Child Travel Consent Letter Authentication for Haiti

Children travel between South Florida and Haiti often, sometimes with only one parent or with grandparents. A notarized consent letter from the parent who is not traveling helps at departure and arrival and with any school enrollment in Haiti. Include both parents' and the child's full names, passport numbers, travel dates and who the child travels with. Notarization alone is often enough for a trip; legalization matters when the letter will be filed with a Haitian authority.

A specific letter naming the child, the consenting parent or parents, the accompanying adult, the destination and the travel dates, signed before a Florida notary with a complete notarial certificate (venue, presence or online box, date, ID type, seal). Names must match each passport exactly, and the dates must cover the actual trip.

Draft the letter yourself (Florida law prescribes no form), then sign before any Florida notary or through our online notarization add-on, where each parent can sign separately from wherever they are: $40 for the first document ($10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee) and $20 for each additional document. Notarization is not included in our $220. Many trips need only a notarized letter, so confirm the apostille is actually required.

State fee for this document: $10 — included in our price. Full details on the child travel consent letter page.

After we return your document with its Florida authentication certificate, it goes to the U.S. Department of State for authentication; Haiti's embassy says its consular service will only legalize documents already authenticated by the U.S. Department of State. The last U.S. step is legalization by Haiti's Embassy in Washington, D.C. or one of its Consulates General, including those in Miami and Orlando. Ask the office in Haiti receiving your document whether it also needs a stamp from Haiti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We don't handle, arrange or refer anyone for these steps.

We don't handle or arrange the U.S. Department of State or embassy steps. See how non-Hague authentication works.

In Florida, Haiti is represented by its Consulates General in Miami and Orlando; the Embassy of Haiti in Washington, D.C. also legalizes U.S. documents. In Haiti, Florida documents typically go to civil-status officers (officiers de l'état civil), Haitian notaries (notaires) who handle property sales and estates, the courts, and schools or employers.

Haiti's official languages are French and Haitian Creole. Many Haitian offices work with documents in French, so ask the notary, court or registry receiving your English document whether it needs a French translation. If you translate in Florida, the translator certifies the translation and signs before a different notary, and the translation is authenticated in Florida along with the original, so it carries its own certificate.

We could not find a published Haitian rule on document age. Haitian notaries and registries may still ask for recent certified copies, so order fresh Florida records rather than reusing old ones, and ask the receiving office how recent they must be.

Consular office serving Florida: Consulate General of Haiti in Miami (Haiti also has a Consulate General in Orlando).

$220 per document, $380 for two and $160 each for three or more — the state fee, request form, in-person filing in Tallahassee and FedEx shipping inside the U.S. are included. Shipping the finished authentication to Haiti is a flat $100 per order.

Not included: whatever the issuing office charges for the certified copy or certificate, and notarization (online notarization is $40 for the first document — $10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee — and $20 for each additional one).