Night Flyer

I traveled to and from FCO a couple months ago with my kids (including one stepchild) and the immigration/passport inspection was pretty cursory. I can't say whether Italy has a law or not but it didn't come up for me and judging from the general lack of interest shown at immigration I can't imagine they are paying attention to that issue.

SanDiego1K

I'm going to move this to the Traveling with Children forum, in hopes of getting some more responses.

I've had a friend stopped before leaving the US heading to Mexico with her daughter. She had to track down her husband and get him to sign a form before she could fly with their daughter the following day. It was quite a shock to her, and extremely inconvenient, needless to say.

Now, whether requirements for taking children to Mexico differ from Italy, I don't know. But let's see if any of the parents in this forum do.

SanDiego1K
Senior Moderator

bdemaria

This would be my experience as well, at least when I've traveled w/nieces & nephews.

jonesing

But mom is available to sign?

How about going the route that US DoS uses for a parent who isn't available to be there in person when a child under 14 applies for a passport? The DS-3053 form can be used if:

• "You are a non-applying parent or guardian consenting to passport issuance for your child, or
• You are an applying parent or guardian, and the written consent of the non-applying parent or guardian cannot be obtained."

"Complete item 5, Statement of Special Circumstances, only if you are an applying parent or guardian and the written consent of the non-applying parent or guardian cannot be obtained."

So have mom include a sworn satement indicating dad is unavailable to sign due to his own travel. That plus the notarization (and maybe carry a copy of dad's itinerary showing him out of the country) should be sufficient for your needs.

krobbins

My own experience has been that it hasn't a thing to do with the country you're going to, it's getting the child out of the US - it's the US who cares if you are taking a child without the consent of the parent/s. I have had to do this twice when we took a friend of my son's out of the country and I had to provide this when traveling internationally without my husband when my children were younger. Now that they're older, I never get asked for documentation. . Don't know why that is. I know some who have circumvented this by getting a notary of their acquaintance to notarize the "faux" signature of the father for documentation purposes. I'm not advocating it, but it may get you out of a jam if you can find a way to do it. I will say that if I were you I wouldn't wing it and hope for the best - I was witness to a mother with two little ones being denied boarding in FLL because she didn't have this. I don't know when or if she ever made it to her destination, but I can tell you that she was frazzled in the extreme. Don't let it happen to you!

BAAZ

My wife and stepson are Italian but I'm British. When he was younger (5-8 I'd say), travelling both in and out of Italy (FCO or LIN) we were routinely asked for the parental consent form (signed by both parents with passport numbers etc and stamped by the embassy), but this was because he was travelling without either parent. When travelling with my wife (i.e. one parent) there was no need for a form.

Also, when renewing an Italian passport, you need the signature of both parents if he/she is under 18.

I understand those rules (intended to protect against kidnapping I assume) only apply to Italian citizens, although I haven't tried taking a non-Italian child in or out of Italy.

Now he's 12 and almost as tall as me, no-one bats an eyelid.

jayflyer

From what I understood of the law (US) last time, if a child is traveling with one parent, they may be required to sign a form in some cases, stating that they are not restricted from taking the child out of the country. no further verification is necessary, but it is a felony to misstate the facts.

vasantn

No problems were experienced exiting the US, entering and exiting the UK, entering and exiting Italy, and reentering the US. The infant's passport was all that was required.

Further research seems to indicate that only a handful of countries are really fussy about the consent of the non-traveling parent (Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Israel are the ones that I know of).

Contrary to what seems to be implied in some posts above, the US has no problems with the child traveling with just one parent, as long as the child has a passport. Getting a passport for the child does require the consent of both parents.

3galsontour

These letters are strong examples of what the CA gov't suggests for children travelling with a
• Custodial Parent or
• Non-Custodial Parent or
• Legal Guardian(s) or
Child Travelling without Parent or Guardian

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/main/before/..._letter-en.asp
They seem to cover everything.

Sankaps

My wife and two kids (US passport holders) just flew over from Washington DC to London on Air Canada via Toronto; I joined them in London from Moscow. This kind of arrangement we have used many times when I join my family for vacations directly from my business trips.

However this time she was told by Canada transit immigration in Toronto that she needed a letter from her husband saying it is okay for her to travel internationally with the kids without me with them. She was surprised, to say the least, since she has been travelling alone with them all over the world (but not Canada) without ever being told this. She says that there was quite an arugment on this, before the immigration office let her through telling her to carry a letter in the future.

Anyone knows if this is indeed the case? And given the passports do not show who is married to who, and whose kids are whose, how would a letter have helped?

Thanks,
Sankaps

Ocn Vw 1K

Please follow the discussion in our Travels with Children forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

l etoile

Yes, this is generally a requirement for one parent traveling with their children to (and sometimes from) countries including Canada, Mexico, and some others (out of Costa Rica, if I remember right). It is intended to prevent one parent from stealing their child in a custody disputes. Often, the airline will ask to see the letter first and deny boarding if you can't produce it. I had a notarized letter I carried at all times when my son was a minor, but never needed it anywhere in Europe or Asia.

As to your question of how do they know who is the father, they don't. I a friend who was flying from LAX with her children to meet her husband/their father in Mexico. The carrier was going to deny boarding because she didn't have the letter. She quickly "found" the children's father right there at LAX of all places. (And, conveniently, there is a notary at LAX.)

Although search can be very fluky on here, there are quite a few past threads about this. You can also find basic form letters online that you can fill in and print out for this purpose.

oklAAhoma

Yes, it's often the case. I am actually surprised you (or your wife) haven't encountered it sooner.

It's been policy for quite some time. The first time I encountered it was in 1999, when I couldn't even get my daughters' passports renewed without a letter from their father.

I've been wondering the same thing for 10+ years.

ACB

And what if there is no father, deceased/has abandoned the family or what have you? It seems a letter is easily faked and it is just as easy to lie...I wonder why they bother requiring it.

ClimbGuy

When I was 15 I took a took a flight from ROC to YYZ where they cleear customs in YYZ.

I was on my wan to see my Grandma, I ran into a lot of problems and questioning about traveling as a minor on my own. After going back and forth with them for about 20 minutes they let me through.

In the future they told me I needed to have a letter from both parrents when traveling to Canada on my own.