The BBs

Hi s-jmelbournewannabe,

We understand now that it does appear to be the case, which would be heavenly news for us. We received some information from another kind member stating the same thing so we feel a bit more relaxed about our situation now.

This member has very kindly offered to download the relevant official paper work for us so we are now waiting to receive them. As soon as we do, we will get in touch with our solicitors and go from there.

We never wished for this situation to get out of hand, as far as my daughter’s bio father is concerned, but he has brought this situation upon himself by throwing his weight about as soon as he realized that he had a bit of “power” and it would be superb to be able to put him in his place!

When this is all over and done with we will do our best to rekindle their relationship if my daughter is still interested. She has changed her attitude towards him immensely throughout this mess and it wouldn’t surprise us if she decided not to have anything to do with him again! Not sure that ultimately is the best thing but we have to respect her views and wishes.

Our only concern now is that if we go for this without his consent that he will apply for PR through the courts and in the mean time we will be held back until it is all sorted out! If court proceedings were under way and we got our visa in the mean time, could we immigrate anyway or would we have to stay until it was all over and done with?

We would like to read your discussion in the “Yourrightsdiscussionforum” but we can’t find it! We must be looking for it in the wrong place.

Thanks again S-j for your postings and for all your kind help.

The BBs

JAJ

The information is contained in Schedule 4 to the Migration Regulations, Public Interest Criteria 4015-4018.

The BBs

Hi JAJ,

Thanks very much for your feedback. We have been extremely lucky in getting some superb help from welshtony regards this matter so I think we might now be home and dry! At least, here’s hoping!

Thanks again for all your kind help and attention.

The BBs

andy170773

hi
dont know if this will help, my eldest child is from a previous relationship, slightly different situation as she has not seen her bio dad since she was 3, now 9. he is named on the birth certificate though and we did get small (minute) csa payments up untill we left uk. he didnt have parental responsibility due to laws hadnt been shanged when she was born and we were never married or lived together. we went through an agent for migration and they told us constantly we needed court orders allowing us to take her out of the country, could find an order that covered our situation, ended up going to a magistrate who told us there was no specific order they could give, and they just wrote a great little letter stating that i had full parental resposibility and wished us a good life in oz!!! had this letter certified and wrote a statutory dec myself stating the same pretty much and sent it all off to agent, we were told when we got a c.o. they would probably get in touch to ask more questions/request more documents, but never heard a thing from them till visa was granted!! hope all goes well for you
jenny

The BBs

Hi Jenny,

You know, I am really overwhelmed by the response we’ve had to our original posting and simply cannot believe everyone’s generosity. Thank you so much for your posting which although may appear only slightly different from ours in as much as my daughter’s father still sees her occasionally, I think will end up going a similar route.

We have had sterling advice from another site member, basically stating exactly the same as you just have and we have in fact now instructed our agents that we will be proceeding with our application at full speed so to get their skates on!

We have given up asking the father for his Sta. Dec. as the more we ask him for it the more he feels full of self importance and just carries on ignoring our requests anyway, so going it the advised route we hope to be able to put him in his place!

I also NOW understand what is generally meant about the court order as my daughter’s father doesn’t have PR only my wife does and myself in a few days time, so how can we apply for a court order for something we already have?

Although the writing of our own Stat. Dec. stating our position has not been suggested to us thus far, perhaps it might be cautions for us to also write one out and have it certified by our solicitors just in case, so good point there as well Jenny, cheers!

Our agents have been quite emphatic about the Stat. Dec. from our daughter’s father which I have found a little frustrating particularly as the information they emailed us stating this request, appears to apply purely for married couples who split up and not to my wife’s previous situation which is quite different!

Anyway, I hope that tomorrow will bring better news as I have had enough for today!

Thank you once again for your earlier posting Jenny and hope to catch up with you sometime later, hopefully with some good news!

