National Tour Permit Question

[sm477]

This may seem like a silly question, but...

On the National Tour Permit in the section concerning vehicle information, where the permit asks for the vehicle Make / Model / Year, it also asks for the vehicle Owner's Name and vehicle Owners DL#. My question is: What if we are using a vehicle that is owned by the Chartered Organization (in this case, a 12 passenger church van)? Who should I put for Owner Name and Owner DL#? I'm assuming that my DL# would apply, but I'm not the owner of the vehicle. Also, we will probably have at least 2 adults riding in the vehicle that will be taking turns driving. The NTP application doesn't allow for this type of entry of information. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[kbandit]

I would check with your District Executive/Council. I am sure they have had this come up in the past.

[CA_Scouter]

We rented 2 vans last year for a trip to Yellowstone and had multiple drivers. I put together a list of all the potential drivers, their insurance info, DL #, etc. and submitted that with the National Tour Permit. I put 'see attached' on the application. Worked out just fine.

 

 

 

[GernBlansten]

I just submitted my first National TP for our trip to Canada this summer. I found it ridiculously similar to the local TP. I really don't see much value in it except to make me go through the checklist to verify I've done everything. I did hear that the old National TP was 8 pages long and a real pain to complete. But this one took me maybe 30 minutes to complete and was mostly check-boxes.

[moxieman]

GB: I hope all your adults either have passports or those new passport cards.

[skeptic]

We have our church van listed separately with the church's insurance info. Then annotate to indicate driver(s), their licenses, and their insurance info. Good luck.

[GernBlansten]

Adults? Heck, we are having all the youth have passports too.

Funny thing, the NTP doesn't ask about that.

Can someone really tell me how the permit realistically makes us safer?

[skeptic]

Don't you have to have an international letter of some sort to take scouts outside the country? Or is that only required when going places not connected to our borders?

[GernBlansten]

Yes, there is a letter of permission for youth who are not traveling with both parents. I guess this is really intended to keep divorced/separated parents from taking the youth without permission. Last time we crossed the border (by car), they weren't interested in the letters, only passports.

[BrentAllen]

skeptic,

You only need to have the international letters of introduction issued by the BSA if you aren't traveling with National Tour Permits. Scouts aren't allowed to wear their uniforms outside the US unless they have the letters of introduction OR are members of a group traveling with Tour Permits.

[GernBlansten]

Brett,

How could you travel internationally without the protection of the National Tour Permit?

[Beavah]

Yah...

 

In some border states/councils it's OK to travel to Canada with just a local tour permit, eh? This is set up on an individual basis with councils where lots of cross-border travel is common and da regional office doesn't want to get flooded with weekend cross-border camporee permits.

 

But yeh do need to have parent permission forms to cross da border with a minor child. The Canadians and others take the international convention on the prevention of child abduction seriously. If you're in uniform, they're a bit more relaxed because they get why a bunch of kids are traveling with a non-custodial adult, otherwise there's often more scrutiny.

 

Da passport/enhanced ID requirement will apply to all adults and children over 16 after June 1. However, we did manage to (finally!) get an exception for school/youth/sports groups traveling under adult supervision, which includes scouts. So your 16-17 year old scouts can still travel to Canada with an ordinary ID and proof of citizenship (birth certificate copy) as part of a scout trip.

 

Da "international letter of introduction" is a greeting between scouting associations if you're hookin' up in some way with a scouting association in the country you're visiting (like a national or international jamboree, not a private unit-unit contact). Other than that, they're not expected.

 

You'll find da Uniform Police are almost completely non-existent outside da U.S. My advice is to wear your U.S. scout uniform when travelin', and when meetin' with scouts anywhere. You'll find a lot of brother and sister scouts and scouters will come up to you with spontaneous greetings and chances for friendship. Only exception is in countries where our scout uniform too closely resembles da military garb of the nation. In that case, adopt the universal international symbol and just wear neckerchiefs over your travelin' clothes.

 

Beavah

 

[Beavah]

Can someone really tell me how the permit realistically makes us safer?

 

Well, if yeh get attacked by a rogue horde of bureaucrats, you'll have had practice fending 'em off!

 

Tour permits are primarily a service to da BSA, not to the unit. Helps us compile statistics, lets us know what's goin' on, gives us a chance to dodge any particularly odd liability risk or PR nightmare. So if you show up in da news and we start gettin' phonecalls for comments, we at least have some clue!

 

Beavah