notarized documents for minors traveling with one parent?

la flor · Feb 1, 2005

I recieved an e-mail from Jet Blue stating an minor under 18 years of age, traveling alone, or with one parent, must have a notarized letter, from the Dominican Republic Consulate.
I am traveling with one of my children, I am divorced, I had my ex- husband notarized documents in order to get her passport. With his permission to get this passport for her, isnt that enough?! now I will have to spend a day in NYC with my ex to get a notarized permission slip-did anyone recently go through this? what will happen if I dont go to the consulate, will we get denied entryinto Santo Domingo?

ricktoronto · Feb 1, 2005

More likely that if Jet Blue wrote you it's Jet Blue who won't even let you board without it.

jruane44 · Feb 2, 2005

I don't think that you need to go to the consulate. I believe a notorized letter from your ex stating that he gives permission for your child to leave the country with you should be enough. About two years ago I saw a woman at the airport with her child not allowed to get on a plane without the notorized letter. She was flying to Cancun, Mexico.The woman broke down crying. I felt so bad for her. She stated she hadn't seen her ex in almost ten years. They still would not let her get on the plane. I believe the airline was Continental and we were flying out of Newark, but I'm not too sure about the plane or airport.

ricktoronto · Feb 2, 2005

jruane44 said:
I don't think that you need to go to the consulate. I believe a notorized letter from your ex stating that he gives permission for your child to leave the country with you should be enough. About two years ago I saw a woman at the airport with her child not allowed to get on a plane without the notorized letter. She was flying to Cancun, Mexico.The woman broke down crying. I felt so bad for her. She stated she hadn't seen her ex in almost ten years. They still would not let her get on the plane. I believe the airline was Continental and we were flying out of Newark, but I'm not too sure about the plane or airport.

The consulate doesn't issue these things - the usual call for a visit to the consulate is to have it translated and then stamped as "officially translated", especially if the letter is in English. I would think a bilingual letter notarized by a bilingual notary would likely satisfy all but the most picky at jet Blue or at migracion.

Still Jet Blue or not, it makes a lot of sense to have this - I had one until my daughter turned 16.

At both the US and Canada borders, especially travelling by car they asked for it more than once and immigration officers would also speak to her separately as to where we were going, did her mother know and was she free to go or not. I suspect being a man with a young female child is seen differently than a single woman with young kids, male or female.

marliejaneca · Feb 2, 2005

So....

does this mean that you have changed your mind and you are going back to the DR this month???
I would have thought after all the problems you have been experiencing with the "other woman" - see Mars/Venus section under this title for those who didn't follow the thread !!
Just curious, not being mean or anything.
Marlie

la flor · Feb 2, 2005

marliejaneca said:
does this mean that you have changed your mind and you are going back to the DR this month???
I would have thought after all the problems you have been experiencing with the "other woman" - see Mars/Venus section under this title for those who didn't follow the thread !!
Just curious, not being mean or anything.
Marlie

I replied to you in the other thread... yes im going back, to a different part of the island, with my daughter. what makes you think that I would be going back for him?! we dont ever speak. just because of what happened would not stop me from vacationing at a place I love to go to.

borruga · Feb 2, 2005

???

this is the second time I see this issue brought up on this forum, and I don t understand the problem at all. I have travelled with my children - mainly with my older one (7) - around the globe from when they were very small, and never once have been harassed by airline or immigration in any country including DR and the US. the thought of bringing a letter from my ex husband never even entered my mind. he has also travelled with our daughter several times, even his girlfriend has entered the US coming from Europe on one occasion with our daughter without either parent.

certainly hope it stays that way!

Talldrink · Feb 2, 2005

This is my experience...

Ok, I just came back on 1/16 and this is what I was told at the airport coming back:

From now on you will need the notirized letter from the other parent stamped by the Dominican Consulate. This costs $50 to do and if you directly to the consulate in NYC it can be done in one day. I hear there's an office in Paterson, NJ where they can give it back to you in about 3 days. I'm pretty there are more offices like this scattered around in NYC and NJ.

I've always had to carry a notirized letter from my kid's father to come back (not to leave the US). My son used to go without the letter, but I've been asked for this after 9/11.

On the other hand, my friend has always traveled without the father with her 3 kids and she never gets asked for the letter. She had to get the letter when the kids are traveling with her mom without her. So go figure...

la flor · Feb 2, 2005

this is correct

Talldrink said:
Ok, I just came back on 1/16 and this is what I was told at the airport coming back:

From now on you will need the notirized letter from the other parent stamped by the Dominican Consulate. This costs $50 to do and if you directly to the consulate in NYC it can be done in one day. I hear there's an office in Paterson, NJ where they can give it back to you in about 3 days. I'm pretty there are more offices like this scattered around in NYC and NJ.

I've always had to carry a notirized letter from my kid's father to come back (not to leave the US). My son used to go without the letter, but I've been asked for this after 9/11.

On the other hand, my friend has always traveled without the father with her 3 kids and she never gets asked for the letter. She had to get the letter when the kids are traveling with her mom without her. So go figure...

this is the exact infoI just learned earlier. this is a new requirment in order to travel to the DR form the US FOR CHILDREN TRAVELING WITH ONE PARENT. this is for kidnapping/ abuction reasons. I spoke to the DR consulate, they said that my ex must be present to notarize this letter, and that I can go to the Paterson NJ office. I cant imagine what someone would do if your ex-spouse did not live near you or even for the ex- spouse who are completly out of their own childrens lives... this could be a huge problem!

