Parental consent form
 

So I will be flying from Los Angeles to Amsterdam with my 11 months old daughter but without her father (he has to stay home and work,unfortunately). I know I will need some sort of notarized consent letter from him stating that he gives me permission to travel internationally with our daughter...does anyone know how specific this letter needs to be? Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you so much!
Flying with KLM by the way...

That form that NoFlyZone has given the link to is a good one. We've taken grandchildren out of the States with one very similar and had no problems. Some immigration staff read it very carefully, others don't.

Don't forget to take a copy of your medical/insurance information, including doctor names, phone numbers and addresses.

There's also a sample permission letter in our Complete Guide to Caribbean Cruises and Complete Guide to European Cruises. But the wording is generally always the same in these letters, to the above link should be fine. Unfortunately, a copy of the letter is not available on our web site. I'll try to do something about that.

I remember seeing the cutest little Asian girl with a tiny flute case being plopped up on the customs counter at Vancouver airport by the man that was with her and being asked by the immigration agent 'where is your mummy'.

We've had multiple nieces and nephews (some are different heritage to us, and/or have different last names) from international destinations and have never been asked for any sort of proof that they are allowed to be with us (other than collecting them as unaccompanied minors from their international flights). They have flown with us internally in the US without question.

My SIL travels extensively with her son whose father is Asian and she's never been asked to prove she has the right to travel with him.

Other SIL has taken kids all over the world without being asked for any kind of proof.

I can't imagine that unless the other parent was objecting somehow there would even be a problem.

I was asked about flying with our daughter - or actually she was asked. Sometimes there are cute conversational questions asked of kids during which the agent/TSA person is watching to see kid's response. In my case, daughter said "my Daddy is staying home to work. He likes to work" - that seemed to satisfy the agent. I think they look for nervousness on part of child, looking to adult for approval of their response, etc.

And on same trip (to London) the woman in front of us was on phone to husband because they had asked her for proof. Wondering if there was some specific alert for that destination going on - but it does happen that they ask for a letter.

I want to be very clear on ths. Certain countries strictly enforce rules about children traveling without both parents to cut down on international chid abductions. You would never be allowed into Mexco, for example, without a notarized letter. Whether or not the airline enforces these rules on boarding I cannot say, but border control agents in other countries do. It is foolish to travel internationally without such proof. Domestic flights are no problem, and these laws do not apply to them.

>I want to be very clear on ths. Certain countries strictly enforce rules about children traveling without both parents to cut down on international chid abductions. You would never be allowed into Mexco, for example, without a notarized letter.<

The only time that my daughter was questioned by an agent (so far) involved a crossing from Mexico back into the US. She's done entries to multiple countries (mostly in Europe) and has never been questioned. However, I always have my paperwork on hand just in case.

I agree that it is foolish to travel internationally without the paperwork. Just because you may have not needed it in the past does not mean that you might get an immigration/customs agent that will ask for it - the form is easy enough to do compared to the larger hassle if you were denied entry to a country while on vacation because you didn't have the necessary proof.

An example of the vagaries of whether you need proof or not - gail indicated that on her trip to London a woman had been asked for proof. My daughter has been to London several times and we have never been asked for the paperwork there. So you never know. Better to be safe than sorry.

>You would never be allowed into Mexco, for example, without a notarized letter.<

On all of the international trips I've taken my minor daughter without her father, I've had a notarized letter for each of the trips to Mexico, Canada, Belize, Honduras and Europe, and I was asked ONE time for a notarized letter from my child's father. Never once has airline personnel asked~the ONE time I was asked was on a cruise..........

Like chepar, I err on the side off caution, but a friend has taken his two minor children to Mexico several times and has never been asked for a notarized consent letter.