Title
For a group of minors, one missing document delays the entire schedule Ten members of a church mission group from Ansan were refused boarding at Incheon Airport because a minor lacked the required travel documents, and the trip had to be postponed.
Content
Apostille Korea said that group departures involving minors require the supporting documents for each member to be prepared in advance. A single missing document can push back the schedule of the entire group.
- In early July, ten members of a church mission group from Ansan were refused boarding at Incheon Airport because the legal guarantee documents for a minor were missing.
- Group travel in which a minor departs with a supervising teacher rather than a parent also requires a Family Relationship Certificate and a parental travel consent.
- Regardless of the purpose of the trip, these have become documents a minor must have when crossing a border.
- Foreign embassies in Korea state that entry or departure may be refused if the document requirements are not met.
Why an entire mission trip was postponed
In early July, ten people from a church in Ansan, including minor congregants and their supervising teachers, were stopped at Incheon Airport on their way to an overseas mission trip. The check-in desk refused to issue their tickets. The reason was the absence of legal guarantee documents for the minors. According to the desk, the minors in the party were not carrying the Family Relationship Certificate and the parental travel consent required at the border, so under the rules the tickets could not be issued. The group had no choice but to postpone the mission schedule while the documents were obtained. The missionary in charge said the documents had never been mentioned on earlier departures and that the details would be shared widely so that other churches would not face the same problem.
For group departures, checking the composition comes first
Countries around the world now strictly require supporting documents such as the Family Relationship Certificate and the parental travel consent when minors cross borders, in order to prevent international crimes such as human trafficking and abduction targeting minors. The requirement covers the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and South America as well as popular destinations such as the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii, and applies regardless of the purpose of the trip. Which documents are needed depends on who is travelling. When a minor departs with both legal guardians, a notarised Family Relationship Certificate is required, and because the certificate is issued only in Korean it must be translated into the language of the destination country and notarised. When the minor travels with only one parent, or with a third party such as a chaperone or a representative of the parents, the notarised certificate must be accompanied by a document confirming that the person with parental authority consented to the trip. In group departures each member's situation differs, which makes checking in advance all the more important.
Frequently asked questions
Do school and church group trips also fall under this?
Yes. Regardless of the purpose of the trip, supporting documents are required whenever a minor departs without their parents.
If a supervising teacher accompanies them, is parental consent still needed?
Yes. When a minor travels with a third party rather than a parent, both the notarised Family Relationship Certificate and the parental travel consent are required.
What happens if the documents are missing?
Boarding may be refused under the rules. A group of ten had their tickets refused and postponed their trip.
Source: 넥스트데일리 · 2017-07-17