Naufrago · Feb 2, 2005

Sounds like another revenue generating scheme thought up by some bureaucrat with brass ones. Naufraga used to travel back and forth with the kids all the time. This new requirement is sure to change many single parents vacation plans.

Talldrink · Feb 2, 2005

If you cannot contact your ex, you can get a power of attorney or a court order that will allow you to travel if need be.

If you have full custody of your kids, you can travel with those papers and no letter is needed - I asked...

Naufrago: they keep the letter - so that means you have to pay the $50 every single trip!

la flor said:
this is the exact infoI just learned earlier. this is a new requirment in order to travel to the DR form the US FOR CHILDREN TRAVELING WITH ONE PARENT. this is for kidnapping/ abuction reasons. I spoke to the DR consulate, they said that my ex must be present to notarize this letter, and that I can go to the Paterson NJ office. I cant imagine what someone would do if your ex-spouse did not live near you or even for the ex- spouse who are completly out of their own childrens lives... this could be a huge problem!

canada_ang · Feb 3, 2005

Travelling from Canada, I've been told that I need a letter each time I travel with my daughter (even though I have full custody). The letter from my ex must specify where we are going and how long we will be gone (and that he gives his permission, obviously). It doesn't necessarily need to be notarized, just witnessed by someone. I have never been asked for it, but I get it everytime just in case.

However, my cousin recently returned to Canada from a vacation in the US and actually had problems coming back to Canada. Her ex is no longer in the picture, so she carries a copy of her custody agreement (stating that she has full custody, etc). She was hassled because she didn't have the original agreement with her. She was held up at immigration for about 6 hours until she was able to get ahold of her parents to bring the original to the airport.

Who knows - I wouldn't take the chance travelling without some kind of documentation...a little preparation ahead of time can avoid ruining a vacation!

My two cents...

trishdeyar · Feb 3, 2005

Hit or miss

Seems to me it's hit or miss - I travelled with my kids last October - I have full custody - no questions asked either way. I had a "copy" of my agreement, didn't have the original. I lucked out.
Trish

bob saunders · Feb 3, 2005

I have the notarized letter for my wife to travel with the boys and one for me to travel with them, because often we travel separately, but I've never been asked for it and neither has she. Our's say "permission to travel to any country at anytime"

Talldrink · Feb 7, 2005

My friend was detained and missed her flight b/c she did not have the letter for her daughter. Luckily the father lives in DR so she was able to get on a plane the following day. She did not need the stamp from the consulate, but she had to get it notirized. She had to pay the $100 for both tickets and had to come back with the letter - otherwise she was not leaving the DR with the child.

Since I know my luck, I will get my little stamp at the consulate after all - b/c I KNOW I'll be the first one they will detain if I dont have it...

MrMike · Feb 7, 2005

I have to go through this every time my son travels, he lives with me and spends summers and christmas with his mom. Every time the rules change, and every time they are a pain in the ***. The hardest thing right now is that you do inded need an ORIGINAL permission to travel notarized by the DOMINICAN EMBASSY in the US. to travel from the DR. So for us this is particularly difficult since his mom lives at least 8 hours from the nearest Dominican Embassy and then has to get this original document into my hands. Dealing with Dominican government offices in the US is apparently not any more fun than dealing with local ones.

There is no simple solution, just find out what hoops you need to jump through this time, take a deep breath and start jumping.

la flor · Feb 7, 2005

notarized document

ok, today I spent the day with my ex going to the dominican consulate office in paterson, new jersey. we needed my daughters birth certificate, I bought both of our passports, and my ex had to give his drivers liscense. a document was printed in spanish with all the info, and will be ready to be picked up in 2 days. (unfortunatly another trip back there) and my ex has to go that day to sign it. this process cost 55.00. what an outrageous amount of money for such a thing. also, this needs to be done for every trip.

MrMike · Feb 7, 2005

la flor said:
ok, today I spent the day with my ex going to the dominican consulate office in paterson, new jersey. we needed my daughters birth certificate, I bought both of our passports, and my ex had to give his drivers liscense. a document was printed in spanish with all the info, and will be ready to be picked up in 2 days. (unfortunatly another trip back there) and my ex has to go that day to sign it. this process cost 55.00. what an outrageous amount of money for such a thing. also, this needs to be done for every trip.

One problem in the case of my son is that my son and I have different last names. Is this your case as well?

la flor · Feb 7, 2005

last names

MrMike said:
One problem in the case of my son is that my son and I have different last names. Is this your case as well?

My last name on my passport is the same last name my children have, so not a problem. my drivers liscence is in my madien name, so when I book my airline tickets, I use both names combined.

Dolores1 · Feb 8, 2005

I spoke to Frank Rainieri, owner of Punta Cana International Airport, and he said this is unheard of at the Punta Cana Airport and not being applied at that terminal for foreigners. For Dominican minors there is much paperwork to be handled for leaving the country without a parent, but unsure if the approval of both parents is being enforced.

notarized documents for minors traveling with one parent?

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