Make sure you have consent letter on you..

[limmy]

Family of 4, 4 surnames. Never been asked yet.
Luckily I now do have a relationship with an ex but years gone he never would have written me a letter.
It does make me laugh I have sole custody, myself and my partner get fined from the school if we take them out, I don't get any benefits for them due to my partner becoming financially responsible for them, yet I cannot even move my Son's bank account to whom I bank with due to having a different surname. Yet my ex's wife, who is no blood relation, has no physical, financial or any legal responsibilities for him can open him an account just because she has the same surname!
It really is a backwards world in this respect. It's not the 50's anymore. People get divorced.

[dave]

Originally Posted by donnyette

Would this still apply for 16 year olds? My daughters bf is joining us on holiday in july. obviously with his mums blessing. I know he is 16 but would it still be advisable to get a letter from his mum?

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It’s actually 18 for UK Border force.

[Gryff]

We’ve taken the Gdks including our step grandson several times twice we’ve been asked at MCO for proof of consent to travelGd when asked said it’s Grampa and you’d better hurry up as grandma is waiting for us
Step grandson when asked it’s papa bear ( we are actually step great grandparents ) our son is bear to him Archie had 4 generations of parents grand parents etc
Asked why bear cause there’s no names left and H (me ) is waiting and I’m going in the pool
On the way back At Gatwick we’ve always been asked

[Wonder]

Originally Posted by donnyette

Would this still apply for 16 year olds? My daughters bf is joining us on holiday in july. obviously with his mums blessing. I know he is 16 but would it still be advisable to get a letter from his mum?

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For the effort it would take to get photocopy of the parents/bf's passports and a wee note written at the bottom of the bf's photocopy, signed by his parents I think I'd rather be on the safe side.

Plus there is the medical authority issue to think about as well.

[Thorpy]

Originally Posted by loopylo81

The other thing now, is does the letter need to be an official one witnessed and signed by a solicitor or can it be just a general letter?

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A general letter is fine. Don't over worry about the situation. Your son will be legitimately allowed to travel with your parents, because you are perfectly entitled to allow that. All any officer will want to do is establish this is the actual situation. They don't "need" the letter to allow them to have him, they just need your permission. The letters just provide evidence of that permission, which the officer has to use as part of judging whether they are genuine or not. The officer may be able to tell straight away that they are legit, they may do so on the basis of the conversation. If they are still not sure, they may ask if you have a letter and look at the letter, and if it comes to it make further checks. Remember they are watching the people for signs they are lying as much as they are looking at the actual letter. At some point they will realise that your parents are genuine.

I figured that putting time effort and money into getting a more official letter might be the difference in convincing some officers, but with others it might make them more suspicious, so I decided not to bother. We took 2 hand written letters (one for each nephew) on what by the time we went was quite tatty plain A4 paper. It basically said "We Mr A, and Mrs A give Thorpy and his partner permission to take them to Orlando between these dates. I included each nephews relevant parents passport details and mobile numbers, basically anything to assist the authorities to confirm with people they trust (UKPA) that what we said was correct. The people we claimed were the boys parents were registered as such on their passport applications, and then the mobile numbers to call so they can check that said parents gave us permission. My sisters mobile number is on my phone along with text history etc,. As I said earlier, they either realise it's genuine or think I'm the most organised master criminal ever to have all that pre prepped in case they check.
As it turned out the officer asked us about the boys (12 & 14 at the time), we said this one is my sisters son, and the other is her sisters son, he asked them if that was right and they said yes, and on that basis he was happy. Nobody saw the letter. I forget the exact conversation with Manchester on the way back, but needless to say we got through without any problems.

[Thorpy]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

We take our Granddaughter with us to Florida.

I have typed up a letter which said Granddaughters parents have signed. That’s it.

Any document can be made to look perfectly acceptable nowadays and a Solicitors or Notaries letter is not required unless the situation is complicated and Courts etc are involved.

I have no intention of doing anything else and we are quite prepared to answer Border Force questions on our return. If they aren’t happy they can ring said Parents.

I fully appreciate the action to stop Human Trafficking but we need to be level headed about this and not get hysterical and spend money unnecessarily

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Absolutely tom... Abso flippin loutely !

As above, I made my own letter and contained in it details so they can check for themselves with someone other than me that what I was saying was genuine !
where courts and messy divorces with uncooperative parents are concerned, there is a bit more chance of the authorities contacting the "other" parent and then causing difficulties, but for anything straightforward, you're just trying to make it easy for the immigration people to realise you're legitimate.

[bighal]

I will ask border force tonight at work what is acceptable as to letters and ages.

[fefifoe]

They have been doing this at Glasgow for a little while now , dad and I went to gran canaria in oct 2017 and heard a family being asked if they had a letter from the parents. So this year when dad took my DD to Gran canaria I wrote out a letter giving him permission to take her on holiday and to make any decisions necessary for her health while out there, both hubby and I signed it. I did also give him copies of DD birth certificate and my birth certificate. He was asked for these on return to Glasgow and they were happy with what was there

[Raggyavn]

Originally Posted by Bobbins

I might be missing something but it seems a tad pointless grilling people as they're coming back into the UK.

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People smuggling works both ways. There are folks within the UK who would pay good money for access to children, whether that be with good or bad intentions.

[Kraken]

I've flown with my nephew a few times to / from France (not Florida, yet). I always have "the letter" from my sister, along with copies of everything relating to her & her husband for the authorities to check should they so wish.

In my experience the only hassle we've had leaving the UK has been from airport security staff (at various airports) wanting to confirm my nephew is legitimately with me. This is a bit of a joke, as airport security don't have any legal powers as such - in the same way that Customs / Immigration do.

Upon entering France the letter is always checked by the Douane (Immigration / Customs) officer. Ditto on departing France as everyone has their passports checked again by the Douane officers.

Returning back to the UK we have to go to the immigration desk as nephew is too young for e-gates. It's about a 50% hit-rate here - sometimes the immigration officer just asks nephew who I am, on other occasions a quick flash of the letter is needed and we're on our way.