Documents required for step-daughter at Guangzhou?

[Guangtou 0]

Hi there. I'm filing via DCF for my wife and 6 year old stepdaughter. USCIS in Beijing approved their i-130 petitions and our documents have been sent on to Guangzhou. I am wondering what is required for my step-daughter in Guangzhou, in terms of showing custody by the mother. In particular, I've seen on a few threads that a notarized letter from the biological father stating it's OK for her to immigrate is required.

The challenge in our situation is that my wife has not spoken with the father in several years and she does not have any contact info for him. The daughter does not remember the father. My wife does have a divorce decree which states she is responsible for "fostering" the daughter. A copy of the Chinese original along with a Notarial translation was included with the petitions.

Regarding custody, the notarial translation simply says the following: "And their legitimate daughter XXX, born YYY, has been fostered by ZZZ". (ZZZ is my wife)

The corresponding chinese is 原被告婚生女孩<daughter's name>，由原告<mother's name>抚养，被告<father's name>不负担子女抚养费。被告<father>在每周六，日可探视小孩。

1) Will this document be enough to prove custody for the purposes of immigration?

2) what exactly does "foster" mean, and how does it relate to the term "custody"?

3) Interestingly, the Chinese states that the father has the right to see the daughter every Saturday during the day, but that is not mentioned in the English translation. I assume there will be Chinese staff who can read the Chinese, so it could come up. Even if my wife has full custody, is the fact that the father has the right to see the daughter going to be an issue? He's never acted on that, but of course, I don't know how we prove that beyond our word.

4) If this document is not sufficient, what are our options, given that we don't know where the father is.

Thanks very much for your help.

Oh, and minor bonus question...

5) now that we the petitions approved, what exactly is the next step? Do we need to wait for Guangzhou to send my wife packet 3, or can we just download the stuff off their site and send in the requested materials?

[pushbrk 13,111]

Hi there. I'm filing via DCF for my wife and 6 year old stepdaughter. USCIS in Beijing approved their i-130 petitions and our documents have been sent on to Guangzhou. I am wondering what is required for my step-daughter in Guangzhou, in terms of showing custody by the mother. In particular, I've seen on a few threads that a notarized letter from the biological father stating it's OK for her to immigrate is required.

The challenge in our situation is that my wife has not spoken with the father in several years and she does not have any contact info for him. The daughter does not remember the father. My wife does have a divorce decree which states she is responsible for "fostering" the daughter. A copy of the Chinese original along with a Notarial translation was included with the petitions.

Regarding custody, the notarial translation simply says the following: "And their legitimate daughter XXX, born YYY, has been fostered by ZZZ". (ZZZ is my wife)

The corresponding chinese is 原被告婚生女孩<daughter's name>，由原告<mother's name>抚养，被告<father's name>不负担子女抚养费。被告<father>在每周六，日可探视小孩。

1) Will this document be enough to prove custody for the purposes of immigration?

2) what exactly does "foster" mean, and how does it relate to the term "custody"?

3) Interestingly, the Chinese states that the father has the right to see the daughter every Saturday during the day, but that is not mentioned in the English translation. I assume there will be Chinese staff who can read the Chinese, so it could come up. Even if my wife has full custody, is the fact that the father has the right to see the daughter going to be an issue? He's never acted on that, but of course, I don't know how we prove that beyond our word.

4) If this document is not sufficient, what are our options, given that we don't know where the father is.

Thanks very much for your help.

Oh, and minor bonus question...

5) now that we the petitions approved, what exactly is the next step? Do we need to wait for Guangzhou to send my wife packet 3, or can we just download the stuff off their site and send in the requested materials?

The "fostering" statement from the divorce decree is sufficient for Guangzhou. No other issues I can see with regard to custody. Fostering = custody in these translations. You won't need any options.

[Guangtou 0]

The "fostering" statement from the divorce decree is sufficient for Guangzhou. No other issues I can see with regard to custody. Fostering = custody in these translations. You won't need any options.

Good news indeed! Thanks for the speedy reply!

[Guangtou 0]

fyi, visas were approved in Guangzhou yesterday! For details,

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/357297-dcf-china-wife-and-step-daughter-approved-for-cr1/