Travelling from France with a non-family child: what are the necessary steps?
Rules can also apply if travelling with family members
All children living in France are subject to travel rules
Shutterstock/Franck Poupart
Reader Question: We are travelling back to the UK and taking the 17-year old daughter of family friends, as she has never visited before and wants to go. Do we need to bring any documentation as we are not her family members or legal guardians?
Children under the age of 18 who normally reside in France cannot leave the country without their parents unless they have prior authorisation.
This applies both to children with French nationality, and those who are not French citizens but live in France, and is the case regardless of overseas location including the EU as well as non-EU countries including the UK.
This is also required in case of travel to an overseas French department (i.e Guadeloupe) in the event of a stopover in a foreign country.
There are no restrictions to these minors travelling out of the country with their parents.
However, if they are not making the trip with at least one of their parents, the adult accompanying them must have a signed Autorisation de sortie de territoire (AST) form.
In place since 2017, this is a document authorising the travel of a child without their parents, and must be shown to border officials when leaving the country.
It needs to be signed by at least one of the child’s parents, and has a maximum validity date of one year, although the expected dates of travel are highlighted on the form.
The form is found here.
If the child is subject to an order banning them from leaving the country - usually in the event of one parent concerned the other may take the child without consent - both parents must sign the AST and both parents must authorise the departure with the authorities.
Note that the AST is also required for school trips, as teachers do not class as legal guardians of the children.
Children also need to travel with their own ID, plus a legible copy of a piece of ID of the parent who signed the AST.
Does the rule apply for other family members?
The rule does not only apply to non-blood relatives, but to everyone who is not a parent or legal guardian of the child.
This includes aunts, uncles, and grandparents, all of whom must have a signed version of the AST.
In the case of divorced parents, who signs the AST depends on who has parental authority.
If both parents still retain this, the document only needs to be signed by one parent, although it is recommended to obtain the signature of both to avoid conflict.
If only one parent has this authority, they must be the one to sign the AST.
