Originally Posted by
Annalisa12
It was in Canada. I didn't hear the whole thing.
If trying to enter Canada by air as a solo adult with young child(ren), Canadian border control authorities will often ask about a letter. If transiting airside at YYZ or YVR or YUL, not as commonly. If trying to enter Canada by air, then almost always IME.
Originally Posted by
BearX220
When our son was about three years old, all three of us (me, Mom, son) were queueing one summer afternoon for an auto-ferry from a Canadian port back to the United States. Son sitting on hood of car. A pair of uniformed Canadian immigration officials strode up to us and, without acknowledging Mom or me, asked our son probing questions: "Where do you live? Are these your real parents? What do you call her (indicating Mom)?"
Fortunately he answered soberly. In that situation obviously no letter would have helped because we were both standing right there, clutching our three valid / current passports. But the episode sensitized us to the unpredictable weirdness and occasional irrationality you see at border checkpoints and from then on one of us never tried to leave / enter the US with our son without a notarized letter from the other.
The variable approaches that go on with any given country’s authorities are far worse when the family doesn’t fit the racist and sexist (and maybe ageist) prejudices of the personnel encountered. And then letter or not, it’s best to go into the situation informed about what is actually legally required with regard to written permission forms before even traveling and being prepared (along with preparing the children as much as possible) to stand one’s ground while prepared, letter or not, notarized or not, by answering confidently and consistently.
I have witnessed enough “making up rules” and inconsistent, unfair encounters from passport control authorities when it comes to family travel, that, except for in countries where it’s legally required, I don’t hold much faith that a letter with a notary or not will make all that much difference. What makes a difference more is what the border control individual thinks about the family upon seeing them and the behavior of the people in the travel party and how they do or don’t fit into the personal expectations of the border control personnel encountered.
Would I suggest that the grandparents have a letter from the parents? Yes. I would also suggest having a smartphone that works abroad to make video calls to the parents and having the parents ready to answer at around the time the kids and grandparents get to the passport control checkpoint. Being in a position of confidence and well-informed about the actual legal requirements in advance of travel is the best pre-emptive defense to what goes on at airport passport control checkpoints.