Consent to leave the child abroad

You have planned a vacation abroad with a child, or the child is going outside Russia for a tour or to participate in competitions ... In any of these cases, parents have many questions about the rules and laws that govern the crossing of borders by minors.

In many cases, you may need a document certifying the consent of the parents or guardians to leave the child abroad. That it represents how to issue it and to whom to show, we will tell in this article.

When a child crosses state borders, it will be necessary to comply with the laws of two countries at once - the one you leave and the one you go to. Therefore, you should familiarize yourself with the basic requirements of border control, which will have to pass twice, at the exit and at the entrance. Needless to say, all documents that may be requested for a child must be correctly and correctly drawn up! After all, otherwise, the vacation can be "broken", the mood will be spoiled, the family will incur substantial waste.

And now the lawyer's advice on consent to leave the child abroad.

So that the passport officers and border guards do not have any questions for your child, he needs to collect documents on the following list:

• Own international passport (From the age of 14, such an identity card is considered an obligatory requirement. Children younger can be entered with a similar document from one of their parents. There will be no questions if the child travels with this parent. Children do not enter new biometric passports at all. FMS of your region or through the MFC).

• Birth certificate.

• Visa (if it is required for a particular trip. You can find out if the visa or visa-free regime is valid in the selected country, you can in the diplomatic mission of the state. A detailed sample of filling out documents for issuing a visa to a child, including in English, is usually posted on the agency’s website).

• Notarized parental consent on departure of the child abroad (in certain cases).

• Medical insurance (designed specifically for overseas travel. While it is not mandatory, but only recommended, but soon, when the new rules come into force, the policy will become necessary. You can issue it in any insurance company.).

• Other documents confirming the relationship, if the names of the child and his parents are different. In this case, referring to the evidence in the divorce, re-marriage, certificates of changing the name.

We will not talk in detail about all the documents in this list, we will pay attention to the consent to leave. It is issued by a notary, the presence of both parents is obligatory, except for the cases that we will discuss below. Parents will need passports valid in Russia, as well as a birth certificate for the child.

Consent is issued on a special form.that are available to all notaries, an example of filling out an application for consent will be provided to you first. After the parents write it in the prescribed form, the notary will have a short conversation with both of them, and will decide to give consent.

Remember that a notary has the right to refuse such a document if something seems suspicious to him or mom and dad will not be provided with all the necessary documents.

If entry into the state is visa-free, the overwhelming majority of such states usually do not require consent, however, it is better to be prepared for different developments. From my experience, I know that once during the trip, consent was not asked, and when we went to the same country for the second time, we were asked to present a document. Therefore, it is better to arrange the agreement just in case.

There are situations in which consent is required. First, we are talking about a trip to the countries united by Schengen law. To obtain a visa, you will need to submit such a document to the diplomatic mission, and then it may be asked again when passing through control. So, it makes sense to make an agreement in two copies. Please note that photocopy is invalid.

Secondly, consent will be required if the child is traveling with one parent. In this case, you will need a document drawn up by a notary in the presence of both parents. If the baby is traveling with his mother, and she is divorced from his father, he will also have to arrange consent. It is desirable that there should be a certified translation of the document into English in case of additional questions from representatives of the border control.

And now a short course on how to get consent for a child to travel abroad.

The exception is made by children who are brought up only by one parent, and in the birth certificate in section where data on the second parent are presented, there is a dash. In this case, the consent to issue is not necessary, it is enough to take with you a birth certificate and its translation into English.

Very often, recently, single mothers do not want the child to put a dash in the child’s document and, on the advice of the civil registry office, write a fictional person as the father. In this case, you will have to go to the registry office, where you received such a certificate, and ask yourself to issue a certificate of a certain sample, which will indicate that a person recorded as a dad does not exist in nature. If it is received, consent to leave is also not required.

It is not necessary to make a consent in the event that one of the parents has died. It is enough to present a death certificate.

A few more situations in which you do not need to contact the notary for the consent:

• One of the parents was missing. This must be certified by a special certificate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

• One parent is imprisoned. A certificate will be required from the management of the correctional colony or settlement colony.

• One of the parents is deprived of parental rights by the court. It will be necessary to take a copy of the court decision.

