K in Modena

Ciao all,

I just got back yesterday from a visit to the UK. Decided to go at the last minute to see my sister's baby who came early. We got Emily a "certificato di nascita per espatriato" - the "lasciapassare" for European travel- and it was ready in 3 days.
So far, so good. We flew KLM via Amsterdam and on the way there the guy at passport control was quite confused by Emily's document and said he'd never seen one before. He had a brief conversation with his colleague in Dutch and they let us through. The woman in Manchester examined it a bit and said something like "we see so many different ones of these and it's difficult to locate the information" but was fine about it.
When we were on our way back yesterday, Emily and I had a lovely relaxing time in the baby care lounge and then headed to our gate via passport control. The woman said she had never seen anything like Emily's certificato before and called her colleague, saying we "still had time" for our flight (boarding in 15 mins). We were then escorted to Immigration by another officer, who then asked a 3rd officer about the document. He got a blue light thingy out and started examining it closely. Then they said they had to "send" it to another office for verification. They took her document, my passport and our boarding cards away. Boarding was now in 10 mins and we were miles away from the gate. They said we had time and I was "not the only one who had to board". I was then grilled as to why I hadn't got her a passport, don't they have passports for children in Italy (surely it was his job to know?!), isn't it normal for everyone to have a passport, etc etc. I was now close to tears as I was convinced we'd miss our flight and I'd be stuck in Amsterdam with a not-yet-six-month-old (who thankfully was being very good through all of this!) My documents finally got back at exactly the time when we were supposed to be boarding, the guy casually waited for his colleague to finish his conversation before letting me go- no rush! We then had to go through security and I legged it to the gate with a 9.5 kg baby strapped to my front while the signs were saying "gate closing" and we got to a deserted gate just in time.

Not an experience I wish to repeat any time soon- I reckon I'll get Emily a passport for next time! Anyone else had issues with this certificato? How come everyone in Amesterdam claims to have no knowledge of it?

giodafa

I had afew problems with my kids lasciapassare too, but the funny thing is ( didn't seem very funny at the time) it was at the Italian passport control. For children under 10 it has written " to be accompanied by one of the parents" Although the policeman did have a point, he didn't want to let me through because how was he supposed to know I was their mother. I argued with him that the paper was issued from the prefettura , lucckly one of my kids was still on my old passport so he did us a favour and let us through.I had the same problem coming back, I told them that their dad who has the same surname as them was waiting outside , but even he couldn't prove they are his kids. The next say I went and applied for an estratto di nascita which is like a full birth certificate with the parents names on it.

K in Modena

Wow, at least Emily's has our names on it so we didn't have that problem. But as far as I know these certificates are very common in Italy so I don't understand why everyone in Amsterdam claims never to have seen one before. Do Italians not travel to Amsterdam?

37100

Every one uses them, but the trouble is that there is no standard. Every one prints their own version.

K in Modena

Yeah, I got that impression from the woman in Manchester. But the guy in Amsterdam was hassling me about her not having a passport and saying that "normal" people have passports! It's really made me think twice about travelling with her on it again as it was a really horrible experience.

37100

Tell them you are saving up for her first passport because it costs so, so much.

Stellina

My son and I have been back and forth to the UK about 6 times now with his “lasciapassare” and never had any problems. Once at Gatwick the woman at passport control just laughed at the “lasciapassare” (can’t blame her, it does look like something a 5 year old put together in a cutting and glueing session) and they always tap the details into their computer. I think you just got unlucky with an over zealous passport office in Amsterdam. Must have been a horrible experience for you though.

K in Modena

Stellina do you fly direct to the UK? It occured to me that perhaps they don't see them much in Amsterdam as it's Shengen and therefore nobody checks passports unless you're going to the UK.

Stellina

Hi K, yep we always fly direct, either to Gatwick or Stansted. I hadn't thought about the Schengen thing, I think you're right, I guess they're not used to seeing the "lasciapassare" documents.

duffer

We've had no problems with it - we've used it for 4 return flights from Verona to Gatwick. Once we were asked at Gatwick to translate the month because it's written as LUG but apart from that everybody seemed to be clued up as to what it is, despite it having no document number. Initally I had problems with online checking in due to it not having a number but I overcame this by entering NA.

K in Modena

Plainly the Brits are more aware of it then and KLM/Amsterdam are to be avoided!
I had problems checking in online too- as in it wasn't possible. The system couldn't cope with the fact that I have a passport and my child doesn't- I rang the "technical" helpline and they told me to check in at the airport!

Lorna at Vicenza

I've been using these lasciapassare for over 10 years. I mostly fly direct but have gone through Frankfurt and Munich a couple of times without any problems.
The only time somebody looked as if he didn't know what he was doing was a young guy at Venice check-in. He checked the front and middle pages again and again. He was looking for the bit that says:

"can travel with Padre ........ and/or madre Lorna ..........

I told him it was on the back, he checked my name against my passport and everything was fine and off we went.

Sounds like you got a zealous jobsworth but at the end of the day it's better they are careful with kids rather than careless. He didn't need to go on at you quite so much though about Emily not having a passport.

primavera73

I had problems when I used an old battered one for my 3 year old son and the photo was of him as a baby. I think you have to renew them more often now then so I hope it won't be a problem in the future. What a horrible experience for you!

Lorna at Vicenza

Nope - it's still five years for kids.

K in Modena

Ours only last a year. Maybe I'll get her a passport when it runs out. How expensive are they anyway?