Wife traveling with 17 y.o. son to Germany w/o me; my permission required?
 

Hi. Hope this is the right place to ask.

My wife is traveling to Germany with our 17 y.o. son for 11 days. May I assume she does not need some sort of letter from me giving my assent?

There are no custody/separation/divorce or any other marital issues of any kind between us.

Thank you.

No one in immigration will know that you and your wife don't have any issues. But, it's very doubtful that anything will be asked of a 17 year old traveling from the US to Germany.

If you are concerned, it's simple enough to fill out a permission to travel letter and get your signature notarized.

I travel in and out of Germany all the time with my kids, without my husband, and it's never been a problem. Germany is not one of the countries which require those (useless) permission letters.

Those letters are very useful to have when the airline requests them or they will deny you boarding.

Airlines have no right to request such a letter or deny you boarding based on the lack of one.

Certain countries, such a Mexico, might require permission from the other parent to enter their country, but Germany and the EU in general are not on that list.

A 17 yr old? Of course not.

Being asked for such a letter by the airline and parental non-possession of such letter being grounds for the airline to deny boarding to the EU is so very rare that I am comfortable with the idea of it happening on the order of less than 0.5% of the time (ie less than 1/200 times and not even that often) even when the travel is via Canada and involves CBSA passport control in Canada.

17 year olds in the EU routinely travel internationally into and out of the Schengen zone without their parents and do so without any parental permission letters. The EU passport control is more likely to care about sufficient funds, onward travel and health insurance coverage but that is so rarely asked of US citizens that I would be surprised if that happens.

So few countries now require them now so the airlines won't ask for them, unless it's one of those rare countries.

I can't believe ANY country would require such a thing. How ridiculous. The odds of actually catching someone trying to take their child away must be one in a million.

What we believe has nothing to do with the law. This is a real issue and the laws have been made for a reason. There are many countries who require documentation for minors traveling with only one parent. Just a few:

Brazil:

http://travel.state.gov/content/pass...ry/brazil.html

Venezuela:

http://travel.state.gov/content/pass...venezuela.html

Russia:

http://travel.state.gov/content/pass...ry/russia.html

Canada:

http://travel.state.gov/content/pass...ry/canada.html

As for international child abduction it happens a lot more frequently than you think, mainly by relatives:

http://travel.state.gov/content/chil...n/english.html

According to this Canadian government website, hundred of Canadian children are wrongfully taken from Canada every year:

http://travel.gc.ca/travelling/publi...ild-abductions

Well, since the OP asked about Germany, this list isn't particularly relevant. Neither Germany nor the EU require such a letter.

You should also consider that some of those rules are more theory than fact. Since becoming a single parent I have taken my son to Canada by land, sea and air and never been asked for such a letter or a copy of the custody order.

I believe this poster responded to another poster who did not believe any country would ask for it, and thus, the information is relevant in this thread.

I know you've posted you were never asked for this, but I've been asked for it every time I've traveled alone to Canada and Mexico with my daughter. I was also asked for it in the UK this year. I don't believe a 17 year old will be asked for it anywhere.

Go read post #5.

If you regularly have problems with immigration officers, as you seem to be suggesting, perhaps there's something in your conduct raising a red flag? It is not the norm for the UK to request proof of custody, nor does the State Department website state that the UK requires such proof, which it does for the other countries mentioned, such as Mexico.

You need to read more carefully. I was responding to post #9, not the OP. I think it's okay to diverge a bit from the original question; your posted about Canada, when the OP asked about Germany :rolleyes:

Why so much rudeness? When another poster mentions their personal experience, why would you question them? It doesn't really matter what the norm is; if you travel much, you sometimes encounter officials who don't always follow the rules.