My IO's take on what you need vis a vis proof to remove a child from the country

[qwerty1974 11]

I am posting this in the London forum only as it likely varies consulate to consulate.

I have two children I intend to move to the States with. One is my fifteen year old daughter and the other, my twelve year old son. The two cases are a little different so I'll briefly give the context of each, hopefully this information will be of some use to someone as the websites give little clarity to what the custodial requirements are. Naturally, it might vary case to case but they seemed pretty affirmative about what was and was not needed (spoke with two Embassy workers about this).

Twelve year old: Still see's his father regularly but his father and I were never married so there was never any shared parental responsibility. Had a letter (not notarised) simply stating he knew of my wishes and would not object. he'd typed the letter and signed it. My solicitor had written to him later to confirm that we had the letter and if it was NOT his signature he had fourteen days to contest the letter my firm had been supplied with or we'd take it it was fine and standing. When my solicitor did not hear back he sent ME a letter confirming my sons father had indeed NOT responded. We opted to take the action of if you DO NOT do anything, that is confirmation, as he was reluctant to be honest to sign anything in the first place. he and I don't get on and naturally noone one is thrilled to have their child leave the country. As he had always said 'tell your solicitor to back off....signing once should be all thats required of me'. He was happy (ish) to furnish us with the first letter for his son's sake, but really I could not have expected him to happily accompany me to a solicitors to have it sworn, there is a violent history there and he flips quite quickly so I try and have as little to do with him as possible. It was nice he even wrote the first letter.

Fifteen year old: I was married to her father so he technically has joint parental responsibility. However, he has not seen her for twelve years and does not pay maintenance. My solicitor wrote to him twice asking permission. On the second time of asking he unhelpfully just slammed his signature down onto the foot of the letter with no further explanation and sent it to my solicitor. My solicitor seemed happy enough with this.

I wasn't particulary happy with either response as neither was notarised. SO, I swore an affidavit and had THAT notarised. the affidavit stated the reasons why it would be unwise to pursue further official confirmation from either (difficult past relationships) and swore that neither child had

a)outstanding custody cases

b)any objection themselves to moving

c)a situation where the father had not been duly infomred of our intentions and also given ample time to contest it.

At the head of the affadavit I listed the childrens details/passport no. etc. MUST GET IT NOTARISED as it isn't official enough. They seemed to like that it was sworn.

When it came time for the interview they did not question my fifteen year old AT ALL on any of this, which they could have done as she was stood there and old enough to be interviewed. I presented them with ALL correspondance from my solicitor showing efforts had been made to get agreements from the fathers. I gave them the signatures of the fathers and the public notary document. I asked them what the requirements actually were for removing children to America and he said this (well, both officers I spoke to confirmed this):

ALL WE NEED IS TO SEE PROOF THAT THE FATHERS KNOW AND DON'T MIND, THESE SIGNATURES ARE JUST FINE WITH THE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS AND AFFIDAVIT, ITS JUST SO AS WE KNOW SOME CUSTODIAL CASE OR OTHER WON'T CROP UP ONCE YOU'VE LEFT.

Really hope this is of some help to someone as right up until the interview I was so, so, so worried about whether this could trip me up as I didn't have full custody of one of them and neither father had a public notary witness the document they DID sign. But we WERE approved and with no eyebrows raised regarding the seemingly complaex situation of custody and odd forms from the fathers (especially with the one with paretal responsibility just sticking his signature down on the solicitors letter!)

Edited December 3, 2011 by qwerty1974

[ScottnIzabela 25]

thanks for sharing and good to hear you had no issues with it

I am posting this in the London forum only as it likely varies consulate to consulate.

I have two children I intend to move to the States with. One is my fifteen year old daughter and the other, my twelve year old son. The two cases are a little different so I'll briefly give the context of each, hopefully this information will be of some use to someone as the websites give little clarity to what the custodial requirements are. Naturally, it might vary case to case but they seemed pretty affirmative about what was and was not needed (spoke with two Embassy workers about this).

