Practicalities Getting Organised Documents 

Passports

Travelling abroad means you will need to get your child or children a passport. Children currently on a parent's passport can continue to travel on it until their 16th birthday.

Passport Agency
Clive House, 70 Petty France, London SW1H 9HD
tel: 0990 210410

The web site provides information on application, renewal and amendment of passports for British nationals resident in the UK. You can order an application form on line and a pilot on line application process taking 15-20 minutes, though a real signature and counter signature will still be required before the passport can be issued.

Application forms are available from post offices, Lloyds Banks and Artac Worldwide travel agents. The second two will forward the application, checking that it has been correctly completed for a fee of £3.50.

Processing may take at least a month unless urgent.

The new children's passport is valid for five years only, with free renewal for five years on submission of more up to date photographs. You need Application Form C and the birth certificate plus two photographs. Price is £18. Given restrictions on size and the requirement for two identical photographs, a professional shot is the easiest way of obtaining these.

The subject must also be without a hat or sunglasses. Make the photo as timeless as possible, for example in a plain teeshirt. This way you avoid your child's future embarrassment at appearing in a Spice Girls logo.

If you decide to use a photo booth tips include:

• Not shouting instructions from the sidelines as the child will turn his or her head.



• Remembering to adjust the seat so all the child's head appears in the picture. Younger children will need a cushion or have to kneel.



• Bearing in mind that you must have a plain white background for a passport photo so you will have to make sure the curtain isn't drawn.

Single Parents

Note that in certain countries, for example Mexico, parents travelling alone with a child will be required to show a notary's letter of permission from the other parent to take the child out of the country of origin, or proof of death if the other parent has die. This is to prevent parents kidnapping children across the border and if travelling without the other parent it might be wise to take something like this wherever you are planning to travelling if you are without the other parent.

Reader Report

I arrived in Canada on Friday with my 3.5yo daughter. We were staying with my family and my husband joining us in a fortnight.

At Canadian Immigration, I was asked if I had a notarised letter from my husband giving my permission to take out daughter out of the UK. The immigration official also questioned my daughter as to whether her daddy really had seen us off at the airport, how old she was, when her birthday was etc. Needless to say since her body clock was on 10pm and this man a complete stranger she pretty much clammed up and refused to answer.

I have travelled extensively, mainly alone with my daughter and have never been asked for this before. I got the impression had my husband not been planning to meet us/had not seen us off we might have had a little longer wait.

I checked out the web site of Canadian Immigration and it doesn't mention anything so I will probably write to complain (not planning on coming back for a while!).

I also posted something on the Babyworld bulletin board and someone responded that it had also happened to her in December. However, a third woman said her husband had no problems taking his son skiing. So it doesn't seem to be a blanket policy.

Do they think only mothers snatch kids? ;-)

Sue Woollett

Visas

If you will need a visa, your child will be covered by yours if still travelling on your passport - old style. If he/she has an individual passport you will need to apply for a visa separately.