Apostille Korea meets holiday demand for minors' travel document legalisation With departures set to surge over a holiday stretch of up to ten days, missing documents for a minor can stop a family at the ticket desk.

Apostille Korea said it provides translation, notarisation and legalisation for the documents minors need when travelling abroad. The company points to a rising number of cases in which travellers are refused entry or departure because papers are incomplete.

Holiday departures and the check at the ticket desk

This year 2 October falls on a Monday wedged between a Sunday and National Foundation Day, so designating it a temporary public holiday would create a break of up to ten days from Saturday 30 September to Hangul Day on Monday 9 October. Analysts, working from booking rates released by major travel agencies, judged that October reservations had risen sharply and projected that outbound traveller growth for the second half, including the fourth quarter, would stay high at 10 to 15 per cent. Families travelling abroad with a minor in the party need to check their supporting documents with particular care. If a minor does not carry the required documents, entry or departure can be refused. Desk staff say that without a parental travel consent and a Family Relationship Certificate as supporting papers, the rules do not allow a ticket to be issued. That is why the check belongs to the preparation stage rather than the day of departure.

A wider list of countries and what preparation involves

To forestall international crimes such as abduction and human trafficking targeting minors, countries worldwide now insist on a Family Relationship Certificate and a parental travel consent when a minor crosses a border. The list covers established destinations such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the United States, Vietnam and the Philippines, and extends to newer destinations including India, South Africa and New Zealand. Embassy websites for those countries state that entry or departure may be refused if the documents relating to a minor's travel are insufficient. Because the requirement took hold internationally only recently, many travellers are caught off guard while trying to confirm it. When a child departs with one parent, or with a third-party guide who is not a parent, a notarised copy of the Family Relationship Certificate together with a parental travel consent is mandatory. Using both documents internationally means completing translation into each country's language, notarisation and legalisation.

Frequently asked questions

Source: 디트NEWS24 · 2017-07-07