SaligoBay Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 We're going down to Spain for the weekend. We've never had a problem at the frontière, never been stopped, so never been asked to show passports or anything.But this time we thought of taking our son's French friend with us. Trouble is, he's never been out of France, has no passport, and presumably, at 11, no ID card either?If we did get stopped, would this be a problem? Passing him off as our second son is not an option! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 I'd have thought it was a bit dodgy to do that, SB. Do they not have ID cards at 11 in France then? I thought they'd have them from the cradle...Also, don't you have to have an "autorisation de sortie de territoire" signed by the child's parent if you are taking a French child in or out of the country without his/her parents? When my daughter's French-exchange friend came to us in England, and we wanted to take her on a visit to Holland and France, the mother insisted that we would have to have one, and provided it duly signed. I have no idea where she got it from though. Perhaps her mairie?I think you should speak to the kid's parents, really, before embarking on the trip. Angela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted April 28, 2005 Author Share Posted April 28, 2005 I think you should speak to the kid's parents, really, before embarking on the trip. Well of course I have, we weren't going to kidnap him!! But as she's never been out of France either, she has no idea. She's never heard of an E111, for a start.So no, given that we now have one day to sort out ID, parental authority to leave the territoire, and health insurance, I think he'll have to remain France-bound for a while longer.Shame, really. Spain is only 2 hours drive away, it's a day trip for many people to Figueras or a cheap shopping trip, but I guess borders are still borders, even within the EU. Ah well, one less mouth to feed, might as well look on the bright side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 HI SB,At last an opportunity to say :Ask at the Mairie, they will know, won't they ? A quick call should put you in the know (or not) Then ring the sous pref. or prefecture for more conflicting advice ! Sorry can't be more helpful but I do know that some years ago we went to see M le Maire and he gave our daughter some kind of form that allowed her to go in to Switzerland for the day on a school trip. This was still in the days that kids were on parents passports and we had no other form of ID for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deby Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Hi SB,I would just ask the Parents for a signed letter authorising to take their son into Spain. Surely he must have a photo ID, i.e pass to go to the swimming pool or something. Do you have a digital camera? If so take a photo of him stick it on a piece of paper and get the parents to sign it.I think it would be a shame the poor lad miss out on such an adventure in the name of bureaucracy gone made. I seem to remember the chances of your car getting stopped will be microminimal. It is Spain after all and I would only hesitate when entering non EU countries by road e.g. Switzerland, but the rest, nawww! I have many friends take their kids into Italy without ID who have never experienced any problems whatsoever.With regard to insurance, do you or his parents have (forget exactly what it is called) the house insurance that covers various liabilities, etc, might be just worth a quick phone call. Does he have a mutuelle that could include this. Surely it cant be rocket science, but heyho this is France and am aware even the smallest things can be a nightmare, but lets live our lives and not be slaves to the system.Just my viewpoint of course.Deby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battypuss Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 The boy's parent(s) need to go to the local Mairie and get an attetstation de sortie du terrortoire (yeah I know it's spelt wrong!) which will say where he is going and on what date, for what purpose. Last I heard, these were free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 Never been stopped going over, but have been stopped coming back into France. We only had our Titre de sejour and the kids did have an id cards with no photo. However we were not asked for them, they just wanted to check that we were not over the duty allowance on fags and drink. We had to show no paperwork at all Last summer the kids went back to Germany with there father and we forgot to give them the passports, he decided to go through Switzerland and was stopped. The guards took the kids away ( aged 5 and 6 ) and questioned them for half an hour on whether they were travelling with there father and mother, my wife then got a call to confirm if she had agreed to the trip and the father got a stiff warning. The carte europeene d assurance maladie forget it as you would not get on in time from cpam, will take about 8 days to come through Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted April 28, 2005 Author Share Posted April 28, 2005 Ask at the Mairie, they will know, won't they ? A quick call should put you in the know (or not) Then ring the sous pref. or prefecture for more conflicting advice ! The two boys very sensibly went to the Mairie this morning while I went to work. But how well you know the system - madame at the Mairie didn't know the answer either, so she's going to phone to find out!There's no need to go on holiday really, this suspense is almost thrilling enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 [quote]Ask at the Mairie, they will know, won't they ? A quick call should put you in the know (or not) Then ring the sous pref. or prefecture for more conflicting advice ! The two boys very sensibly ...[/quote]Battypuss has it right, that is what Tina said it was called. I collared the M le Maire personally at the time and he used up a weeks phone allowance to see what could be done, when in walked the secretaire from our daughters school and told the M le Maire what form our daughter would need."Oh la la madame" he said " I 'ave only been M le Maire for sirty years and so have't seen one of zem forms before " To which his secretary said " but I 'ave"........and that's all she said.Form stamped,job done, orf we went... Forgot to say, they skiied (Sp) in to Switzerland from the Hostel they were staying at in the Jura. The class had lunch and were bussed back. Yes your right, no one asked and no one was even around to ask !! But imagine how we all felt having succesfully gained a stamped form that the Maire had not seen in sirty years The secretary at the Mairie will let you know before dark, providing she is lucky enough to get hold of the one person in France that knows what form you need and then hopefully you will all be in Spain this weekend and dancing the British style of the flamenco in the form of the "Poulet song" and laughing at the thrill of the chase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesLauriers Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 The carte europeene d assurance maladie forget it as you would not get on in time from cpam, will take about 8 days to come through -CPAM provided us with an E111 on demand, which took about 30 seconds to print out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaligoBay Posted April 28, 2005 Author Share Posted April 28, 2005 Phoned the Mairie when it opened at 4.30. She'd phoned the Préfecture, who told her that the only things that would count are a passport or an ID card, neither of which he has.Like Loiseau, I thought French people were born with ID cards embedded in the placenta, but apparently not.Ah well, thank you for all your replies, everyone. The next time I think of popping over the border for a weekend, I'll make sure to plan it 6 months in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tourangelle Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 I know it is the school holidays but otherwise asking a school language teacher would probably get a faster answer than the maire. After all they are experts at taking other people's children abroad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistral Posted April 28, 2005 Share Posted April 28, 2005 I know it is the school holidays but otherwise asking a school language teacher would probably get a faster answer than the maire. After all they are experts at taking other people's children abroad!School language teacher here ;-) Even in the espace schengen, you are supposed to have correct ID from your country on you (for french people this means an ID card or passport) if a child is travelling without his parents then he must have an "autorisation de sortie du territoire" which you should be able to get from the mairie. One of the parents needs to go there with the child's ID card and ask for it. It is done straight away. Some mairies do them for the exact dates and others do them for a year's validity. If the child has a passport then no autorisation de sortie is necessary. An ID takes on average 6 weeks to get, a passport takes a couple of weeks (but is expensive)Of course, chances are that no-one will ever check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardinal Posted April 29, 2005 Share Posted April 29, 2005 [quote]The carte europeene d assurance maladie forget it as you would not get on in time from cpam, will take about 8 days to come through - More sharing options... IAN_S Posted April 30, 2005 Share Posted April 30, 2005 AlanWhat border did you come back into France by to get checked for booze and fags? I thought as Spain was EU this would not happen and I am planning a trip in the near future so don't want any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Please sign in to comment You will be able to leave a comment after signing in Sign In Now Share More sharing options... Followers 0
IAN_S Posted April 30, 2005 Share Posted April 30, 2005 AlanWhat border did you come back into France by to get checked for booze and fags? I thought as Spain was EU this would not happen and I am planning a trip in the near future so don't want any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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