Originally Posted by
The Deal Mommy
Hello all,
I'm taking the kids solo and am wondering if I need a notarized letter from their Dad (like I took to Canada). Anyone have any experience being stopped for only having one parent with the kids? TIA!
My family travels very frequently non-stop between the US and France or the UK, and most of the family travel involves only one custodial parent being on the trip with the minor children. My and my relatives' admission to or departure from the mentioned EU countries on US passports with own children isn't conditioned upon the presentation of notarized letter from the non-traveling custodial parents. UKBA and EU Schengen passport control have never given us a stink on entry or exit (where physical exit passport controls exist) over any letters for such travels.
US CBP at US POEs sometimes try to make some sort of "catch" issue of such travel -- mostly for some US citizens and done mostly in sexist and racist ways -- but no such letter is required generally for presentation at a US POE.
Unless traveling to Canada (and previously Mexico), such a letter was rarely if ever needed for my rather well-traveled family. Usually there is no harm in having such a letter, so get one if it provides you peace of mind. That said, sometimes coming across as "too prepared" for having such a letter does create problems, more so if the letter is out of date or seems irrelevant to the current trip.