Airport worry: 3 different names in my family

[Whoppery5k]

I know America are quite strict when it comes to security.
So I'm worried slightly about the face all 4 of the kids have different names to me and the wife.

My surname is Edwards, and the wife has yet to change her name on her passport or tickets.
So she has a different name to me,
When both have 2 children none together.
Hers have there fathers surname so don't match mine or the wife, and my kids have there monthers surname.
What problems will this course at MCO

[jdouds]

Hi take all documents and possibly letters from children's other parents. Other will give more defina give answers. A few years ago my sister was held for 25 mins with her daughter with similar scenario .

[Megandllsmum]

Our first trip I worried about this, we also have three surnames between the four of us, wasn't an issue at all, I did take my eldests birth certificate but nothing was asked.

[barbie5]

My sons have different surnames to me, and it has never been a problem when they were really young security used to ask them who i was and what they were looking forward to doing, in a nice conversational way, now the youngest is 16 they dont ask as many questions. I have never carried birth certificates except when going on a cruise.
I would maybe take a copy just to put your mind at ease.

Chris

[theCMG]

yeah we've been to America several times with 3 different surnames on the 3 of us and its never been an issue. That said when DD was younger we did also used to take a letter from her mum just in case

[grinner82]

They do tend to ask questions but its more in conversation. So they asked DS when he was 4 who he was going on holiday with etc.

Letter of permission from the other parent. A copy of Birth Certificate and I know people who say a copy of the mothers passport but it depends on your relationship with the ex.
People seems to have more issues getting back into the UK from what I have read recently.

[Thorpy]

2 key elements here, practical and legal.

Practically I fully suspect you can waltz through with no perceptible delays.
Not to dissimilar, Myself and my partner never married, in 2009 we took our daughter, and each of our respective sisters sons (12, & 14). Our sisters both married, so each nephew lived with their respective parents with their respective fathers surnames. Our Daughter has my name. So we had 5 people 4 surnames living at 3 addresses, all went to the desk together no problems !
The immigration officer asked us who was who, we explained, then he asked the boys if that was correct, and they said yes. He was happy. We did have each of our nephews parents sign letters which we'd written regarding permission, but nobody saw them.

The officers job is to determine if you are genuine or not. If the officer believes this to be the case you actually need nothing else apart from passports). They will probably ascertain this via a slightly longer chat at the desk, something you'd not even notice unless you are paying strict attention to what they ask. If he/she wants a bit more corroborating evidence, that's where letters and papers and such like come in. Just answer what they ask, don't start bombarding them with stuff.

The legal position is that you need to have either parental responsibility for the child or permission from someone who has to take a child out of this country. Your wife is the straightforward case as mothers automatically get parental responsibility for their own kids, so wouldn't ever need permission to take her kids away. Parental responsibility for Fathers is quite complex based on date of birth (IE when the rules changed), whether you were married when they were born and whether or not you are named on the birth certificate, or it may be granted by a court. You may technically not have the authority to take your kids without permission from their mother, worth checking !

Even if you don't technically have to get permission, If you have a reasonable relationship with your kids other parents and the kids are young then a permission letter (or any court papers, birth certificate copies) may help smooth passage. If getting a letter is going to be a pain, and the kids are old enough to speak for themselves as our nephews were, then they can vouch for you and a letter from their other parents literally becomes more hassle than it's worth !

Basically if the officer can tell you are genuinely a family albeit a blended one then expect no difficulty whatsoever, but check out your legalities and as others have said, letters and the like only help !

[hotspotuk]

You tend to get more hassle coming back into the U.K. than you do going out

[Floridarules]

Have been 6 times as a family and at one point we had 3 different surnames. The only time it was mentioned was on the return leg of the 4th visit I think. It was going through UK immigration!- and it was a quick question and that was it.

We have never took a letter as I never thought to. 👍

[Welshjim22]

Take copies of birth certificates if kids are young beyond that maybe a letter from other parent and copy of their passport.

It really isn't a big deal.