Child from previous - to include or not?
 

My daughter (12) from previous marriage lives with my ex-wife, and I still have regular contact with her. I foresee problems with getting my ex to agree to including my daughter (who has been with me to Oz twice already), in the application. She reckons shes not old enough to decide for herself as 'she's still a young child'.
My question is if I didn't include her, how difficult would it be if my daughter wanted to join me in Oz in say, 3-4 years time? Would it be a fairly simple process to sponsor her before she was 18 to come and join me if she so wishes, and would there be problems regarding the custody issue?

Re: Child from previous - to include or not?
 

1. If the daughter does a medical now (which is necessary even if she's not included on the application) then she can be sponsored for a child visa later on, while she's under 18.

2. Child visas are fairly simple subject to point 1, the child being under 18, and not engaged/married/de-facto. I suggest you look at the information on the DIMIA website.

3. Her mother's consent would still be needed for a child visa later on, although it's a grey area whether this is needed under UK law once she turns 16.

By the way:
a. her having a medical now does not mean her mother is implicitly consenting to migration
b. even if she visits you in Australia, that again does not mean she can stay without her mother's ok.

Some people in this situation decide quite amicably to let the child migrate to Australia aged 16 or so to join the other parent, in order to get the benefit of Australian citizenship. Once child is an adult, sponsorship gets a lot harder.

Jeremy