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Notarizing Travel Documents For Minors
With COVID restrictions easing for some regions and summer vacations just around the corner, Notaries may encounter requests to notarize permission forms for children traveling abroad.
Here’s what you need to know about these forms.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), if a child is traveling abroad with one parent, the other parent must supply a letter granting permission. If the child is traveling with an adult other than her parents, both parents must provide written permission.
It’s strongly recommended that the permission form be notarized. While the U.S. customs officials do not always ask for this documentation, many countries do, and the “failure to produce notarized permission letters” could result in being denied entry.
When you need to notarize permission forms for summer travel with children, remember these tips:
1. We need to Follow State Requirements.
A parent who needs their signature notarized must personally appear before the Notary. Many parents aren’t familiar with notarial rules and procedures, and may ask to notarize an absent spouse’s signature, not realizing it’s against the law.
If a permission form requires either an acknowledgment or a jurat in California, the signer must provide satisfactory proof of identity to the Notary because personal knowledge cannot be used to identify signers in California.
2. Notaries are not allowed to Give Advice.
Requirements for a child’s permission letter may vary depending on the destination and the rules of the airline or cruise ship line. As a Notary, we cannot give legal advice regarding the contents of a permission letter or how a document must be completed. If you have questions, you will need to contact the company or agency requiring the document for further instructions.
3. Have proper identification.
International travelers often rush and panic at the last minute to make sure the necessary paperwork is in order prior to imminent departure. Parents who need notarized permission for a child to travel at the last minute may get flustered if their signatures cannot be notarized due to lack of acceptable ID or another issue.
Notaries can’t notarize anything without the signer’s personal appearance, so please make sure to have proper identification.
What if a document doesn’t include a certificate?
The signer needs to know what type of notarial act they need. Notaries aren’t allowed to choose the type of notarization on a signer’s behalf. If the signer isn’t sure what notarial act is needed, they can contact the agency that issued or is receiving the document or an attorney for instructions. They will tell you what notarial act is needed, and you can attach and complete the appropriate certificate form.
A Notary may also complete both an acknowledgment and a jurat for the same signer on one document but signer will have to pay twice.
Is a hospital wristband an acceptable form of ID?
A Notary Public can only accept government issued IDs that are current and contain a photograph of the individual; and are satisfactory to the notary. Since we do not know who issued the hospital wristband or if it contains a signature or a photograph, we can’t say for sure. Most hospital wristbands do not fall within these guidelines and thus would not be a valid form of identification.
Can We notarize a document written in pencil?
Notary law doesn’t address a document written in pencil. However, the statute does say a notarial officer may refuse to perform a notarial act unless refusal is prohibited by law. If We do not feel comfortable notarizing a document written in pencil – and the National Notary Association certainly would discourage that We do – this statute may give us the right to refuse.
So if you cannot type your document please write your document with a pen not a pencil.
Can we refuse a signing if we suspect the signer’s ID is fake?
Yes we can, If we are not satisfied with the identification presented. If we suspect that the ID is not valid we will refuse to perform the notarization. The statute says that an officer may not take the acknowledgment of a written instrument unless the officer knows or has “satisfactory” evidence that the acknowledging person is the person who executed the instrument and is described in it.
Can We use FaceTime or a webcam instead of personal appearance?
We are sometimes asked to notarize using different types of communications technology, such as speaking with a signer via webcam.
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic drove a major change in the use of audiovisual communication technology for notarizations. More than 25 U.S. states have enacted laws authorizing remote online notarizations (which allow a signer to appear before a Notary using online audiovisual technology instead of physical appearance). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many states also issued emergency remote notarization orders temporarily authorizing Notaries to perform remote ink-signed notarizations or use other types of remote communication between signers and Notaries as alternatives to personal appearance during the pandemic emergency.
Notaries must be careful to follow any rules set by their state.
Remote audiovisual technology cannot be used to satisfy the personal appearance requirement in states such as California that have not enacted remote online notarization laws or emergency remote notarization guidelines.
Notarizing Proof Of Life Documents
What Is A Proof Of Life Document?
A “Proof of Life” document or “Life Certificate” is a form used by foreign governments and institutions to qualify pensioners and other beneficiaries living abroad for financial benefits. These forms often include instructions that the document must be presented to a Notary, and sometimes ask the Notary to certify that the person named in the document is currently living.
Can We Notarize A Proof Of Life Document?
Not always. It depends on what it’s asking us to do and the state we are commissioned in. Some proof of life documents simply require the individual named in the document to have their signature notarized with a standard act such as a jurat. If this is the case, we can notarize the signature on the document.
If the document asks to certify that the signer is currently alive, chances are your state law doesn’t permit Notaries to do that.
Alternatives For Proof Of Life Documents
If we are unable to perform a notarization for a proof of life document, the signer may be able to have the document notarized at an embassy or consulate of the issuing nation instead. Consular officers are normally authorized to notarize documents related to their home nation.
Inspired from National Notary Association Notary buletin.
Immigration Consultant Restrictions
Because of widespread fraud committed by con artists who prey on immigrants using foreign language titles such as “notario publico,” California has strict restrictions regarding Notaries who wish to offer consulting services to immigrants, including the following:
A California Notary cannot advertise as both an immigration consultant and a Notary Public.
An immigration consultant may not offer legal advice about a client’s immigration situation.
An immigration consultant may not represent someone before USCIS in an immigration proceeding. Only a qualified immigration attorney or an accredited representative of an organization recognized by the federal government may represent someone before USCIS.
Notaries and immigration consultants in California are prohibited from advertising using the Spanish language title “notario” or “notario publico” or other literal translations of “Notary Public” in other languages.
Notaries who are not attorneys in California and who advertise in a language other than English must post a notice in English and any other language advertised that the Notary is not an attorney and may not give legal advice about immigration or other legal matters. The Notary must also post the statutory Notary fee schedule on the notice.
Source:
nationalnotary.org
Notarizing Travel Documents For Minors
According to U.S. (CBP), if a child is traveling abroad with one parent, the other parent must supply a notarized letter granting permission. If the child is traveling with an adult other than her parents, both parents must provide written permission.
While U.S. customs officials do not always ask for this documentation, many countries do, and failure to produce notarized permission letters could result in being denied entry.
Requirements
Many parents aren’t familiar with notarial rules and procedures, and may ask to notarize an absent spouse’s signature, not realizing it’s against the law. We cannot do That, Both parents must personally appear before the notary.
Notaries Can’t Give Advice.
As a Notary, we cannot give legal advice regarding the contents of a permission letter or how a document must be completed. If the signer has questions, they will need to contact the company or agency requiring the document for further instructions.
Plan ahead.
International travelers often rush and panic at the last minute to make sure the necessary paperwork is in order prior to imminent departure. Parents who need notarized permission for a child to travel at the last minute may get flustered if their signatures cannot be notarized due to lack of acceptable ID or another issue.
Inspired from David Thun an Associate Editor at the National Notary Association