Father from Mexico abandoned children, petitioning for them....

[yenom34 1]

Thank you for reading my post.

My wife's children has a deadbeat father whom has abandoned them for nearly 2 years now. I want to petition for them to live in the US. I have my CR-1 package ready for my wife, but I am unsure as to what will happen if I petition for the girls. We are in the process of getting custody now with a Mexican Lawyer. According to the Mexican Lawyer, the biological father has lost custody after 6 months of abandonment. Can we immigrate them with their Mom seeing the biological father has abandoned them for 2 years?

Thanks again

[apple21 953]

How old are the girls? Did you marry their mother before their 16th birthday?

[aaron2020 11,651]

How old are the girls? Did you marry their mother before their 16th birthday?

For a stepchild, the marriage has to happen before the child's 18th birthday.

16 years old limitation on immigrating only deals with adoption.

Edited August 3, 2013 by aaron2020

[aaron2020 11,651]

Thank you for reading my post.

My wife's children has a deadbeat father whom has abandoned them for nearly 2 years now. I want to petition for them to live in the US. I have my CR-1 package ready for my wife, but I am unsure as to what will happen if I petition for the girls. We are in the process of getting custody now with a Mexican Lawyer. According to the Mexican Lawyer, the biological father has lost custody after 6 months of abandonment. Can we immigrate them with their Mom seeing the biological father has abandoned them for 2 years?

Thanks again

If you married mom before the children's 18th birthday, then you can petition them.

You must file separate I-130s for each of them. The petition for your wife will not include her children.

At the NVC stage, you will need to provide custody papers that legally allows your wife to immigrate the children to the US without the father's written consent.

[apple21 953]

Thanks for correcting aaron2020.

[Darnell 8,479]

i not suggest to adopt them whilst they are still in Mexico. Adoption requirements are rather harsh, they must live with you 2 years prior.

However, file an additional I-130 on each child..

Is this right? You not submit the I-130 on your wife, yet, but yer about to.

Wait a bit, generate an I-130 on each child, and submit all together.

[yenom34 1]

If you married mom before the children's 18th birthday, then you can petition them.

You must file separate I-130s for each of them. The petition for your wife will not include her children.

At the NVC stage, you will need to provide custody papers that legally allows your wife to immigrate the children to the US without the father's written consent.

I was told this is not true by an Immigration lawyer. We are in the process of getting the "Patria Protestad" (Custody) but we do not need it. We only need their Passports. The Immigration Lawyer said Mexico has their rules and the US has theirs. Because I am now their Step Father, and in this case, their only father, I can petition for them without the consent of the bio Father. Either way, we are doing what is ethically correct and giving him every chance to be "human" and return to the girls life. The only problem is Lawyers in Mexico have NO ethics...we are on our 15th lawyer.....so much corruption I feel like throwing up every time we see that the lawyer has been "Bought Out" by the bio dad. We know the laws in Mexico, the problem is getting a Mexican Lawyer to follow through on them ethically and represent their client.

Thanks for reading our post.

Any comments are welcomed.

[Darnell 8,479]

IMO -

not need to show serious stuff about their ability to immigrate with the I-130 - ie - no legal findings need to be shown.

That's a good thing, as filing starts the clock.

Certainly this stuff has to be shown on interview day, so you have some time. Unsure if it has to be shown with NVC doc intake, but still, you have time to generate it , if it's needed at NVC.

I say - file without ..

[aaron2020 11,651]

I was told this is not true by an Immigration lawyer. We are in the process of getting the "Patria Protestad" (Custody) but we do not need it. We only need their Passports. The Immigration Lawyer said Mexico has their rules and the US has theirs. Because I am now their Step Father, and in this case, their only father, I can petition for them without the consent of the bio Father. Either way, we are doing what is ethically correct and giving him every chance to be "human" and return to the girls life. The only problem is Lawyers in Mexico have NO ethics...we are on our 15th lawyer.....so much corruption I feel like throwing up every time we see that the lawyer has been "Bought Out" by the bio dad. We know the laws in Mexico, the problem is getting a Mexican Lawyer to follow through on them ethically and represent their client.

Thanks for reading our post.

Any comments are welcomed.

Perhaps you heard of this thing call international parental kidnapping. You may want to look into that.

The US will want proof that the mother has the authority to take the kids out of Mexico permanently with the father's permission or court documents showing she has sole authority. The US government does not want to take part in an international parental kidnapping. No way is the US government give visas to the kids just because you married mom.

How are you going to prove that you are the only father? How are you going to prove that the father abandoned the kids and you satisfy Mexico's abandonment laws? Don't you think you would need some documents to show this?

[Darnell 8,479]

aaron - pardon - when I read his last post, it scan'd as he was attempting to get those legal docs handled.

