Son Brought Illegally?

[wizzard1663 0]

I have been a member for a long time,and advice on this site helped me to get through the Fiance Visa process. So once again I thank this entire community for the help we all give to one another.

I need some advice, and hopefully from an attorney or someone who knows the rules.

My wife raised her Grandson in the Philippines from birth through close to age 5 when she came to the US in July 2009 to marry me. We filed a Petition I 130 to bring her unmarried son over age 21 and his two minor children to the US. It was approved immediately, but the wait or an available Visa for this category is a disgusting ten years. We are now about two and a half years into that ten year wait. The childs birth Mother, who abandoned him at birth to my wife, is now livin in the US and married to an American. She did an I 130 to bring her son here, and somehow managed to do that without my Wife's Son's approval. My wife's Son had moved into my wife's house in the Philippines in 2007, and he resumed a role as his Father at that time. When my wife came to the US to marry me, her Son remained in custody of his Son.

Her Son told us he never signed any document that gave his approval for the birth Mother to take his Son from him and out of the Philippines. I looked at anI 130 , and no where does it ask who the father is and if there are any custody issues. It appears as if the USCIS will simply let a Mother petition her child on an I 130 and bring him here, whether or not someone with custody in the Philippines agrees or not. Is this possible? I called USCIS and they said they do not deal with custody issues, and that it is the role of the US Embassy to deal with Custody concerns. Is it possible that when my wife's grandson's mother went to the interview in the US Embassy in the Philippines, to complete the I 130 process, that they dont care if the child is currently in someone else's custody; namely, the true Father? Would the US Embassy have a normal procedure that asks who has custody and if they agree to moving the child out of the Philippines? From what I have heard about this birth Mother, she has a history of pathological lies and might have told the US Embassy the true Father was dead or disappeared. Can anyone shed some light for me on how she could have gotten her son wihtout my Step Son's approval.

Thanks for your help.

[Leatherneck 693]

What is the legal relationship between the mother and the father?

Were they every married?

Is the child considered illegitimate?

Did your wife legally adopt the child?

Yes USCIS will allow the petition to go forward, as long as the mother can prove she if the mother. Now, how the child's parents to decide to resolve the custody issue is not within the scope of USCIS.

The child will be required to attend the interview for his visa.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Leatherneck

[Dan and Judy 614]

I guess her son was not married to this girl. Was the fathers name on the birth certificate?

[wizzard1663 0]

What is the legal relationship between the mother and the father?

Were they every married?

Is the child considered illegitimate?

Did your wife legally adopt the child?

Yes USCIS will allow the petition to go forward, as long as the mother can prove she if the mother. Now, how the child's parents to decide to resolve the custody issue is not within the scope of USCIS.

The child will be required to attend the interview for his visa.

They were never married. I guess the child is therefore illegitimate. My Wife did not adopt the child.

[wizzard1663 0]

I guess her son was not married to this girl. Was the fathers name on the birth certificate?

The Fathers name is on the birth certificate.

The Mother never had anything to do with the childs upbringing. My wife raised the child from birth. The only contact the mother had was on his first birthday party. After that she never saw him. I cannot conceive how the Mother could petition the child, who is in the custody of and being raised by his Father, without getting approval from the father to leave the country

[wizzard1663 0]

What is the legal relationship between the mother and the father?

Were they every married?

Is the child considered illegitimate?

Did your wife legally adopt the child?

Yes USCIS will allow the petition to go forward, as long as the mother can prove she if the mother. Now, how the child's parents to decide to resolve the custody issue is not within the scope of USCIS.

The child will be required to attend the interview for his visa.

the child attended the interview, but the father was never invited or asked for his approval. is it possible the US Embassy would simply let the child go with the Mother, who never had more than an hour of his life in seven years, without any consent by the father?

Add to this that the Step Father was in a picture on facebook in a very short pair of underwear, with a big bulge, bouncing the child on his lap after he arrived in Illinois.