• If the child is adopted or ward. The guardian will need to take with them a document on the basis of which the child is placed under guardianship. As a rule, this is an appropriate court decision and a certificate from the guardianship authorities.

Recently, this happens quite often, because many high schools and schools have become more willing to book sightseeing tours for their students, Russian children are increasingly becoming participants in international competitions, creative competitions and so on. In this case, the child will have to cross the border without a mother and father, however, without fail with someone from an adult (accompanying person).

Consent to leave the child abroad in this case is necessary from both parents. And even if the child is sent to travel with his own grandmother or grandfather, with older adult brothers and sisters, consent from the mother and father is a mandatory document, which will certainly be asked to present at the departure and upon entry.

Often on the Internet you can find information that the consent of one of the parents is enough, in fact it is not so if the family has not developed one of the above situations when the consent of the second parent is not required in principle.

Registration of consent from both parents does not necessarily do on different forms. You can make one document in which both the mother and father will be entered, their personalities and voluntary consent will be confirmed by a notary.

It should be separately told about the situation when the child can still cross the border without parents, relatives and accompanying. This is possible if you can prove that a close relative will meet the child on the other side of the air bridge and conclude an agreement with the airline on the provision of a special service. It provides that a company employee will meet your child at the airport of departure and accompany you during the flight. The authority of such an attendant will end when he hands over the child at the destination to the person who meets him. This way you can not send a child under 5 years.

If the child goes to a country that is among the states united by Schengen law, the consent to leave the minor will be issued exclusively for one trip, it will indicate the expected dates of entry and exit.

In other countries, consent can be issued for a longer period. Usually it is three years. Most Russian notaries, by the way, do not agree to draw up an agreement for more than three months. But there may be different options.

Consent to leave is often mistakenly called a power of attorney, according to the rules for the execution of the document, this does not change. It is necessary to indicate the passport details of the parents, the data on the birth certificates of the child or several children, the name of the country where the child is going to, the travel dates (start and end). If there is a companion, then the passport data of this person. If an agreement is concluded with an organization for support, then its name and, preferably, personal data of a particular employee.

The cost of notary services is always indicated in its rates. Usually, this is a fixed amount, the size of which you can ask in advance by phone. On average in Russia, parental consent to leave a child abroad costs from 800 to 1,200 rubles, depending on the region.

The price can almost double, if you do not draw up a document in the notary’s office, but offer him to come to you. For exit design will have to pay separately.

Unfortunately, often one of the parents faces a misunderstanding on the part of the second spouse, most often the former, and cannot obtain his voluntary consent to leave the child abroad.This situation is twofold, let's consider it from different sides of the parties to the conflict.

And now how to be if one of the parents does not give his consent to leave.

If the husband or wife does not consent to leaving the child out of very real fears that he will not be brought back or that the baby may be threatened, he is entitled to impose a ban on leaving. To do this, it is enough to contact the Federal Migration Service of Russia (your territorial office) with a statement, and also write a corresponding application to the border control authorities. Nobody will have to explain the reasons, no one has the right to demand from the parent the disclosure of family secrets and the presentation of all the “pitfalls”. It is enough to clearly define your categorical "no." Both mother and father have this right.

If one of the parents cannot get the consent of the second for unintelligible reasons (“I will not give it out of principle”), you should not give up, because you can protect your rights and the child’s rights to freedom of movement in court. This will require filing a claim, inviting representatives of the guardianship bodies to participate in the process, who will be able to confirm that the stubborn spouse unreasonably interferes with the legal right of the child to travel. In the practice of judges there are positive decisions that oblige the respondent to give the necessary notarial consent.

If, before the trip, you asked the Federal Migration Service or the FSB Frontier Service website if there was a ban on leaving your child, and found that there is such a ban, you will have to file a claim in court. The servants of Themis will invite all parties to the conflict, weigh the parents' arguments, ask about the desire to go on a trip for the child himself, if, of course, his age allows him to adequately answer the judge's questions. If necessary, you will have to invite witnesses to both the claimant and the defendant. The path is troublesome and not fast, however, today the only possible one.

And now we will listen to a lawyer about how to impose and how the ban on leaving is lifted.