All the best to you all,

The BBs

sals

I have been following your thread and I'm glad to hear things are working out for you. I just wanted to wish you good luck and fingers crossed, I'm sure it will all work out in the end. I am a single parent, have been forever and am lucky that as my son's father was never on the birth certificate and we were never married and he was born in 1990 he has absolutely no say! although I have also been quite lucky that once my son told him we were going and he was happy my son was agreeing to this on his own and unpressured he has been fine with him about it, sad but supportive and we told him and his family they can all visit whenever they want. I just wanted to say that I think the problem's you're having with the agent demanding the stat dec from your child's bio father is because they just don't understand the UK law with regards to parental rights and responsibilty. If your wife has sole parental responsibility no one else can decide where your child lives except her and anyone else's objections are mute unless they have court order. So just go for it and don't let anyone put you off especially the "bio" father who's now just enjoying his moment of "power" over you, he'll no doubt back down if he has to go to court and especially if he thinks it's going to cost him financially. If he had any sense he would explain to your daughter that although he'll be upset and miss her if that's what she wants he'll support her and stay in touch and visit one another as often as possible. That would be the "fatherly" thing to do.
Again good luck I'll be thinking of you all. Keep us up to date as things progress

The BBs

Hi Sals,

I wish it was that simple! We have received further communication today from both our solicitors and immigration agents which have once again thrown other spanners in the works.

It isn’t so much that our daughter’s father cannot consent to her going as in reality we don’t think he would stand a chance of stopping her, it’s what the C.O. in Australia will accept as evidence and how much trouble our daughter’s father is likely to cause us in the mean time!

We can get a letter from our solicitor stating our case very clearly! The problem could or may arise if her father contests her immigration at any point throughout our application which would delay our case and cost shed loads of cash potentially to both parties! The visa delay could eventually cost us the chances of going to Australia in the first place.

He could successfully get PR for our daughter regardless of whether we consent to it or not (quicker if we consent) and then legally put us all through the courts anyway. Either way we would have to stay, put our application on hold and deal with this until it was successfully sorted out. This would be to satisfy the Immigration Department requirements in Australia. It would be unnecessary but he has that power to do it, regardless of the costs!

We could initiate court proceedings for a “Special Order” allowing our daughter to be removed from her current jurisdiction, which again we are confident we would get, but her bio father would then be immediately notified of our intentions through the courts which may enrage him and then court proceedings would ensue from his side erasing any possibility of getting this done amicably! If that is an option of course! We just don’t know!

We are in an unenviable position because if we go the court route, yes we should get the result we want but we would have opened up a can of worms which will cost us all shed loads of cash and create bad feelings to all concerned but potentially will speed up the process. If we try and do it amicably he may agree and give us consent within a few days or weeks although he is currently asking us very personal questions which have never had anything to do with him before and I am seething at having to reply to him in the first place! He may decide to be a cantankerous cuss and NOT write the Stat. Dec. because he feels that the dimensions of the house we propose to buy in Australia aren’t suitable for our daughter, and then it’s back to the courts anyway!

We have written him a “nice” letter today and now we have to wait for his reply. I think he will either object to some of our points or ask for something else in return before signing the paper work which may or may not be reasonable, either way I don’t think he will just sign it!

We will keep you posted with developments and they occur. Let’s hope this goes the easy route!

All the best Sals and thank you for your comments and postings on this matter.

The BBs.

JAJ

Are you using an agent? Can't your agent help to explain the policy underlying the law that has already been given to you?


Bottom line is that he has no rights unless he seeks and is granted a parental responsibility order. A solicitor familiar with the Children Act should be able to tell you whether the courts would grant this order or not.

I presume your solicitor is experienced in family law. If not, you may need to find another one.



Don't miss any application deadline for this reason. Child custody requirements must be satisfied at date of visa decision - not application.

The BBs

Hi JAJ,

Regards your first point: Yes, our agents are fully aware of the facts as previously stated, but that is not what they are worried about!

