Travelling to Europe with kids: EES, passports and consent

The short version

• Every child, every age: their own passport, or an EU child's own ID card. At the EES border a non-EU child is photographed; fingerprints start at 12.
• Both parents travelling: nothing more, except a birth certificate if your surnames differ.
• One parent, grandparents or nobody: a consent letter signed by whoever stays home, with a copy of their passport. Portugal wants it notarised when no parent travels.

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Border guards in Europe are told to look twice at children. The Schengen Borders Code (Annex VII, point 6) asks them to check that the adult with a child has parental care, "especially where minors are accompanied by only one adult", and to make sure a child travelling alone is not leaving against the wishes of the parents. Most families are waved through. The ones who are not usually lack a single sheet of paper.

What does your child need, by who travels with them?

Every row also needs the child's own passport or ID card. The rest depends on which adults are at the desk with them.

Do children give fingerprints at the EES border?

Not until they are 12. The Entry/Exit System replaced passport stamps on 10 April 2026, and every non-EU traveller gets a record, babies included: passport data and a facial image. From the 12th birthday, four fingerprints are added, exactly as for adults. A child who has turned 12 since the last trip gives them at the next crossing.

The exemption is used a lot. In the first three months of 2026, eu-LISA, the agency that runs EES, logged 978,940 exemptions from fingerprinting, mostly children under 12. Children travelling on an EU passport or ID card are not registered in EES at all.

Two things follow for families. Each child has their own record, so each child's days count separately under the 90/180 rule (our 90/180 guide shows the counting). And when ETIAS starts, each child will need their own authorisation too, free for under-18s. It has no start date yet, as our ETIAS 2027 guide explains. The first crossing takes longer for everyone; the EES guide walks through it.

One child, one passport

Children cannot travel on a parent's passport. The EU's Your Europe portal starts its list for minors with "their own valid passport or ID card", and the same two dates are checked as for an adult's: a non-EU passport must have been issued less than 10 years before arrival and expire at least 3 months after you leave the Schengen area (our passport validity guide has the details).

The catch is that child passports expire sooner. A British child passport lasts 5 years (£66.50 online, as of November 2026), and so does a US passport issued before the 16th birthday. A British child passport issued on 15 March 2022 expires on 15 March 2027, so the family must leave the Schengen area by 15 December 2026. Check each child's date separately; they rarely line up with yours.

EU children can use their own national ID card instead of a passport anywhere in the EU and in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Who has to sign the consent letter?

Every person with parental responsibility who is not travelling. There is no EU-wide form: Your Europe says each EU country decides for itself, warns that a transit country may ask even when your destination does not, and notes that many airlines have their own forms.

The UK puts it bluntly: you need the permission of everyone with parental responsibility, or of a court, and taking a child abroad without it is child abduction. A parent named in a child arrangements order as the one the child lives with may travel for up to 28 days without asking. GOV.UK says a letter of consent is usually enough.

A letter that works at any border includes:

• the child's full name, date of birth and passport number;
• the travel dates and where the child will stay;
• the name and passport number of the adult travelling with them;
• the signing parent's full name, date of birth, passport number, phone number and email;
• a signature and date, with a copy of that parent's passport attached.

Where a plain letter is not enough

• Portugal. A child under 18 arriving alone or with an adult who is not their parent needs a letter whose signature is certified by a notary or solicitor and then legalised (from the UK, an apostille: £45 on paper, £35 as an e-Apostille). Show it on arrival and departure; without it, GOV.UK warns, entry may be delayed or refused.
• The Netherlands. The Royal Marechaussee asks for its own consent form when a child travels with one parent and custody is shared: one form per child, signed by each parent staying home, with a copy of their passport or ID card. An English version exists.
• Spain. Its police travel permit, valid 90 days, applies only to Spanish children who live in Spain and leave without either parent. Spain's Interior Ministry says visiting foreign children do not need it.
• France and Italy. France's exit form (AST, cerfa 15646) is for children who live in France. Italy asks Italian children travelling without a parent for a police-stamped declaration; GOV.UK says British children do not need one.

Four ways to prove consent, compared

Who should pick what: one parent on a family holiday, a signed letter and a passport copy; through Amsterdam, the Dutch form instead. A teenager flying to Lisbon with grandparents, the notarised letter, started a month ahead to allow for the paper apostille. A parent who will not sign, a court, before you pay for anything.

Frequently asked questions

Does a baby need a passport to travel to Europe?

Yes. Every child, including a newborn, needs their own passport, or their own national ID card for EU citizens travelling inside the EU.

Do children under 12 give fingerprints for EES?

No. Children under 12 are registered with their passport data and a facial image only. From their 12th birthday they give four fingerprints, like adults.

Do I need a consent letter if I travel alone with my child?

There is no EU-wide rule, but border guards must check that a lone adult has parental care of the child. Carry a letter signed by the other parent with a copy of their passport. The Netherlands has its own form for this.

Does the consent letter need to be notarised?

Usually not. Portugal is the exception for a child travelling alone or with an adult who is not their parent: the signature should be certified by a notary or solicitor and then legalised.

My child has a different surname from me. What should I carry?

The child's birth or adoption certificate, plus a marriage or divorce certificate if that is what explains the different name.

Where the figures come from

Checked on 1 November 2026. Official sources first; secondary sources are labelled.

1. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2016/399, the Schengen Borders Code, Annex VII point 6 on minors
2. Your Europe: documents for minors travelling in the EU (last checked by the EU on 14 September 2026)
3. EU Delegation to Montenegro: EES, children under 12 and the start dates
4. eu-LISA: EES quarterly report, Q1 2026
5. European Commission: ETIAS, fee and start date
6. GOV.UK: taking a child abroad, permission and the 28-day rule
7. GOV.UK: Portugal entry requirements, children travelling without a parent
8. GOV.UK: Italy entry requirements, minors and EES
9. GOV.UK: get a document legalised (apostille fees and times)
10. GOV.UK: get a passport for your child (5-year validity, fees)
11. US Department of State: passports for children under 16
12. Government of the Netherlands: consent form for travelling abroad with a minor
13. Royal Netherlands Marechaussee: travel checklist for minors
14. Spanish Ministry of the Interior: FAQ on travel permits for minors, Instruction 10/2019 (21 June 2024)
15. Service-Public.fr: documents a foreign minor needs to leave France, and the AST