VisaFamilies can have a child’s Salvadoran exit authorisation checked before departure
Migration’s document review is free, while a consular authorisation has a separate charge. Parents should prepare the original permission and resolve errors before travelling.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Review the permission before reaching the border
Families arranging departure from El Salvador for a child under 18 travelling alone, with one parent or with another adult should prepare the required exit authorisation. This current-rule guide compares existing instructions. Migration’s notice dated 8 January 2026 also requires a valid passport in good condition.
The notice offers immediate, free review at branches or an advance online submission: scan the signed and stamped notarial authorisation clearly into PDF and send it to [email protected]. If corrections are needed, the authority replies so the legal professional can amend the document. If it complies, the validated authorisation is returned with a QR code. A scan sent for checking should not be confused with a positive validation already received.
Include the journey details and the correct authorising people
The migration review service page distinguishes permission from the non-travelling parent when the child travels with one parent from permission by both parents when the child travels alone or with a third party. It calls for the authorising person’s identity details, the child’s full name and passport issue and expiry dates, the birth-record reference, destinations and duration abroad. For a third-party companion, include their identity and relationship to the child.
The page additionally asks why an unrelated person is accompanying the child, including airline or ground-transport personnel. Confirm that an airline actually offers the requested accompaniment service. It says a power allowing one parent to appear before an authority to authorise the child’s exit is not an acceptable substitute. For collective journeys involving more than seven permissions, its published instruction directs the review request to the Centro de Gobierno branch. These details should be checked when drafting, before the family seeks validation.
Parents abroad have a separate consular preparation checklist
The foreign ministry’s current consular-services table lists an original birth-record certificate issued within the preceding 12 months, the child’s valid passport or its photo-page copy, both parents’ valid Salvadoran identity documents, and the companion’s valid passport for an exit authorisation. It allows copies in the circumstances described where a parent or companion is in another country. Its listed charge for this authorisation is US$20.
The same table separately describes permission for a child’s passport, also at US$20, with a recommended birth-record age of no more than six months. Do not apply that six-month recommendation to the exit-authorisation row without asking: the two entries address different services. It also lists a free, appointment-based process concerning the public prosecutor’s approval for issuance of a child’s passport. A family should identify the required transaction before paying or assembling documents for another one.
An authorisation issued abroad may need legalisation in El Salvador
The ministry’s separate exit-authorisation page expressly limits its checklist to children travelling with Salvadoran passports. It asks for the child’s original birth record, a copy of the valid Salvadoran passport, the authorising parent’s valid Salvadoran identity document and identification for the accompanying person. That limited scope should not be promoted into a universal rule covering every foreign child visiting the country.
Crucially, it says an authorisation issued abroad before a Salvadoran consular official must be presented for legalisation at a foreign ministry Consular Affairs office before use. Ask the consulate how that step will be completed and who will handle the original in El Salvador. Obtaining a consular signature abroad should not be assumed to finish every step needed before the child’s departure.
Keep the original document even after receiving a QR code
A migration notice dated 23 December 2024 explicitly says families should present both the QR code received after approval and the original permission at the border. Its drafting guidance calls for the full names and identification details of the parents, child and responsible companion, together with departure and return dates. This clarifies the practical role of the QR code: evidence of review accompanies the underlying permission rather than replacing it.
That notice urges use of authorised notaries familiar with the child-protection and migration laws and recommends preparing the paperwork in time. The newer notice supplies the online email route, but its separately linked online-service page returned an error during this check. Use the published email or a branch and call 2535-6212 if the route or case is unclear. No guaranteed email response deadline was established, and free migration review does not establish that a private notary’s drafting service is free.
