I am planning to fly back to the UK in July with my 9 month old and then return on my own and leave her with her Grandparents for two weeks. My mum would then fly back with her to Switzerland. I have two questions:

1. How can I book the flights? Do I need to do them all as one way trips for both me and her?

2. Will my mum have any problems bringing her back seeing as I won't be with them? My daughter has a Swiss passport and a UK one.

Thanks for any help

> 1. How can I book the flights? Do I need to do them all as one way trips for both me and her?

Its 2 separate one way trips.

Trip 1, you with daughter on lap.

Trip 2, your mum with daughter on lap.

You could make trip 1 a return trip for your leg of the journey, I dont believe they will gripe that you didnt show up iwth baby. It might be worth calling the airline on that one.

2. Will my mum have any problems bringing her back seeing as I won't be with them? My daughter has a Swiss passport and a UK one.

Yes. Do you have a "Familienbuch" (spelling?). If you are married to a swissie you would...if not dont worry. In short you need to provide your mum with your daughters birth cert (showing you and partner as parents) and your mum needs to travel showing that she is your mother. ie proof of the grandchild/grandparent relationship. She may (will) be asked for this on entry to Switzerland. Also a letter from you authorizing the travel would help her as well.

HTH
IM

No I don't have a familenbuch I'm not married and am seperated from her father. Also her surname and mine is different to his. My mum's surname is also different to mine.

So if I give my mum both CH and UK passports, my birth certificate, my daughter's birth certificate, my mum has her passport that matches the name on my birth certificate and a letter of permission it should be fine.

I am divorced so I should probably give her something to prove my name change from maiden name to name I have now...

So much to do to allow my daughter to come back to her country

Thanks for your reply!

I would be surprised if they didn't gripe to be honest.

Best bet IMO, is to contact the airline to get the right info. Depending on who has flow with whichever airline to whatever country, you are likely to get different stories which might just confuse the issue for you.

Personally, I would also call immigration (UK and CH) and get paperwork from your ex that you have the OK to travel. (I think I've read on EF somewhere that they can object and cause difficulties - I would certainly object to my mother in law travelling on a flight with any of my children, but that's a different story! )

I may be paranoid here, but get all your replies in writing and take copies of the correspondence with you. Really, the last thing you want is either for you or your mum to get stuck with a 9 mo old in a holding room while social services are called to take care of your child and you get the 9th degree...

Yup that would work.
Once at passport control they can prove/establish the relationship and can see clear authorization from a guardian they are happy.

I was really surprised travelling with my daughter, I have a different surname to her and was asked everytime to establish/prove my relationship, hence travelling with the FB in my case. While it was annoying (the first time I nearly missed my flight), I was touched that if someone did have her that shouldnt they would meet resistance at the customs

Good luck on your trip!

Flying back on aerlingus at christmas I didnt have my daughter with me as my husband brought her 3 days earlier and it was fine eventhough she was on my ticket originally.

But I completely agree with you - ring the airlines to make sure.

I would include a copy of your passport as well.

Had to do the something similar when I renewed my daughters passport right before a flight from the USA to the UK with our daughter(family emergency, my wife flew ahead). Even though my daughter has my last name and not my wife's. Quite a few governments are getting fussy about how easily they let children travel abroad.

Or the UK Consulate- France (I know you are not French) provides adocuments to it's nationals that do not travel under the same name as their child or when the child travels alone.

Hmmmm, not sure I believe this.....

I spoke to Easyjet who said that all my daughter needs is her Swiss and UK passport and she will have no problems I made it explicitly clear that I will not be with her and my mum would and they said, it is assumed they have a relationship as I booked the flight. I am so sure they are wrong!!

Waiting to hear back from the British Embassy to confirm. Will update when I know more.

Very wise of you. It wouldn't do to be caught in a bureaucratic snafu.

easyjet gave you the correct information in terms of them providing transportation for your daughter, it's more of a customs issue, however an accompanying letter and the booking confirmation for your mother along with infant should be sufficient - do let us know what you found out, you might wanna ask swiss immigration additionally with your daughter holding dual citizenship.

We've travelled a lot with our children and generally the border control would be more suspicious of a child whose name doesn't match with the person who has responsibility...

Travelling Switzerland/UK with kids the thing they asked us for checking at Birmingham airport were our residency permits...

In other situations (my dad took our kids to Singapore and met us there after a European trip)... there were really no problems - your child will be cross-checked to make sure they are not on a 'banned' list but this would be based on the passport number coming up on the booking system, I think...or at customs control when they check the passport.

Another tip - issue your mum with a letter from you giving her permission, explaining in simple terms the child's plan - "XYZ is her grandmother, she is bringing her to Switzerland to meet up with me." and add your contact info to the letter - address in Switzerland and UK, phone numbers, mobiles, email address...so it makes it really easy for them to track you down if there is a query.

Do you have a legal arrangement in place with your child's father, and is he aware that you are travelling ? Some ex-es get very worried about the child going cross-border, so it's a good idea if they know about it and have given written permission also...

Another tip, don't forget to give your medical card/info to Grandma, just in case! - and check with your health insurance to make sure your child is covered outside Switzerland (ours includes international medical cover)...and the info on how to activate it if needed....

Easyjet has not authority decide on these issues, you need to talk to authorities in both countries to make sure that it will be OK.

One thing I would suggest is that you have documented evidence of the father's permission to take the child out of the country, or documents to show that you don't need to have his permission. If they do stop you, it would not surprise me if the decided to check with him, give all the name combinations you have going on, plus I doubt that they would consider it run of the mill for grandparents to be travelling with a 9 month old baby...

good luck with that,

Jim.

If you want to avoid any problems. Go to a Notary and have a document notarized that you are giving your mother permission to keep your child for a holiday including dates, and to travel with your daughter by herself to return her to Switzerland. You should also state on the document that the child is a permanent resident of Switzerland.
Also, if you have any paperwork determining that you have sole custody, that is helpful to bring with you when you travel to the UK.
As well, carry copies of the document for your mother and her travel itinerary to show to the UK if needed.
Because your daughter is travelling on a Swiss passport, I believe your problems will be minimized. The UK will be interested to know when you enter that you are bringing her in with the permission of the baby's father and not trying to take her without consent. Returning to Switzerland should be a no problem with the Swiss passport, but the UK would have more of a problem if you produce 2 passports, thinking that you are using the Swiss one to take her out without permission. If residency is established in Switzerland no problem getting out of the UK.

I think you are also required to use the same passport for exit and entry, even if she holds two...

Thanks eveyone for the advice. I have travelled with my daughter before and had no problems even though I didn't have written permission from her father. He is not particularly easy so he would never give it anyway. I am still waiting for confirmation of the customs issue so I will update as soon as I have information.