and what we give them with the travel documents is a letter outlining their travel plans, along with the contact information for both parents in case the authorities want to contact us directly. The letter is signed by both parents.
When the passport is checked at border control, it is scanned. I do not know how much information is loaded onto the international passport system, but when returning from Australia the Swiss passport control definitely know my previous exit/entry dates and I wonder it marital status Is in the system somewhere.
My children's aunty and uncle are minors and had a travel ban on their passports. They were not allowed to fly and both countries that could potentially give them a passport (Australia and Germany) were notified so that they could not be issued a new passport without the parent's permission.
Just because you've been stopped doesn't mean that it's the norm that everyone else will be.
I've also travelled extensively within Europe with my children and without my husband, I've never been stopped, nor had my right to be alone with my children queried. And damnèd right too, they're my children and I have the right to take them where I want to.
American border controls are possibly more suspicious, I wouldn't know and never intend to find out.
It's different if you're separated or divorced, the other parent can claim the right to have a say in whether the child/ren leaves the country or not.
A non-first degree relative is also adviced to have written permission to travel with the child, even if they do share a surname.
Oh, by the way... there's already been several threads started by people asking if they can travel without the right papers; expired passports, using just their driving licences, passports that are damaged, etc.
So, your point is?