Hi all
I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation. Myself, husband, daughter and my son from a previous relationship have our application in for Canada. We have had our medicals and now have received a letter requesting further information in the form of proof of custody or adoption for my son. My son is 24 years old, he was 21 when we applied for emmigration, and is therefore an adult and does not need his parents consent to leave the country, as far as I am aware. My son's father left us when he was 2yrs old and we have had no contact since, not even child support. This was entirely his choice and we have no idea where he is or the desire to know. My husband has brought him up from the age of 9 yrs old as his own, but never adopted him, although we did see a solicitor to have his surname legally changed to my husbands. I'm not sure what to do now and wondered if anyone has had a similar experience.

Ahhh the crazy world of CIC. There is no legal document that can assist you. I am sure CIC have just hit F1 button on their computer and it has spurted out such nonsense. I would suggest writing a cover letter and explaining to him that your son, being a legal adult, can consent to live anywhere he wants.

Just a thought - which one of you is main applicant? If it is your husband, you may need to look at whether your son fulfills the necessary requirements to be considered a dependant. I haven't looked at these recently so don't know.

1. Does he live with you?
2. Assuming he does, he should be able to write a letter as a consenting adult. Notarized copy of birth certificate might help validate his right to do so.

We sent a statement of fact from our solicitor here in Canada for my teen daughter, that sufficed for us.

He is an adult - he can live where ever he chooses.

CIC at its worst

How someone could even question the right of a 24 year old to make life choices is somewhat unclear ... not something that I've ever heard of happening in Australia.

They are going to Canada not Australia

I would hope it's an oversight that they have been asked to provide the information.

Sadly, I've seen AC respond to this exact thing many times over the years.

It must be something peculiarly Canadian that leads to questions like this being asked. I've never heard of any country even thinking about custody over a 24 year old.

Thanks everyone for your replies. Think the best thing is to discuss with a solicitor and have them draft up a letter as suggested. It's just all very frustrating, we thought after the medicals we were almost at the finish line. It's been such a long process since 2006.My husband even took a job in Canada as he was told this would make the process quicker. That was almost two years ago, we have seen him for only 12 weeks in that time but it hasn't made any difference. In fact I think it has had the opposite effect. It frustrates me when we have shown huge committment and sacrifice to live in Canada and still have all these problems. I have known people who sail through the process relatively quickly and they are not even 100% sure the want to live there anyway. Lets hope this recent setback is just a blip and things will move forward quickly.

I can't see what letter a solicitor could draft for you (written as a former English solicitor). Your son is not a child, unless he has some form of incapacity, no other regular person can compel him to live anywhere.

That sounds like a plan to me, despite your sons age they have asked for a letter, so best to provide something I suppose, it worked for our minor and you would have thought that would have been more complicated. It does sound as though your immigration journey has been really tough, I hope it all works out soon (my hubby getting a job didn't speed up our PR application either, it's really annoying to hear people getting PR in a matter of months because they have got a job). Good luck!

If I was the son I'd write a letter in a big red 144pt font that says "I AM 24 YEARS OLD FFS!!!"

I don't know what a letter can say other than to point out that in the United Kingdom, child custody laws generally do not apply after age 16 and definitively not after age 18.

(and that is not exactly out of line with international practice).