Twelve year old: Still see's his father regularly but his father and I were never married so there was never any shared parental responsibility. Had a letter (not notarised) simply stating he knew of my wishes and would not object. he'd typed the letter and signed it. My solicitor had written to him later to confirm that we had the letter and if it was NOT his signature he had fourteen days to contest the letter my firm had been supplied with or we'd take it it was fine and standing. When my solicitor did not hear back he sent ME a letter confirming my sons father had indeed NOT responded. We opted to take the action of if you DO NOT do anything, that is confirmation, as he was reluctant to be honest to sign anything in the first place. he and I don't get on and naturally noone one is thrilled to have their child leave the country. As he had always said 'tell your solicitor to back off....signing once should be all thats required of me'. He was happy (ish) to furnish us with the first letter for his son's sake, but really I could not have expected him to happily accompany me to a solicitors to have it sworn, there is a violent history there and he flips quite quickly so I try and have as little to do with him as possible. It was nice he even wrote the first letter.

Fifteen year old: I was married to her father so he technically has joint parental responsibility. However, he has not seen her for twelve years and does not pay maintenance. My solicitor wrote to him twice asking permission. On the second time of asking he unhelpfully just slammed his signature down onto the foot of the letter with no further explanation and sent it to my solicitor. My solicitor seemed happy enough with this.

I wasn't particulary happy with either response as neither was notarised. SO, I swore an affidavit and had THAT notarised. the affidavit stated the reasons why it would be unwise to pursue further official confirmation from either (difficult past relationships) and swore that neither child had

a)outstanding custody cases

b)any objection themselves to moving

c)a situation where the father had not been duly infomred of our intentions and also given ample time to contest it.

At the head of the affadavit I listed the childrens details/passport no. etc. MUST GET IT NOTARISED as it isn't official enough. They seemed to like that it was sworn.

When it came time for the interview they did not question my fifteen year old AT ALL on any of this, which they could have done as she was stood there and old enough to be interviewed. I presented them with ALL correspondance from my solicitor showing efforts had been made to get agreements from the fathers. I gave them the signatures of the fathers and the public notary document. I asked them what the requirements actually were for removing children to America and he said this (well, both officers I spoke to confirmed this):

ALL WE NEED IS TO SEE PROOF THAT THE FATHERS KNOW AND DON'T MIND, THESE SIGNATURES ARE JUST FINE WITH THE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS AND AFFIDAVIT, ITS JUST SO AS WE KNOW SOME CUSTODIAL CASE OR OTHER WON'T CROP UP ONCE YOU'VE LEFT.

Really hope this is of some help to someone as right up until the interview I was so, so, so worried about whether this could trip me up as I didn't have full custody of one of them and neither father had a public notary witness the document they DID sign. But we WERE approved and with no eyebrows raised regarding the seemingly complaex situation of custody and odd forms from the fathers (especially with the one with paretal responsibility just sticking his signature down on the solicitors letter!)

[Robert&Karen 264]

My fiance brought two girls with he and we needed the father's approval. Finding him was a challenge. When we did we had a person of character get the signatures from him and then the person we hired got the notarization. Apparently if the witness is credible it can be notarized, and in the UK the notary is not like a US notary and many more people qualify as notary.

We were worried her would not sign to release the kids so we had a backup plan to get back child support from him. By him signing we will not go after back support. Win / win.

The Embassy asked questions about the biological father and after some checking said that they were glad we have the papers notarized. So, I'd not say no notary is needed. We also brought in birth certificates of adult children, as required on the paperwork, and they were never asked for or wanted.

The person who does your interview needs to feel comfortable that THEY can stand in front of THEIR boss with YOUR paperwork and stick up for it. They need to do their job as they know, but I am sure there is plenty of wiggle room in there. In the end people make the decisions, not computers.

While we had a solicitor draw up the papers for him to sign, there was nothing in them about irrevocability, and we worried that he may send the Embassy a letter on his own changing his mind. In hindsight I'd probably insert such a clause.

The release paperwork from the biological parent may also be of some use in the USA. We wish to change the kids' names to mine and my bride's last name, they want it too as they feel left out. This notarized documentation will assist in showing that the biological parent has no association with the children, and for that use you WILL need a notarized document.

Before you leave the UK get ALL the paperwork you think you may ever need. Birth certs, former marriages, death certs, property ownership, whatever may be out there. be your own records custodian. Then if you need a paper in a few years you do not have to contact the UK and try to deal with things across the pond.