Travelling with children

Travelling with children may require some additional preparation and documentation. You can find useful information on Travel.gc.ca to share with your clients before they leave the country with children, as well as material on international adoption and a sample consent letter for children who are travelling without their parent or legal guardian.

Make sure your clients know they must carry proper identification for themselves and any children travelling with them. In addition to a passport, other supportive documents include:

• birth certificates
• citizenship certificates
• divorce papers
• custody court orders
• death certificate of one (or both) parent(s) or legal guardians

These documents will help prove the child’s citizenship, residency and custodial rights when they are travelling outside of and returning to Canada.

We recommend that children under 18 carry a consent letter from every parent or guardian who is not accompanying them on the trip outside Canada:

• alone
• with only one parent or guardian
• with friends or relatives
• with a group

This letter may simplify their travel by proving to border authorities that the trip is permitted by the parents or guardians.

To help your clients have a safe and enjoyable trip when they are travelling abroad with children, read our Children and travel page and recommend it to them.