Need K-2 help, please!

[deer 1]

Hello, I am in need of some guidance. My Fiancee received her K-1 visa from USEM Abu Dhabi, which is great! The embassy is in the process of forwarding the case to Guangzhou for the 12 year old daughter to follow to join later. I believe we will need some form or document from the birth father stating he does not object to the child moving to the U.S, permanently. The birth father abandoned my Fiancee and the baby when the child was 7 months old, and hasn't been seen nor heard from since. My Fiancee is in China right now and she was able to locate the guy. She asked him if he would sign a paper stating he doesn't object to the child leaving and have it notarized. Well, lo and behold, at first he wanted his daughter back, so he could send her to Japan to live with his brother(??), now, he wants them both back and is refusing to sign anything. They were never married, and he has never helped to support the child, even in the 7 months of the baby's life he was around. What can we do? Does anybody know if my Fiancee can file for sole custody on the grounds of abandonment, having not been married? I have a lawyer here in the US and am still waiting to hear from him, but I doubt he can be of any assistance in this case and we really cannot afford another lawyer in China, but obviously I will do whatever is necessary to get our family together. I hear that GUZ is a slow embassy and so we are planning for my Fiancee to get here ASAP so we can be married and adjust status and get EAD and AP so she can travel back to China in time to attend the daughter's interview. I have been told it can take 90 days to receive packet 3 from GUZ, so we should have plenty of time to receive advance parole before the interview date. I am sure we aren't the only ones who are facing a spiteful ex in obtaining a visa for our little girl, so I hope someone can set us on the right path. Thank you very much for any help you can give!

[Darnell 8,479]

this is kind of fuzzy for me , as it's mostly a conglomeration of what i've read - ie - not one single case that is exactly like yours, but here goes , with a nota.bene- still may not work for you..

1. USUALLY, when couple divorces in China, there is a paragraph or statement in the divorce document that clearly outlines the 'fostering percentage'. To Foster - means, which parent is responsible for the child, and the child living with them. If the mother has a '100 percent fostering' statement in the divorce decree, then a letter from the father is not necessary - the mother has sole custody of the child at 100 percent foster. That's not the case for you, there is no divorce document.

2. I think she will need many affadavits - that SHE prepared, that SHE had notarized, about this child and that man. One for 'never married', one for 'abandonment', one for 'no contact all these years', another for 'cannot find', another for 'no involvement in child's life'. View an affadavit here, as a legal deposition, where a clerk or attorney is taking someone's testimony, in a court of law. A deposition has similar legal precendence and similar legal, binding stuff with it. I don't know where to send you or her to get these affadavits, but, if she has a friend that works in any divorce court, she can ask there.

3. Disregard the father's wants, needs, and desires, for now. He had his chances before, is up to her to accept him again (yer lass ) and if she's not doing that, then he cannot co-erce her about anything - they never married - his legal position is shady for 'rights of father'. There is NO financial paper trail of his prior support or payments, right? Was both of there names EVER on a house document? Was he ever listed in her hukuo book (and vice versa). Are any records of monetary payments for the child ? Literally, go forth with action, 'as if he doesn't exist' .

4. The father MIGHT file a custody case in court. But, if he actually does that, he will be in trouble for child abandonment, first, unless he can bribe the entire court.

5. In order for him to 'legally take the child', he has to prove-up to a court that the child is his. Then, somehow, he has to get her out of the country, to Japan, to live with his brother. I'll suggest to you that it will take much money for that one step, to 'get her out of the country' .. I'll suggest further that he doesn't have that money, as well.

6. Google 'Marc Ellis' - contact him, pay for a few hours of advice, he has liasons with china law firms in china, that can help prepare documents for your lass and her child. Give him the url of my post here, as a reference point, if you engage him - as I THINK I've done his legwork for you..

7. not need to contact the IV unit at GUZ about this - I'm not suggesting to 'hide' anything, but you need to 'present' a 'solid sheaf of documents' about the child, for interview day, to document 'this position' of child abandonment, no marriage, no divorce, etc etc.

Good Luck !

Disclaimer/Caveat - I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. I glean any knowledge from prior reading. Use at your own risk, dry at low-setting.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Just addressing the immigration side of things.

You have several choices;

1. Get the father's permission for his child to immigrate. (You tried and can't get this to go.)

2. Terminate the father's parental rights under Chinese law. (Can be long and expensive.)

3. You move to China.

4. Wait until the child is about to turn 18 and file for her.

The US Consulate will not care that the father abandoned the mother when the child was 7 months. All they care about is that it is not a case of international kidnapping where one parent removes a child from one country to another without the other parent's permission. Either the father has to give permission or his parental rights have to be terminated for the Consulate to issue a visa to the daughter while she is a minor. In the US, once a parent-child relationship is established, subsequent abandonment does not automatically terminates a person' parental rights. It may be a cause to terminate that right in a court proceeding.

Good luck.

Edited December 13, 2009 by aaron2020

[Darnell 8,479]

hey aaron - you reminded me of Other stuff.

- a usc can adopt a child IN China, if the usc lives IN china with the child, for 2 years.

- long term, if yer lass comes to USA asap, files for AOS then ROC, then citizenship - can be a 3.5 year window to become a citizen - THEN momma can file I-130 petition for child, almost immediate (6 months) approval cause she'll be UNDER 21 then (actually what - 15 to 16 ? )

[aaron2020 11,651]

hey aaron - you reminded me of Other stuff.

- a usc can adopt a child IN China, if the usc lives IN china with the child, for 2 years.

- long term, if yer lass comes to USA asap, files for AOS then ROC, then citizenship - can be a 3.5 year window to become a citizen - THEN momma can file I-130 petition for child, almost immediate (6 months) approval cause she'll be UNDER 21 then (actually what - 15 to 16 ? )

USC husband-to-be can always file for the child as an Immediate Relative once he marries mom because the marriage occurred before the child's 18th birthday.

Until the child turns 18, it does not matter who petitions for her as she still needs biological dad's permission to immigrate to the US or his parental rights terminated by a court. There is absolutely no way around this because the US will not be a party to parental kidnapping.

[justashooter 430]

hey aaron - you reminded me of Other stuff.

- a usc can adopt a child IN China, if the usc lives IN china with the child, for 2 years.

- long term, if yer lass comes to USA asap, files for AOS then ROC, then citizenship - can be a 3.5 year window to become a citizen - THEN momma can file I-130 petition for child, almost immediate (6 months) approval cause she'll be UNDER 21 then (actually what - 15 to 16 ? )

USC husband-to-be can always file for the child as an Immediate Relative once he marries mom because the marriage occurred before the child's 18th birthday.

Until the child turns 18, it does not matter who petitions for her as she still needs biological dad's permission to immigrate to the US or his parental rights terminated by a court. There is absolutely no way around this because the US will not be a party to parental kidnapping.

pull out your checkbook, buddy. this is china we're talking about.

a bribe paid to the birth father is your only solution. i would suggest something on the order of 10 grand.

[endoftheroad 1]

,,,,,,

Just ignore this China something ^^^^ he is wrong on most things and extremely something on the rest.

Edited December 14, 2009 by endoftheroad