Traveling overseas with 2 Grand Children Question
Jun 25, 2019, 2:10 pm
#1
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Traveling overseas with 2 Grand Children Question
3rd week of July, My wife and I (grand parents) are taking two of our grand sons ages 11 and 14 to Dubai, UAE for 7 nights out. Is there any concern or issues traveling with the grand children and not their parents. yes of coarse parents have given us permission to take them and also, we all have the same last names. Any input please would be appreciated.
Jun 25, 2019, 2:23 pm
#2
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Where one or both parents are absent, you should travel with a notarized letter from the absent parent(s) granting permission for you to travel with the identified children on a specific route and date, or reasonable alternative. When our kid was young, one parent or the other took him out of the US fairly often, and we always got notarized permission from the non-traveling parent. International child flight in the context of divorce / custody battles, etc. is a big issue.
Jun 25, 2019, 5:39 pm
#3
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Bear's suggestion is a prudent one. That being said, if we are talking in a US context, it is really only Canada that ever regularly looks for this, and its a US neighboring country pheonomena........and South Africa of course. The big question though is whether you have the same last name as the kids...........if you do, not so necessary, if you do not, such a letter might be a good idea.
Jun 25, 2019, 7:18 pm
#4
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Bear's suggestion is a prudent one. That being said, if we are talking in a US context, it is really only Canada that ever regularly looks for this, and its a US neighboring country pheonomena........and South Africa of course. The big question though is whether you have the same last name as the kids...........if you do, not so necessary, if you do not, such a letter might be a good idea.
Jun 25, 2019, 7:51 pm
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3rd week of July, My wife and I (grand parents) are taking two of our grand sons ages 11 and 14 to Dubai, UAE for 7 nights out. Is there any concern or issues traveling with the grand children and not their parents. yes of coarse parents have given us permission to take them and also, we all have the same last names. Any input please would be appreciated.
Jun 26, 2019, 8:58 am
#7
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We've always prepared the letter just in case. (We have a free notary nearby so that's not an issue.) Both grandmas have traveled with our kids and I don't think either has ever been asked to show it. Destinations have been France, Spain, and the UK. No experience traveling with kids to the UAE - I've only passed through on business and spend single overnights in Dubai.
Jun 26, 2019, 9:58 am
#8
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My husband and I took my 15 year old twin nieces ( who have a different last name than ours) on safari in Tanzania.
In addition to having a notarized consent-to-travel letter from my sister and brother-in-law, we also made sure the letter authorized us to consent for any necessary routine and/or emergency medical treatment the girls might require during the trip.
In addition to having a notarized consent-to-travel letter from my sister and brother-in-law, we also made sure the letter authorized us to consent for any necessary routine and/or emergency medical treatment the girls might require during the trip.
Jun 26, 2019, 10:02 am
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My husband and I took my 15 year old twin nieces ( who have a different last name than ours) on safari in Tanzania.
In addition to having a notarized consent-to-travel letter from my sister and brother-in-law, we also made sure the letter authorized us to consent for any necessary routine and/or emergency medical treatment the girls might require during the trip.
In addition to having a notarized consent-to-travel letter from my sister and brother-in-law, we also made sure the letter authorized us to consent for any necessary routine and/or emergency medical treatment the girls might require during the trip.
You should probably get information on health insurance too.
Jun 26, 2019, 11:10 am
#10
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Actually that would be my least concern. I have ended up in the hospital in the UAE, twice, two different hospitals and two different Emirates. The care is top notch and dirt cheap, you will not even hit your deductible if its an Emergency Room visit!
Jun 26, 2019, 11:47 am
#11
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My husband and I took my 15 year old twin nieces ( who have a different last name than ours) on safari in Tanzania.
In addition to having a notarized consent-to-travel letter from my sister and brother-in-law, we also made sure the letter authorized us to consent for any necessary routine and/or emergency medical treatment the girls might require during the trip.
In addition to having a notarized consent-to-travel letter from my sister and brother-in-law, we also made sure the letter authorized us to consent for any necessary routine and/or emergency medical treatment the girls might require during the trip.
Jun 28, 2019, 3:28 am
#12
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I've seen a little girl of 4 ish travelling with an older man and the immigration agent had her sit on the counter and he asked "where is your mommy". You never know these days so better to be safe than sorry.
Jun 29, 2019, 10:34 am
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“Where is your daddy” or “who is this (older person)” are the kind of questions they sometimes ask when a child is traveling with just a male adult who doesn’t fit the immigration agent’s stereotypes of how families are. Even if with a letter that is notarized.
I would hope the immigration agent’s questions weren’t sexist and ageist, but I know the questions from border control types can be deeply rooted in the agents’ prejudices/held stereotypes. Having and using an approval letter doesn’t necessarily resolve the issues when encountering agents’ prejudices in action, but at times such a letter may help and at least get the agents to move on to something and someone else.
Jun 30, 2019, 8:52 am
#14
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Which country? Did he ask the travel party for a letter and was such shown?
“Where is your daddy” or “who is this (older person)” are the kind of questions they sometimes ask when a child is traveling with just a male adult who doesn’t fit the immigration agent’s stereotypes of how families are. Even if with a letter that is notarized.
I would hope the immigration agent’s questions weren’t sexist and ageist, but I know the questions from border control types can be deeply rooted in the agents’ prejudices/held stereotypes. Having and using an approval letter doesn’t necessarily resolve the issues when encountering agents’ prejudices in action, but at times such a letter may help and at least get the agents to move on to something and someone else.
Jun 30, 2019, 9:11 am
#15
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I don't think questions like that would be sexist or ageist. immigration/border agents need to do their due diligence. In circumstances, they're trying to gauge the reaction of the children and establish the legitimacy of the child traveling. I would prefer an over-abundance of care rather than a lack thereof. With young children, extra care needs to be taken because they might not be able to take care of themselves. The letters help, but it's the case of "trust but verify". A child might know the parents' cell phone numbers and if they don't match up to the letter... a little paranoia is not necessarily a bad thing.
Four year old children don’t commonly have each of their parents’ whole phone numbers (including country and/or area code) memorized. And they often enough make factual mistakes about such things too. Even adults are becoming increasingly lousy about memorizing and recalling phone numbers — welcome to the product of growing reliance upon smartphones as repositories for basic information which people used to more commonly memorize (and memorize better in the age of pen and paper and when brain memory counted more).
Children repeatedly witnessing how their loved ones may be subject to sexist and racist treatment by authorities is a problem, and it is a problem that affects a lot more children and society far more commonly than people being kidnapped by their relatives. Even from a very young age, many children notice the unfairness that comes from authorities. And I would trust a two year old’s judgement about who is more likely to be a nice person more than I would trust the instinct of the average adult working border control and relying upon a bunch of prejudices and stereotypes that do more harm than good.
Last edited by GUWonder; Jun 30, 2019 at 9:38 am