Japinky

Hi,
I wondered if it might be possible to get advice on a matter regarding Immigration and children involved in relocation

I have a ten year old son.

His Father and I were never married,though of course.. he is listed on the Birth certificate.

The arrangements we have for access with my ex are informal, made between ourselves at the time we parted ways.

We have been separated for over five years.

There has been no court order applied for in favour of my ex for Joint Parental custody.

My son sees his Father one afternoon over a weekend but spends each weekend with his Parental grandparents

I met my fiance last year and he now wants to petition on K1 visa.I have approached the situation gently with my son to ask of his wishes.
My son wishes to relocate with me to the States if our application is accepted .
I need to broach this topic with my ex partner.. as soon as possible, to make him aware of my plans.

I hope with some sensitivity we can make an arrangement that will be sensitive to everybody's needs..Trips back home,Skype,calling etc..Whatever it takes to accommodate .

If my sons father agrees.. and is in favour...what documentation of his permission do I need?
I am sure there must be somebody else within the forum who has had to deal with this issue?
I would very much appreciate any advice..Both on the legalities and approaching this topic with my ex,,using the utmost in sensitivity

Many thanks in advance

Noorah101

A notarized letter of permission from him should be sufficient. It should be specific in that he agrees for your son to IMMIGRATE to the USA. (i.e., make it clear he understand the child is moving permanently).

Rene

lansbury

I am trying to think back to my days of dealing with child abductions in the UK so I hope I have this date correct. The date is December 1st, 2003. After that date if the father was listed on the birth certificate it gave him full parental rights. Before that date it didn't, there needed to be a separate agreement.

The information you give suggests your son was born before that date, which gives you a greater latitude of what you can and cannot do without the consent of the father, if it comes to that. Contact Reunite http://www.reunite.org they will be up on the current laws and will make sure my memory has the date right. They can explain what you need to do to make sure you comply with UK law.

There are two things to cover. What the US requires you to do to get the visas for you both, and what the UK requires for you to legally remove the child from the jurisdiction of the UK court system. Reunite can help with the latter.

Japinky

Many thanks for the clarification and advice
Yes it was a correct assumption to make regarding the Parental rights issue dates that were stated by Lansbury
Many thanks to you both for advising.
Thankfully relations between myself and the ex are amicable at least
I also have a 16 year old daughter who does not want to move permanently to the Usa as she is studying here and wishes to pursue a career in the armed forces..It's all such a mine field and must be handled with such care
Hopefully it will all be fairly smooth runnings
Thank you very much for the replies