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Original poster

Do I need to take DD's birth certificate when I travel abroad?

33 replies

VeronicaCake · 11/01/2011 14:20

Has this happened to anyone else? DH and I have just taken DD (8m) to Paris for the first time. Obviously she has a passport and all three of us are British citizens. Journey out was fine but on way back I was asked to step aside at the Gare du Nord when getting our passports checked and asked lots of questions by someone from the UK Borders Agency. I was told that if I wanted to travel abroad with DD I needed to take her birth certificate with me because DD and I don't share a surname (DH does share her surname of course but he had gone through ahead of us and was standing on other side of passport control wondering what was going on).

DD has my surname as a middle name so it is on her passport, but not as her surname. The guy speaking to me was fairly aggressive in his manner and made a pointed remark about this being why it is a good idea to get married before having a child (I disagree but DH and have been married 6 years anyway).

I've looked everywhere online and cannot find any reference to this as a rule. I also cannot see what carrying her birth certificate in addition to her passport would have achieved. Or indeed what naughty thing they thought I could be up to. Did they seriously think I had travelled to Paris on a British passport in order to abduct a British baby (complete with her own passport) and then return to the UK with her?

OP posts:
Sazisi · 11/01/2011 17:47
Shock No, have 3 kids and have travelled loads with them and never been asked for their birth certificates. That man from the UK Borders Agency sounds like an arsehole.
MrsPresley · 11/01/2011 18:14

Returning from France a few years ago we were stopped and asked about my sons friend, we were told that we had to have a letter from his parents stating that we were responsible for him and he was allowed to travel with us.

It was probably because you and daughter have different surnames, it wasnt obvious that you were her mum (to him anyway).

My daughter travels to cyprus with her Gran almost every year and we now always give her a letter giving her "permission" to have her and we do the same if we take any of our grandchildren on holiday.

But I've never heard of travelling with a birth certificate Confused

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 11/01/2011 18:23

How dare this person lecture you about having to get married when you have DCs! Shock

None of his damn business.

Some Borders Agency staff just seem to make it up as they go along as they know we have to keep them sweet or they can make things VERY unpleasant.

Decorhate · 11/01/2011 18:23

The thing about different surnames is ridiculous IMO. It is traditional in several European countries for a woman not to change her name, aprt from anything else.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 12/01/2011 08:22

My surname isn't the same as DH and DD. I've travelled the world with DD and never had this situation.
IIWY, I would make a complaint about the odious officious tosser and then carry on with your life.

Bucharest · 12/01/2011 08:27

There were a few threads about this last year, and I seem to remember one being from France. (I think it was one with a lone parent taking a child abroad IIRC)

It's just safeguarding children.

I read something about it becoming standard practice over the next couple of years, to help avoid child trafficking/Fathers for Justice types running off with their kids.

I expect that's all the chappy was doing. Following his guidelines in order to protect children's safety.

No bad thing really, but of course, there was no need for him to be rude.

belgo · 12/01/2011 08:28

What Kreecher says. My children have a different surname to me but I have only once been questioned by customs, and that was done in an very pleasant, friendly manner.

Bucharest · 12/01/2011 08:28

(in fact I would definitely complain about what he said about being married, that's discrimination, surely?but not about the fact of the bc's.)

littlerats · 12/01/2011 08:30

i've traveled abroad with my two year old ds quite a lot (without my partner whose name he shares, i have a different surname). i have always carried his birth certificate with me, just in case and although i've never been asked for it, i have been asked if he's mine and on one strange occasion i after the passports were looked at i was then given quiz questions on his details - what's his date of birth? middle name? etc. i do find it odd that if a child has the same surname as the person who it travels with then it is presumed that everything is rosy!

belgo · 12/01/2011 08:32

Bucharest - when I was 'questioned' by the UK passport man - he asked if I was married and was interested when I said I got married in Belgium where women always keep their maiden surnames.