However, not having them when filing the I-130 does not impede the adjudication of the I-130 - it's not needed for I-130 adjudication.

It's needed at the interview, and I'm unsure if NVC doc intake requires it as well.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Darnell

[aaron2020 11,651]

aaron - pardon - when I read his last post, it scan'd as he was attempting to get those legal docs handled.

However, not having them when filing the I-130 does not impede the adjudication of the I-130 - it's not needed for I-130 adjudication.

It's needed at the interview, and I'm unsure if NVC doc intake requires it as well.

Darnell - please re-read the posts.

I told OP that he needed custody papers at the NVC step when he files the DS-230. He is arguing that he does not need them at all at any point. He said he only needs their Mexican passports and the fact that he is the stepfather. He said he is getting the custody papers but he really does not need them. He is wrong and that is what I'm telling him - the custody papers are required and not superfluous.

Edited August 29, 2013 by aaron2020

[Darnell 8,479]

ah - then we're on the same page, actually agree on that one sticky bit.

cool ! not so rare, these days

[yenom34 1]

Hmmm I am confused. The lawyer I saw does these for a living, and has done this for our friends. ONLY THE PASSPORTS were needed. It would be interesting to see other opinions. I googled it after this post. There is not one article on needing the father's permission. Even on the USCIS website, it is not noted anywhere. I was thinking the same the everyone else was on this post.

In response to Aaron2020's questions, we have a lawyer working on that now. In Mexico, you loose custody after no "pension" ie child support for a 6 month period. It has been nearly 2 years so Mom is going to get custody. The problem lies with Mexico's lawyers. part of the 'culture", and I use the word very loosely, is to take advantage of every situation. In this case, a lawyer can get more money for his family by playing both sides of the fence. We have been through 14 lawyers. I could write a book on our experiences.

Standing by for more posts.

Thanks for reading and contributing

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hmmm I am confused. The lawyer I saw does these for a living, and has done this for our friends. ONLY THE PASSPORTS were needed. It would be interesting to see other opinions. I googled it after this post. There is not one article on needing the father's permission. Even on the USCIS website, it is not noted anywhere. I was thinking the same the everyone else was on this post.

In response to Aaron2020's questions, we have a lawyer working on that now. In Mexico, you loose custody after no "pension" ie child support for a 6 month period. It has been nearly 2 years so Mom is going to get custody. The problem lies with Mexico's lawyers. part of the 'culture", and I use the word very loosely, is to take advantage of every situation. In this case, a lawyer can get more money for his family by playing both sides of the fence. We have been through 14 lawyers. I could write a book on our experiences.

Standing by for more posts.

Thanks for reading and contributing

Think about how messed up this situation would be.

You and your American ex-wife have 2 children. She and her Mexican husband (the children's stepfather) wants the girls to imigrate to Mexico. Mexico said sure as long as the children have passports. Your children are then given immigration visas and leaves the country without your permission. How messed up is that if all they needed were passports to leave the county permanently without your permission. Wouldn't it have been nice of the Mexican Embassy to cheek that the children has all the required permission from both parents to leave the US? This is why you need the custody papers. The custody papers are not superfluous.

You have to have some documents to prove that your wife has sole custody to remove the children from Mexico. The US Embassy will not just take your words that the father has abandoned the children for two years. They needed documents to show your wife has all the authority to take the children out of the country.

From the US Embassy in Armenia: http://armenia.usembassy.gov/minor_children.html

Visas > Immigrant Visas > Special Information for Minor Children

Consent

Minor children immigrating permanently to the United States must have the permission of both birth parents to immigrate, especially if the parents are divorced. In cases of divorce, the non-accompanying birth parent should prepare a notarized statement and certified translation that they do not oppose their childs permanent immigration to the United States. Consent is not required if the accompanying birth parent has a single mother document or missing person court decree, certifying that the location of the second parent is unknown. In single parent cases, the aforementioned supporting documents should be presented with certified translations.

From the US Embassy in Guyana: http://georgetown.usembassy.gov/guyana/visas/ivs/interview-preparation/country-specific-info.html

PERMISSION FOR MINOR CHILDREN TO GO TO THE U.S.

A parent wishing to take a child under 16 to the United States must have permission from the non-immigrating parent or a Guyana court order granting sole custody and permission to take the child out of Guyana.

The non-immigrating parent may appear at this Embassy to give permission to go. If the parent is residing abroad they may go to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate to have their written consent notarized by a consular officer. If the parent is currently residing in the United States, they may provide notarized consent along with a copy of the biographical page of their passport.

[yenom34 1]

Why is the lawyer advising me otherwise.....why did our friends NOT need the permission of the other parent.....why doesn't the USCIS website define these fine points that are very obvious with K-2, K-3, CR-1...These are the questions to be answered.

Standing by