Chile Forum

(I've searched for quite a while including the search function and reviewing Wiki before posting. Apologies if already addressed)

My wife and I, and our two children, all of us born and raised in Canada, will be travelling to South America beginning January 2012 and leaving April 2012. The majority of that time will be spent in Chile, however, we will also be going to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

I'm aware that when travelling with children, with both parents present, that you need to use your children's long form birth certificate showing both parent's names. However, here's my concern:

My wife stopped using her maiden name when we became married in 1995. Her birth certificate shows her maiden name, but her passport shows her married name. The long form birth certificates for our children shows her maiden name (mandatory). I'm concerned that when showing our documents they are going to say my wife is not the mother of our children, because her name on the kid's long form birth certificate does not match her name in her passport.

The only other legal document that "bridges" that gap is our marriage certificate. However, it also only shows her maiden name. You gain the legal right to begin using your spouse's last name once you're married, but there is no legal document that shows you choose to do that.

Has anyone else had a similar situation and if so, run into problems?

Is there anything we should do to avoid potential problems? For Chile, but also the other countries if you know? Thanks in advance.

I haven't experience with this, but my advice would be to go to your Chilean consulate and get some sort of stamped and signed doc stating the situation (in Spanish). Perhaps even take said doc to a notary once you arrive in chile and get a notarized doc within chile to state the same.

Do you and your wife have passports?
Do the the names on those passports match the names on your long form birth certificates of your children?
I presume that your children have passports as this is common in this age.
Do the birth certificates of your children match their names on their passports?

If you answer "yes" to all of these questions, I would travel with all passports and the long form birth certificates of your children if you must. Checking with the consulate before travel is ALWAYS a good idea!! Make certain to give them a call. The additional long form birth certificates might not be necessary for tourist travel. Enjoy your trip. That will be a wonderful time to travel in Chile. Your family is very lucky to be able to travel together for such length. Congratulations! Safe Travels. Let us know how it goes!

IslandGreco wrote:Do you and your wife have passports?

Yes

IslandGreco wrote:Do the the names on those passports match the names on your long form birth certificates of your children?

No

IslandGreco wrote:I presume that your children have passports as this is common in this age.
Do the birth certificates of your children match their names on their passports?

Yes

IslandGreco wrote:If you answer "yes" to all of these questions, I would travel with all passports and the long form birth certificates of your children if you must. Checking with the consulate before travel is ALWAYS a good idea!! Make certain to give them a call. The additional long form birth certificates might not be necessary for tourist travel. Enjoy your trip. That will be a wonderful time to travel in Chile. Your family is very lucky to be able to travel together for such length. Congratulations! Safe Travels. Let us know how it goes!

Thanks for the advice and well wishes!

Here, I'll show it a different way:

Dad Passport - John Doe
Mom Passport - Jane Doe
Kid #1 BC and Passport - Jack Doe
Kid #2 BC and Passport - Jill Doe
Parents listed on kid's long form BC - John Doe and Jane Smith. Where Jane Smith is the maiden name of Jane Doe
Jane Doe and Jane Smith are the same person

To confirm Jack and Jill Doe belong to John and Jane Doe, they will look at the kid's long form birth certificate. But it will say Jane Smith.

I can't imagine this is an uncommon problem as their must be tons of people travelling with kids from North America, and where it's typical for the mom to have a married name and maiden name that obviously don't match. But I can't find anything on the internet talking about it.

My husband and I are also Canadian, and we have one daughter with a Canadian birth certificate and another with an Australian birth certificate. I've never had any problems leaving with the girls, either with my husband or alone, even though my documents are the same as yours (maiden name on bc's, married name in passport). I think they see enough gringas at the borders to understand anglosaxon maiden/married name traditions.

heathrj wrote:My husband and I are also Canadian, and we have one daughter with a Canadian birth certificate and another with an Australian birth certificate. I've never had any problems leaving with the girls, either with my husband or alone, even though my documents are the same as yours (maiden name on bc's, married name in passport). I think they see enough gringas at the borders to understand anglosaxon maiden/married name traditions.

Thanks heathrj, glad to hear that maybe it won't cause any problems!

If I get a response back from the Chilean consulate I'll post it up here and on the Wiki.