Child travelling to US with grandmother

pablo123

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Hi, My work friends 8 year old daughter will be traveling to the US with her grandmother in a few weeks time , She has tried to contact the US embassy regarding the trip but to no avail ,My friend is concerned that some formal paper work might need to be in place as neither of the child,s parents are traveling with them , Both surnames are the same but something tells me some authorisation letter is needed , Thank you in advance for any help.
 
My niece travelled alone with my mother, she carried her birth cert and a signed letter of authorization from her parents. They have different surnames. My brother in law has been asked in the US whether he has a letter of authorization from my sister when travelling alone with his own children! So I would say they should def have a letter.
 
Thanks for your reply Misemoi, My question though is if the parents sign a letter of authorisation how would US customs know who signed it, Very confusing .
 
To be on the safe side they can bring a notarized letter of permission.

I had hassle from the Canadian authorities once travelling with my own 4 month old infant as we had different surnames and different nationalities. They asked for a notarized letter of permission from the child's father. They relented when I showed them my second passport with same surname and nationality as child
 
They include contact details in the letter and if there's an issue, authorities can call them - in reality, most my understanding is they generally accept the letter, esp if accompanied by a birth cert, and if the child is old enough to say 'this is my granny, we're going on holiday/ to visit cousin x for three weeks' if asked, which at 8 they will be. More and more countries refuse to let one parent travel with children without a letter from the other parent, so its fairly standard now, and many children will go away on holiday with their grandparents/schoolfriends/aunties etc.
 
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