Need help please.I"m the step parent of a 13 yo Filipina girl

[kvht 2]

Her mom has been my wife here for 7 years as of July, 2023. My wife has been a naturalized citizen for over 3 years now. I'm a born US citizen, 100% VA disabled. My wife's an LPN for the Army., civilian employee. She got her daughger here  6 months ago and wants to get a US passport for the kid. The kid's dad is a doper-flake in Manila and cant be found to sign a consent form to let our daughter have a US passport. The government in Phills is a disaster.  I've got a passport form  DS5525- (08-2016,) that has some outlines for how we can claim that we made various attempts to contact the guy and get his consent, My wife claims that HE doesn't know where he is most of the time. They were never married. After the first year of the kid's life, he just abandoned them. So is there some way that I can bypass trying to get a court order out of some Philippine court, which might well take years? Thanks.

Edited May 5, 2023 by kvht

[Family 3,859]

Give it your best shot and show proof of attempting contact ( mail, phone, email , social media..attempt written correspondence with any of his extended family..) Try presenting evidence at an in person appointment..make sure you searched Facebook, cause they do.

or

Offer $300 ( or,,,pick a sum) Reward to any of deadbeat dad’s family or friends if they get him to sign off 

or 

Wait til she is 16 and she only needs one parent to ok it

 

 

 

 

[Ontarkie 14,174]

~~Moved to the PI forum, from General Immigration - as the topic of custody is unique for this country.~~

 

I would try this way first.

I remember years ago seeing other members with similar situation printing out the laws regarding single mothers with sole custody. They used that to send it in with the passport paperwork. I think one member took it one step further and had a lawyer in the US with PI knowledge right up a letter with the law to send in. It seem to work for those that I remember.  

 

I did have to go the route for the youngest of mine. I wrote up a detail letter of his how I haven't had any contact since date. Told that I tried his mother's phone and never got an answer. She won't answer long distance numbers. Talk to sister in law and she had no clue where he was. She hasn't seen or heard from him in years. That I looked him up on FB and could not find any trace on FB. How I tried his best friend and he had not heard from him in a long time either. I explained in my application that I doubt they would lie about his location but it was totally possible. That the last place he lived that I knew about was 4 years prior to the application. That he was only renting a room there so he did not have his own phone number so it was possible that message I left on the machine never reached him or were ignored. Also possible he no longer lived there. 

 

So basically I wrote up everything I could think about that I tried to find him. I was able to get the passport after that with no extra calls/letters. 

[kvht 2]

thank you, folks. I'll give all of these methods a whirl.

[IWander 588]

10 hours ago, kvht said:

Her mom has been my wife here for 7 years as of July, 2023. My wife has been a naturalized citizen for over 3 years now. I'm a born US citizen, 100% VA disabled. My wife's an LPN for the Army., civilian employee. She got her daughger here  6 months ago and wants to get a US passport for the kid. The kid's dad is a doper-flake in Manila and cant be found to sign a consent form to let our daughter have a US passport. The government in Phills is a disaster.  I've got a passport form  DS5525- (08-2016,) that has some outlines for how we can claim that we made various attempts to contact the guy and get his consent, My wife claims that HE doesn't know where he is most of the time. They were never married. After the first year of the kid's life, he just abandoned them. So is there some way that I can bypass trying to get a court order out of some Philippine court, which might well take years? Thanks.

If they were never married the father has no parental rights.  His permission should not be required 

[kvht 2]

I dont think that he should have any, but the US passport people are holding up the kid's application until something is resolved about the kid's dad

[Family 3,859]

31 minutes ago, kvht said:

I dont think that he should have any, but the US passport people are holding up the kid's application until something is resolved about the kid's dad

This is because other parent is listed on the birth certificate and applies to all married or unmarried. 

 

[top_secret 2,332]

This is a common problem but I see it as a bureaucratic problem rather than a legal problem.  The laws of both the Philippines and the US are pretty well defined.  According to Philippine law the mother has absolute sole custody if the parents were unmarried.  According to American law, the US would accept Philippine law as having jurisdiction and having already legally settled the issue of absolute sole custody long before the child ever even came here.  Therefore, since the mother has absolute sole custody according to the Philippines and according to the US, there should be no problem getting a passport for the kid. The problem then becomes bureaucratic.  Such as in,,,,, good luck explaining all that to the clerk at the passport office.

 

What Ontarkie suggested is probably the best first approach.  Attempt to document and educate the clerk at the passport office what the actual real laws are.  You are legally correct and the passport office is legally incorrect.  It's worked before.

 

One alternate idea I had, although I have never heard of anyone doing such for this reason, is if mom and the kid are ever visiting the Philippines on vacation, apply for the kids passport at US Embassy Manila.  USEM totally understands Philippine custody law and I'm quite certain they wouldn't give an applicant any grief over custody law misunderstandings.

[kvht 2]

thank you. We'll see what can be done.

[kvht 2]

by which time I have to have complied with the requirements. ? In my other post, I said that i"m the step parent of my wife's Pinay Daughter and the kid's father cant be contacted. How much time do I have before i have to cough up another application fee? Thanks.

[Ryan H 3,810]

~~~Post merged with existing thread~~~

 

1 hour ago, kvht said:

by which time I have to have complied with the requirements. ? In my other post, I said that i"m the step parent of my wife's Pinay Daughter and the kid's father cant be contacted. How much time do I have before i have to cough up another application fee? Thanks.