Ooopsadaisy · 12/01/2011 08:38

Dcs have Dp's surname and not mine.

Have never been questioned or asked for birth certificates.

Have never taken birth certs abroad.

My Dad takes my ds abroad loads - how does that work then?

Sounds like a wanky wanker to me.

Bucharest · 12/01/2011 08:48

anther thread

Looks like BA officials in France are particularly hot on this.

Bucharest · 12/01/2011 08:48

another

Bucharest · 12/01/2011 08:59

Just googled a bit, there are zillions of cases like this all over the world, because of the Hague Convention guidelines to protect children from being abducted from one state to another.

Already in the US apparently, parents travelling with minors and not having the same surname have to carry the bc naming the parent in question and are recommended to also carry a notarised letter confirming all the data.

It looks like it's only going to get more bureaucratic as more countries implement the guidelines!

Ooopsadaisy · 12/01/2011 09:11

So how does the birth certificate help if dd is abroad with friend's family or ds is abroad with my dad?

Why would a child always travel with its parent/s?

My ds (at age 9) once travelled home from Portugal with my stepbrothers - two early twenties black men.

I am not stereotyping - but someone might think that was suspicious mightn't they? No shared surname etc ......

Ooopsadaisy · 12/01/2011 09:13

Sorry - should have made clearer -

We are white - stepbrothers are black.

oricella · 12/01/2011 09:18

there are no rules and it all depends very much on the mood of the immigration officer. I've been asked a few times in Amsterdam and now mostly have a copy of the birth certificate with me. Sod's law is that whenever I do have it, they won't ask - and on the occasion that I forget I get questioned

I don't really mind, but the ones who have asked mostly have been on the rude side.. interesting correlation

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 12/01/2011 10:01

Rudeness is unacceptable as is being instructed by a customs official to get married and change your name if you have DCs!

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 12/01/2011 10:03

Though it is reasonable to expect adults other than parents to have a letter from the parents giving their permission for the child to travel with them, as only the parents have the right to have the DCs with them.

I think a lot of countries have this as an official requirement to allow DCs to travel with anyone other than the parents.

mousymouse · 12/01/2011 10:09

so far I have only had trouble discussions with airline staff that didn't want to let me check in with my children because of different surnames. even though ds in included in my passport (but dd isn't because of a change in EU regulation in 2007).
immigration staff was never a problem for me, they check the passports electronically anyway, so if the passport is flagged it will come up.

DiscoDaisy · 12/01/2011 10:09

I have a different surname to my DC. Entering the UK on the way back from Spain I was asked what my relationship was to the children I was travelling with. My youngest DS, 6yrs, piped up "She's mummy of course!" in a tone that suggested the woman was very stupid for not knowing this! Grin

Ooopsadaisy · 12/01/2011 10:10

Bloody hell! Never knew that!

We've been doing it for years!

Just thinking what countries they've got in and out of without being challenged.

Certainly France on many, many occasions, Portugal, Ireland ....

megapixels · 12/01/2011 10:20

I don't share a surname with my DDs as I did not change my name after marriage and they have their father's surname, so I carried their BCs as a precaution when travelling with them (and without dh). Only because I'd seen on MN that some people had had problems. Never was asked anything about it though, although FWIW my DDs look very like me.

I think the officer was out of order for giving you a lecture like that.

CarrotsAreNotTheOnlyVegetables · 12/01/2011 10:53

Ooops, can't remember now which countries they were but can remember about a year ago noticing something on a website about at least one country that states it as a requirement. Though they may not always checkup on it. It only takes that one time though....

TBH it makes sense to do a letter like this, or how would anyone know the DCs were not being abducted?

Ooopsadaisy · 12/01/2011 10:58

Advice taken Carrots - taken.

I think I'll write a template of a letter and keep it on the computer and add birth certificate to the holiday lists!

Think I might have been lucky all these years - particularly with young black step-brothers bringing white ds back from Portugal.

Such a sad world isn't it?