Separated parents, one emigrating
 

Hi, I’m wanting some advice please.. I’ve been desperate to migrate to Australia since being a little girl and am now a qualified teacher and (🤞) on the skills list. I know I have to complete a year teaching in the UK first before I can migrate and that’s fine but by main concern is how to go about applying to bring my children with me. I have 3 children - my 2 eldest don’t have contact with their dad (but he is named on their birth certificates so also theoretically has parental responsibility) but my youngest does see his dad regularly and I know his dad would object to me wanting to take him.
Obviously, I will not be going anywhere without my children so I’m curious as to how the process works (applying to the court, etc). Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you.

Re: Separated parents, one emigrating
 

I wouldnt bank on getting a visa being a teacher - what level? Did you do a 4 year degree? It might be a moot point. If your child has a close contact with his dad then you might want to think about leaving him with his dad if dad is going to disagree with you taking him to what could be an uncertain future (not easy to get into permanent teaching in Aus in places where people actually want to live. It'd be hard to justify a better life for the child given the uncertainty you will face employment wise). Otherwise, yes a court procedure with you having to justify why it would be a better move for the child and how you are going to ensure that he maintains contact with his dad - it will be expensive sending him home every year which will be hard on a new teacher's salary.

Re: Separated parents, one emigrating
 

If the dad would object to you preventing him from seeing his child then what difference is court going to make? A court is hardly going to allow you to stop your child seeing their father and vice versa.

And if you went on the run, Britain and Australia are both signed up to the Hague Convention on child abduction.

Wow. No wonder there are so many of these fathers rights groups out there.

Re: Separated parents, one emigrating
 

The last thing I want is to take him away from his dad but I have 4 of us to think about and I just want to give my kids the best life possible. I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of going on the run and, from what I’ve read, I wouldn’t need to, as the court grants these kind of orders all the time - with access/visiting built in to it, ie I would return with my child so he could spend time with dad and dad would come to visit, etc.
Not that I have to justify anything but I’ve been planning this for years and dad was part of it. He left so tell me why should that stop me? There’s always two sides to a story.

Re: Separated parents, one emigrating
 

You did say the dad wouldn't go for this idea and you did ask about how you may tackle this with the courts. You are right, you don't have to justify it but if you are asking how to tackle this with the courts then you will need an argument. Not sure "planning this for years" would be an acceptable reason why a child could be separated by country from the father.

Re: Separated parents, one emigrating
 

You will need a registered migration agent and a solicitor and potentially some deep pockets to pay for a expensive court battle

Re: Separated parents, one emigrating
 

IMO this is likely to turn into a "deep pockets" case, with the parent who is prepared to spend the most on lawyers fees and court costs likely to prevail, and certainly the OP can't start down this road with the assumption that the court is automatically going to decide in her favour, especially as the doesn't appear to be any compelling reason for her to relocate to the other side of the world, other than she just feels like it.

Also the OP might get an ugly shock over her assumption about the father of her other children - even fathers who have little or even no contact with their children still have rights under the law, and so she should either expect to have to try to contact their father and obtain written approval from him, or she will also need a court order for those children. In other words, just declaring that the children's father is "out of the picture" does not give her unrestricted rights to remove them from the UK. She will probably have to provide such evidence in order to get a visa for them anyway, but hypothetically if she manages to get a visa without approval from her children's father there is the possibility that, if the father finds out, he could complain to the court in the UK and obtain an order that the children have been abducted. And because Australia is a signatory to the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, the Australian courts would be required to return the children to the UK for a court hearing, and there is almost no possibility to object to the children being returned even if their father's request has little apparent validity.

Re: Separated parents, one emigrating
 

No, of course you dont have to justify your reasons but I am not sure it is going to be the plain sailing you think it will be - yes, courts grant orders but generally the move will have been proved to be a beneficial one and I think you may stumble at that. You will have to justify why taking a child to an uncertain future on the other side of the world just because you may have been planning it for years is going to be better than leaving the child where he has the loving relationship and stability with his dad. I've worked in education - what you earn is barely going to scratch the surface let alone allow you/him to make an annual visit home to see dad (which will have to be at Christmas every time you visit because you wont get leave during term time) - or for you to pay for dad to visit him for that matter. And that is IF you can get a permanent job at all. Unless you are secondary Maths/Science you may well struggle for a long time to get a sniff of anything permanent and even then it may not be where most English migrants would consider to be the Aussie dream - in fact very dubiously a "better" life for a child. You will have to be very specific about what will constitute "better" - being away from extended family, as well as dad, could be construed as a bit of a barrier. Being with a single mum in a foreign country with no support could be a bit of a barrier. Being with a single mum who could struggle to find permanency in her profession could equally be a bit of a barrier.
My original question remains though, are you sure that you will get a visa in the first instance? Teachers are ten a penny in Australia and especially in times of recession, people who may have left the system try to get back into a recession proof occupation and once trained teachers start banging on the doors again. Many, especially primary, teachers cant even score their first job and end up doing something else.
As has been said, I think you will be up for a very expensive court case and I am not sure that "having a dream" is grounds enough to be granted leave to remove a child if the other parent says no. It is a real shame that you and his dad couldnt have done this together but, even so, you may well have been faced with a court case from the father of your other children, present or not.