Traveling with minor to RSA - documents?

[Patton63]

My son and I leave for RSA in a little under a months and I want to make sure I have no unexpected surprises since his mother is not coming with us. I have an official state-issued copy of his birth certificate, his passport and a notarized parental consent affidavit from his mother (drafted in the format shown on the South African governmental website).

This seems to be all that is required. Am I missing anything? Is it sufficient to have the form notarized (we don't have a commissioner of oaths here)? Any tips or unwritten rules I need to consider?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[wesheltonj]

That should do. Don't forget to keep those with you at all times., especially if you are going to make a border crossing. When I flew BA, they would not let you even get on the plane with our the proper documentation. In fact both my wife and I were flying with our child and BA want a permission letter. I told then that we are both on the birth certificate and are with her. The agent had to call a supervisor see if that was acceptable. In a review that I wrote, I said that I would never travel again with both a gun and minor child to RSA. It took over an hour to check-in. Good luck.

 

[Mekaniks]

My son and I leave for RSA in a little under a months and I want to make sure I have no unexpected surprises since his mother is not coming with us. I have an official state-issued copy of his birth certificate, his passport and a notarized parental consent affidavit from his mother (drafted in the format shown on the South African governmental website).

This seems to be all that is required. Am I missing anything? Is it sufficient to have the form notarized (we don't have a commissioner of oaths here)? Any tips or unwritten rules I need to consider?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sounds like you got it all. Notarized is fine and that's what they expect.

The only other thing that I did was that I made copies of all the documents and had them notarized as true copies, and put them in an envelope for backup in case anything gets lost. I just packed the envelope in my Gun case.

 

[Patton63]

Thanks for the info. It's my second trip to RSA, but the first with my boy. I can't wait.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Sound good to go, have certified true copies of all documents in separate places just in case! Have fun

 

[BenH2016]

I'd say it's worth having a letter from your wife giving you permission for your Son to travel with you around the dates of your trip. My kids fly UM to SA quite a bit and they like to see letters or permission as well as the affidavit. Best to get the letter certified or notarized too.

Have fun!

 

[kesha]

Traveled in 2014 with my 16 yr old son we only took original birth certificate and passport was never asked to see his birth certificate.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

My son and I leave for RSA in a little under a months and I want to make sure I have no unexpected surprises since his mother is not coming with us. I have an official state-issued copy of his birth certificate, his passport and a notarized parental consent affidavit from his mother (drafted in the format shown on the South African governmental website).

This seems to be all that is required. Am I missing anything? Is it sufficient to have the form notarized (we don't have a commissioner of oaths here)? Any tips or unwritten rules I need to consider?

Thanks in advance for your help.

When I took my then 12 year old in 2015, we left in May. The new rules came into effect on June 1, which was before we left to go back home. No problems going in as they weren't enforcing the new rules.

No problem coming back either, but I was asked by the lady at immigration if I knew about the new rules. I told her in fact I did and would she like to see the paperwork I had with me. I think she was genuinely surprised and said yes. I started pulling it out one sheet at a time, including a copy of my wife's passport photo page and her driver's license. The lady just glanced at the paperwork looked up at me an smiled and said have a nice trip. Point being I gave her absolutely no reason to think there was anything going on by overwhelming her just a bit.

You've got what you need but if your wife has a passport, a copy of the photo page and driver's license isn't going to hurt matters either.