Children's Visitation Requirements

[britsngrits 0]

Ok... it's been ages since I've had to post on here. We submitted to have the conditions removed from my husband's GC in June. I know it will be a bit of a wait but we are excited all the same.

Now on to my question.... My husband is from the UK and has 2 minor children ages 10 and 8. Every year we bring them to visit for 7 weeks in the summer. I'm their step mother and since I have more time off of work I usually do the flying back and forth. I've done this for the last three years with never a hiccup. However this year when I flew them in I had a very lovely immigration officer get very poopy with me. He said I had to have a letter of permission to bring them over. I said that I'd never been advised of that before and I had been doing it for 3 years. He then said... Are you telling me how to do my job? He said I needed their birth certificates... I said I do have them at home in Minnesota but why would I need them as they are traveling with their passports? He proceeded to get even poopier with me and threatened me with delaying us and told me he would have us held. By this time I was tearing up as he was such a jerk.

I know that certain countries do require this... as minor children traveling to Mexico need authorization from parents etc... But I need to know where to find this regarding UK minors. I was so upset I didn't get the jerk's name in Newark. I am convinced that they put ads in the paper asking for people who meet the following qualifications;

Are you unhappy?

Can you be mean without any provocation?

Are you a bully?

Can you abuse power? Then we have the job for you.... become an Immigration Officer!

Sorry to ramble on... it was not very nice and in the end he let us go through which is odd considering he was so intent on doing his job.

[whatnext 0]

Glad you got through. Going through immigration can be so stressful. I had an officer when I was flying to the UK get very pissy with me because I was visiting my boyfriend.

I guess from now on you should be armed with a letter from their mother and copies of their birth certificates.

eta: Have you considered flying them over as unaccompanied minors? It would get rid of the hassle for you.

Edited September 1, 2008 by whatnext

[britsngrits 0]

Glad you got through. Going through immigration can be so stressful. I had an officer when I was flying to the UK get very pissy with me because I was visiting my boyfriend.

I guess from now on you should be armed with a letter from their mother and copies of their birth certificates.

eta: Have you considered flying them over as unaccompanied minors? It would get rid of the hassle for you.

I would love to do that but because of delayed flights, going through passport control, customs etc... Jack the eldest (10 yrs.) thinks he would have to do this all on his own and he is very scared. Of course I would only do it if they were on the nonstop from London but I will wait another year to do it.

The problem is that the mother doesn't mind them coming over but she can be difficult in regards to getting her to do anything. That is another story however. She was going to refuse visitation this year. She actually went to her lawyer and had them draft a letter stating she thought we were going to kidnap the boys of all the crazy things. That is mostly because the oldest doesn't want to live with her anymore he wants to live with his father. But we are waiting until he is 16. She does a lot to hassle us and likes to be in control. She must get bored every now and again and decide to try and yank her little control chain. *sigh*

[Boiler 45,519]

What you have been asked for is very normal. Hague Convention etc.

Aways a good idea for a parent travelling alone to have such documentation, doubly so for a step parent.

Edited September 1, 2008 by Boiler

[britsngrits 0]

What you have been asked for is very normal. Hague Convention etc.

Aways a good idea for a parent travelling alone to have such documentation, doubly so for a step parent.

Right I hear you... a good idea... but they nearly sent them back... so this is why I need to know where to go to access the actual law. As I mentioned, she doesn't like doing anything to make our lives easy and only provided the letter that I asked for on their first visit... which nobody even wanted to see. Since then nobody has asked for it until now. I just am wondering where I can find the actual legal requirements. I tried to Google it or find it on the travel.state.gov but didn't find it there. I even tried to find something on the British Consulate pages. But the way the guy made it sound is that it is OUR requirement.

[Boiler 45,519]

What you have been asked for is very normal. Hague Convention etc.

Aways a good idea for a parent travelling alone to have such documentation, doubly so for a step parent.

Right I hear you... a good idea... but they nearly sent them back... so this is why I need to know where to go to access the actual law. As I mentioned, she doesn't like doing anything to make our lives easy and only provided the letter that I asked for on their first visit... which nobody even wanted to see. Since then nobody has asked for it until now. I just am wondering where I can find the actual legal requirements. I tried to Google it or find it on the travel.state.gov but didn't find it there. I even tried to find something on the British Consulate pages. But the way the guy made it sound is that it is OUR requirement.

http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=text.display&tid=21

[jellyfish 0]

When my kids were smaller they used to travel to London to see their Dad. Plane flight. (We are in Scotland.) To put them on the plane I needed to sign a form with my details, where they were going. Who was meeting them at the other end of the flight. Contact details for them. Plus the reverse information for them coming back. As part of our divorce agreement there was a clause preventing him from taking them out of the country without my permission in writing. I did not ask for that, so if it is standard it might well be in his divorce agreement too.

You could do something similar as I filled in for their mother to sign. She is confirming they are coming back, and that you are accompanying them. That their father is to be responsible for them, and his contact info, your added below. Should cover it. You might want to add a letter from their Dad in your pocket saying you are doing this on his behalf.

My lot flew as UM's from quite young, and if you can get a direct flight it might be easier to organise with the mother. My kids loved it as the ladies had to keep them amused :-) Mother also has to sign the papers then to put them on the plane.

She is being pretty generous to let you have them over for a seven week stretch, so keep that in mind.

Stepmothers have pretty much no legal rights per se. If there was an accident are you able to sign in hospital for example ? Stuff happens.

Get the paperwork for next time.