Confusion over "Permiso para salida de menores al extranjero" requirements and what ID to use when travelling

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Oxnard
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Confusion over "Permiso para salida de menores al extranjero" requirements and what ID to use when travelling

Postby Oxnard » Wed Jul 12, 2017 2:06 am

Will soon be travelling back to the UK for a holiday with my Spanish girlfriend and her niece and nephew so they can practise their English (they are 16 and 11 years old).

As their parents won't be travelling with us, we had to get permission from the Guardia Civil by filling in a "Permiso para salida de menores al extranjero" stating that their parents consent to them leaving Spain.

Both the children have Spanish passports as well as Spanish ID cards. We had read conflicting information on the web about the need for this document if you have a passport, but decided to do it anyway just in case.

We were unfortunate to get a pretty rude Guardia Civil officer who said we couldn't do this form with their passports (even though the form says passport or ID card on it) and had to do it with their ID cards. And so we filled in the form with the children's ID cards on it.

However, now we are a bit confused about what ID to use when travelling. Obviously, they will have their ID cards with them to show to the Spanish police at the airport to match the form if its requested, but should we also now use their ID cards for checking in for the flight (when you add the advanced passenger information) and to show to the staff at the boarding gate? Or can we use their passports instead for that part?

(Also, do the staff at the boarding gate ever ask to see this "permiso", or is it just the police who do? And would it matter to them if the info in their computer is for the passport but the "permiso" gives the Id card? (We'll be flying with Easyjet.))

The passports also have their Spanish Id number on the photo page. So maybe it's not so much of an issue. Just don't want to commit any bureaucratic faux pas and have any problems on the day!

Anyone ever had experience of travelling with children from Spain in this way? Does it matter if you show one ID to the police and a different one at the boarding gate?

They (and we) would prefer to use the passports if possible. (Especially as they only got them recently especially for this trip!)

Hope someone can advise as to what is the best thing to do.

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Enrique
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Re: Confusion over "Permiso para salida de menores al extranjero" requirements and what ID to use when travelling

Postby Enrique » Wed Jul 12, 2017 7:50 am

Hi Oxnard,
Our Member Markwilding should be able to give details once he sees your Post................
All my best learning experiences start with a problem I need to solve.

Gasman
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Re: Confusion over "Permiso para salida de menores al extranjero" requirements and what ID to use when travelling

Postby Gasman » Thu Jul 13, 2017 6:23 pm

Use the passport numbers for the advanced passenger information. Use the passports for any other ID for travelling, eg to show at boarding gate and at arrivals border controls. You only need to show the Permiso if someone asks for it. Having taken a minor to Canada (outside EU) which was much more complicated .... noone ever asked to see it, and we did wonder why we went through the performance to get it!!! Anyway, you CAN see the logic of where minors ARE travelling without their parent /s present, you may indeed need to prove their authority. So keep them handy but you may well not need to show them. As you say the passports also show the spanish ID number - this is the vital bit that links the two types of documents, but for international travel, the passport comes first, as I understand it. For the Spanish, the ID is the most important because everyone in Spain is expected to have it whether they travel abroad or not .... but for travel the passport is much better, even within the EU.

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Re: Confusion over "Permiso para salida de menores al extranjero" requirements and what ID to use when travelling

Postby markwilding » Fri Sep 22, 2017 10:20 am

I have only just seen this post ironically due to the fact I was in London with students when It was originally posted.

This is something we checked with Spanish passport control this year because of parents being told varying stories. Our advice is to get permission just to cover ourselves but we have been told by both by the passport issuing office and at passport control it is only necessary if children are using their ID cards to travel. A passport is permission to travel.

Remember this is only to leave Spain. Other countries outside the EU or entering the UK might have different rules especially as I think the rules might be relaxed during July when thousands of students enter Britain. We always insist on children travelling with passports and until now have never been asked for anything. However, on the one occasion this wasn't possible, we were leaving Ireland and the control wanted an English translation of the permission. We eventually managed to convince him that his mother would be very unhappy if he didn't travel back with us.

The reason I point this out is that The Guadia Civil, where you ask for the permission, might want a Spanish translation before they are prepared to issue one on a British passport. When we went to ask for one for my son who was travelling to Boston on a school exchange, they wouldn't issue one without a translation so in the end we didn't bother. It didn't matter anyway as there was no problem when he went.


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