Father not on birth certificate

[Stein 276]

I posted this in the CR-1 section but thought it was region-specific so posting here.  I am a USC and wife is Vietnamese.  We live in Vietnam but starting paperwork for CR-1 visa.  Wife has a 12 year old daughter who lives with us.  She was never married to the father and father's name is not listed on birth certificate.  From researching this it looks like we should at least list his name on the 1-130 as the father but do we need any permission signed by him to remove daughter from Vietnam?  I can't find anything at all about this online.  Father hasn't had any contact for 11 years and never paid any support.  Anyone familiar with this situation?

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

6 minutes ago, Stein said:

I posted this in the CR-1 section but thought it was region-specific so posting here.  I am a USC and wife is Vietnamese.  We live in Vietnam but starting paperwork for CR-1 visa.  Wife has a 12 year old daughter who lives with us.  She was never married to the father and father's name is not listed on birth certificate.  From researching this it looks like we should at least list his name on the 1-130 as the father but do we need any permission signed by him to remove daughter from Vietnam?  I can't find anything at all about this online.  Father hasn't had any contact for 11 years and never paid any support.  Anyone familiar with this situation?

Well, is the father in the picture now, or he is completely gone and unreachable?

[Stein 276]

I don't know yet.  Neither has had contact for 11 years.  It was very rural Vietnam so he could be unreachable.  I'll talk to her tonight.  I found this on another thread:

 

And yes, the biological father of the child will need to give his consent. Just have him write something really simple, along the line "My name is XYZ, I was married to Ms [your wife] from [date] to [date]. My wife has since remarried after our divorce, and wishes to bring our son [name of son, DOB] to live with her new husband [your name] in the US. I have no objection to my son relocating to the US with his mother and stepfather."

Then have the biological father take it to the UBND where he lives and ask them to put their seal on it. Of course there is the inevitable "coffee money" to make it happen quicker. If he does it right, he'll be in and out of the UBND office in 10 minutes.

Have him do the document in 3 originals: one for him to keep, one to send to the US to you, and one for your wife because she'll have to produce the original when she goes to the interview.

I work as a volunteer at a non-profit that helps folks from VN. 90% of our caseload consists of people who want to do family reunification so I know this stuff intimately. Some of the lawyers and "consultants" who handle this stuff are so incompetent it's laughable. And they charge thousands of dollars for stuff you can easily handle yourself.

P.S.: in case you're not Vietnamese or are not familiar with Vietnamese acronyms:

UBND= The People's Committee, the local government office that handles everything administrative, especially taking bribes,

CMND= National ID card.

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

2 minutes ago, Stein said:

Neither has had contact for 11 years.  It was very rural Vietnam so he could be unreachable. 

Well, if he cannot be reached, there is nothing you can do. Your wife will probably have to write some sort of affidavits attesting to that facts. I am sure it is not the first time or the last this happens. 

But if he can be located, I think you have to make an effort to locate him and have him sign that paper. That's the cleanest way. All the stuff about the UBND, that's just their version of a notary public. 

[JasonGG 280]

We had the same issue when applying for a K1 and K2.  The father is not listed on my step daughter's birth certificate and he was out of the picture before she was born.  We did not list the father on any documents.  Consulate asked about it and my wife simply stated that the father was gone before her daughter was born and has never met her and he is not listed in any paperwork. That was all they needed to know.  Our understanding is that in Vietnam, you will need to provide a notarized statement giving the child his permission to immigrate if the father is listed in paperwork. - Jason

[Stein 276]

He is not listed anywhere on any paperwork.  Not on birth certificate and they were never married.  We are going to list his name on the i-130 since she does know who the father is and I do not want a material error on the application but beyond that we are going to try to go with JasonGG's plan.  Hopefully the worst that could happen is they have an RFE and another interview if they push for a signed affidavit from father, if we can even find him.