They removed the pictures from Facebook, at the same time they cut off all communication between the child and his Grandmother who he calls Mamma

[wizzard1663 0]

For those of you who read this, the child was raised by his grandmother from birth through age 5 when his Grandmother (my wife) emigrated to the US to marry me on a Fiance Visa. The Son resumed a role as Father two years before the Granmother left for me on a Fiance Visa. The biological mother has a history of financial crime and indications she is a Sociopath. The Step Father has shown pictorial reason to think he may be a Pedofile. The biological mther has reasons from a vengeance standpoint to have brought a son she couldnt care less about to america, only to hurt the Grandmother who raised him and the true biological father. The Step Father of course has his own motives. They cut off all telephone or skype visual communication ten days ago, after the child begged his Grandmother (Mamma) to take him to be with her in america. The true biological father never signed any documents to permit his son to leave the philippines. I'm trying to find out if the mother possibly violated some part of the I 130 process, including the interview in the US Embassy, to get her son here. She admitted to my wife, when seeking her help to get documents for bringing this child to the US, that she originally claimed he had died in childbirth on the Petition that brought her to the US in the first place. She brought another child with her, and told my wife she was afraid to admit her first child was alive and being raised by his Father. We know she lied to USCIS on the Petition that brought her here with the younger child, by saying her first child was dead. Then she petitions to bring the first child to the US, so I'm thinking she had to violate some laws or procedures. Certaily lying to USCIS on the petition that brought her here with her youngest child, by saying that this child (the first) was dead, has to be a violation

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

I don't think what happened was illegal, unless the bio father had legal custody of the child at the time, which from my limited knowledge of Philippino law seems unlikely. I am going to

**** move this thread to the regional Phils forum for better answers, as whether this is illegal depends on local custody laws

*****

[sunandmoon 450]

as far as custody, under Philippine law, the mother would have sole custody.

Chapter 3. Illegitimate Children

Art. 175. Illegitimate children may establish their illegitimate filiation in the same way and on the same evidence as legitimate children.

The action must be brought within the same period specified in Article 173, except when the action is based on the second paragraph of Article 172, in which case the action may be brought during the lifetime of the alleged parent. (289a)

Art. 176. Illegitimate children shall use the surname and shall be under the parental authority of their mother, and shall be entitled to support in conformity with this Code. The legitime of each illegitimate child shall consist of one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child. Except for this modification, all other provisions in the Civil Code governing successional rights shall remain in force. (287a)

http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorderno209.htm

[Boiler 45,486]

Begs the question as to how the Mother obtained custody of the child.

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

Begs the question as to how the Mother obtained physical custody of the child.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Begs the question as to how the Mother obtained custody of the child.

Ya that was my question also. If the boy was living with the father how did the boy get to the embassy and how did he get to the airport to fly to the states?

[wizzard1663 0]

as far as custody, under Philippine law, the mother would have sole custody.

Chapter 3. Illegitimate Children

Art. 175. Illegitimate children may establish their illegitimate filiation in the same way and on the same evidence as legitimate children.

The action must be brought within the same period specified in Article 173, except when the action is based on the second paragraph of Article 172, in which case the action may be brought during the lifetime of the alleged parent. (289a)

Art. 176. Illegitimate children shall use the surname and shall be under the parental authority of their mother, and shall be entitled to support in conformity with this Code. The legitime of each illegitimate child shall consist of one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child. Except for this modification, all other provisions in the Civil Code governing successional rights shall remain in force. (287a)

http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorderno209.htm

Thanks for the link to the laws of the Philippines regarding Illegitimate Children.

I read through the sections you suggested, and I'm wondering about how authorities in the Philippines would interpret who actually had parental authority. In this instance the birth Mother registered her child in the surname of the Father, even though they were not married. The Father had been living for a number of years with his son, and caring for him, prior to the Mother getting an I 130 approved by USCIS and coming to the Philippines to bring him back to the US. The Father thought he had to give the child up, based on the legal document the Mother produced from the USCIS. He sadly let him go with the Mother, but he never signed any documents showing agreed to give him up. My question is whether the Father truly had legal rights to his child, since the child was given his surname at birth by the Mother and since it was the Father who was raising him and not the Mother.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Ya know it sucks that this woman was able to do this and the father fell for her BS, now that the son is in the States I think the father is SOL. Sad.

[Boiler 45,486]

So he voluntarily handed over the child. You did not mention that initially.

He would still have whatever legal rites he had under Philippine Law that he had before.

As he is there and the child is here and it seems that there was no legal issue in moving the child to the US, the legal rights etc seem moot.