Taking child on holiday

[Moouse]

We are taking our niece and nephew on holiday to Spain this week. Their parents are not coming with us, so we have letters of permission signed by parents with their contact details and witnessed by a 3rd person. We have not had time to get anything notarised by a solicitor as it’s all been a bit last minute.

Is this going to be okay? I’m not even sure what point we’d be questioned. Is it passport control once we get there? One of them I doubt anyone would ask about anyway as he has our surname and looks like us, but the other doesn’t. All the advice I Google seems to be geared towards separated parents taking kids away and needing a birth certificate, but that won’t be relevant here i would have thought?

That should be ok. You have evidence that you have permission from everyone with PR. That should be enough for the airline to allow you to board and for you to get through customs control at the far end.

We took our nephew to Florida when he was a child. Nobody ever asked us but we did have a permission letter from Mum.

Thanks. I thought it probably was but just wanted some reassurance.

What age are the children? If they are old enough to explain who you are to an official it will be fine.

They’re definitely old enough to explain so I think we’re good.

You should be fine with what you have. Ex has to sign to authorise me to take DD out of the country. Usually we're only ever asked my passport control when we try to re-enter the country. On one occasion they took my daughter a few metres away to ask her, which I'd prepped her might happen so she wasn't scared. It might be worth just telling niece and nephew that they might want to ask them separately and that it's nothing to worry about

I never had the permission letter witnessed by anyone. We did include parents passport details. (For us it was Grandparents... they've never been questioned with any of their grandchildren. I've been questioned once about my daughter. Its random.)

We have talked the DCs friends away with us before and had a letter from both parents witnessed by a neighbour of theirs. I think they got a template online
We have been asked for it on arrival and told if we hadn’t it would have been “a big problem “ but none of the details were verified
I know people say they have never been asked for one and DH thought I was being silly getting the parents to do one but good job I did. Better to have it and not need it