They are worried that if we go for it with just a solicitor’s letter and her father contests it, that he WILL get PR and then start court proceedings anyway which will cost everyone shed loads of cash to resolve! There is no doubt about it that the only people who will gain from this will be the solicitors and not us!!! Better (if doable) to try and get him to write the Stat. Dec. and be done with it.

The possibility, of course, still stands that he may decide not to write the Stat. Dec. in which case all we can do is to proceed with the courts for a “Special Order” to remove her from her jurisdiction which he may or may not contest! If doesn’t, halleluiah, if he does then it’s a costly court case for all of us! We would like to give him the chance to “prove” his worth before putting us all through the mill!

Regards your second point: Under UK law, our daughter’s father “will” get PR if he applies for it through the courts. The chances of him applying and not getting it are basically zero! The courts in the UK are becoming more and more father “friendly” which in some cases is good but in others can be a positive pain in the rectum!

In fact, if he applies for PR, our solicitor suggested that we don’t contest it as it will be pointless! Just to reiterate, he doesn’t get PR automatically because of when our daughter was born and the fact that my wife and he weren’t married or living with each other at time of our daughter’s birth, but he will get PR through the courts almost 100% sure of that, if he applies!

Regards you third point: Yes, again, according to our agents it would appear that you are absolutely right but the possibility still exists that the courts could see things in his favor which may exclude us all from going! Who knows!

Best regards

The BBs.

smoggieswilltravel

Hi

I don't to appear to be hyjacking this thread but there seem to be so many very knowledgable people helping.

I'll try to be quick and concise.

I have a 13 yr old daughter (born 1993) in Austria. Was married to the father (an Austrian) at the time but due to reasons best not entered into the marriage disintergrated while I was pregnant. The divorce was in Austria where he has continued to live. The divorce gives me total parental responsibility over her welfare, legal and living arrangements. He has had no contact at all with her since birth only seeing once when she was 6 months old at the divorce. He does not pay any maintenance.

I married when she was 4 and she had a little sister. We have been trying to get in touch with the birth father for over a year and get nothing back, Zip. Its as if he's dead, although I know he not.

Please could anyone advise if a Sat Dec from myself and certified by a solicitor would be enough for the visa. We are initially going over on a Temp 457 visa, which we need to get the paper work in for smartish. We will the go for PR but by then she should be adopted as this is going through the system but we are awaiting the final court dates (possibly too slow for the 457 visa application).

Any help on this would be most appreciated, its a constant worry. What do you do when you just can't find the Birth Father?

sals

I would suggest that a stat dec and evidence that you have tried and failed to find the birth father will cover it along with evidence to show you have sole PR. There are a few threads saying this is what others have done and they got their visa's. If you can't find the bio father, you can't find him! As long as you've tried and have some proof to show you've tried there's nothing more you can do. Get the solicitor to verify this
Good luck

smoggieswilltravel

Thanks Sals

That's so what I was hoping to hear. I think many of us would go insane chasing information and following wrong advise if it were not for people sharing on this site.

Thanks again

Gillygirl

Hi
I have recently just been to a solicitor for the same reason regarding my son who is 15.
My solicitor said that as we were never married etc then father has no PR.
I asked what if he now decides to claim PR - the solicitor told me that the courts would look at why he has only decided to claim PR at that point in time, what his motives are and if it looks as though he is doing it solely to spoil your plans this would go against him.


G x

JAJ

If your son is 15, then you should bear in mind that once he turns 16, the courts would be unlikely to issue any kind of residence order, even if another parent had parental responsibility.

Generally in England and Wales, 16 and 17 year olds are free to live with whichever parent they choose (assuming that parent will have them). Discuss further with your solicitor.

quercus

[QUOTE=s-jmelbournewannabe;4798313] Hi S-J. I have a custody case coming up myself. My daughters father has objected to her going, (even though he is out there himself). Do you mind me asking how it was established what your daughter thought. Did she attend the hearing with you, or write a letter? My daughter said she will write a letter to the court stating that she wants to go, but Im wondering if that will that be enough?

Thanks, Q