Bringing stepdaughter to US

[Krisztina 0]

Here is the situation: US citizen husband wants to bring (permanent resident) wife's 16 year old child to US. What is the the way to do it? With the I-130 we need the child's birth certificate,and divorce decree with the child's father. But can't provide divorce decree from the child's father, because never been married. Is that a problem? What to do in this case?

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Does she have sole custody of the child? They either have to prove she has sole custody or prove that the father agreed to the child immigrating to the US.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

Not having a divorce decree when you were not married is fine; plenty of people have kids without being legally married.

What/ if you need anything from the bio dad allowing the child to travel and immigrate will depend on the country she is in.

[xreesy 0]

19 hours ago, Krisztina said:

Here is the situation: US citizen husband wants to bring (permanent resident) wife's 16 year old child to US. What is the the way to do it? With the I-130 we need the child's birth certificate,and divorce decree with the child's father. But can't provide divorce decree from the child's father, because never been married. Is that a problem? What to do in this case?

My mother and stepfather did that to my siblings and I when we were very young. We lived with our father outside of the USA. You'll have to get the fathers permission to get her out of the country. Every time you want to travel or file those kins of forms for a minor you have to get both parents consent.

[Krisztina 0]

20 hours ago, EM_Vandaveer said:

Does she have sole custody of the child? They either have to prove she has sole custody or prove that the father agreed to the child immigrating to the US.

No, he doesn't have custody of the child, never was a trial or anything about the custody. 

[Krisztina 0]

6 hours ago, xreesy said:

My mother and stepfather did that to my siblings and I when we were very young. We lived with our father outside of the USA. You'll have to get the fathers permission to get her out of the country. Every time you want to travel or file those kins of forms for a minor you have to get both parents consent.

The child is 16 years old. And she has a valid passport, what she got with her father's permission, when he signed it.

[Krisztina 0]

8 hours ago, Penguin_ie said:

Not having a divorce decree when you were not married is fine; plenty of people have kids without being legally married.

What/ if you need anything from the bio dad allowing the child to travel and immigrate will depend on the country she is in.

She is in Hungary, and she got her passport when she was 13, with permission, and signed by her father. 

She's been in the US two times already

[xreesy 0]

5 minutes ago, Krisztina said:

The child is 16 years old. And she has a valid passport, what she got with her father's permission, when he signed it.

It doesn't matter, every time she travels he has to give you a consent form with his signature in order for her to travel. I live in America and my father in another country and every time I needed to travel he will have to mail us a sign consent giving me permission to travel. That's how it was until I turned 18. You can't do anything like that without his permission, meaning you both have to sign everything regarding your daughter.

Edited January 2, 2017 by xreesy

[Wizzle 41]

10 minutes ago, Krisztina said:

She is in Hungary, and she got her passport when she was 13, with permission, and signed by her father. 

She's been in the US two times already

   Then in this case, since both parents were not married... No divorce decree needed, however letter of consent is still needed for a minor immigrating to USA, even though the father signed the passport and the child has been in US before.. I-130 is a different process entirely that requires both parental consent. 

   " That consent letter is needed " .. NVC stage i believe....

 

Good luck.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Wizzle

[Krisztina 0]

2 minutes ago, xreesy said:

It doesn't matter, every time she travels he has to give you a consent form with his signature in order for her to travel. I live in America and my father in another country and every time I needed to travel he will have to mail us a sign consent giving me permission to travel. That's how it was until I turned 18

She's been here, in the US, with tourist visa, and never needed this permission from the father

[Krisztina 0]

Just now, Wizzle said:

   Then in this case, since both parents were not married... No divorce decree needed, however letter of consent is still needed for a minor immigration, even though the father signed the passport and the child has been in US before.. I-130 is a different process entirely that requires both parental consent. 

   Going through similar thing with my kids right now. " That consent letter is needed " .. NVC stage i believe....

Good luck.

Thank you

[Wizzle 41]

1 minute ago, Krisztina said:

She's been here, in the US, with tourist visa, and never needed this permission from the father

This was because they knew.. She was visiting as a tourist and not coming here to stay permanently.

Immigrating via I-130 means the father might not get to see her again for many years.. .. USCIS need to know that the father is okay with this permanent move.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Definitely the father's permission is needed for IMMIGRATION. Visiting is a different issue.

It sounds like they don't think the father will agree and want to do this without his knowledge. That's not going to work. They either have to get the father's consent or wait until she reaches the age of 18.