janeth8711

My husband a USC and myself a UKC and our son went to the embassy ,sat Monday to file our sons birth abroad/passport. After filing his application and waiting 5 hours we were told he couldn't get it because his birth certificate wasn't enough proof that he's my husbands son!
I have been married before and have 2 daughters with my ex husband. But the reason they gave me is that I was still legally married to my ex at the time of my sons birth. I explained that I was not in contact with my ex and he has no contact with his children, and the reason the divorce took so long is we couldn't find him. We've been given 90 days to find letters with the same address on to prove we were living together at the time of our sons conception?. Or we can have a DNA test.
This wasn't what we expected and certainly wasn't told this could be a problem.also if we have the DNA test we have to travel back to London to have it done.
Has anyone else been in this situation as it really has set us back. We are planning on moving to the US and have been told if we can't prove he's my husbands son we can't file a I-130 as he has a claim to US citizenship.

jeffreyhy

You might want to consult with a US immigration lawyer and a British solicitor (right term?) on this. Hopefully a DNA test will be all that's required, but if that is not enough things could be quite messy.

Family law in the USA is a state function. In many states, the law assumes the father to be the husband even if he is not. (I had a problem with this once upon a time when trying to adopt - we needed the permission of the birth mother's husband even though he was not the child's father.) At the federal level I've no idea how this is looked at when, as in your case, there is no state law to go by. It appears that perhaps the US Immigration folks also have little idea but it appears that they may be thinking along the same lines as what applied in my case. You may need the appropriate lawyers to tell them what the applicable law is.

Regards, JEff

jeffreyhy

Have you got one or the other part of this backwards? If you can prove he's you husband's son you can't file an I-130 because he has a claim to US citizenship, or conversely, if you can't prove he's your husband's sone you must file an I-130 because he does not have a claim to US citizenship.

Regards, JEff

janeth8711

Thank you for your reply, the lady at immigration told us because we have applied for his birth abroad/passport even if it's refused, we cant file the i-130. The only way to prove is a DNA test which just means more traveling/ overnight stay etc which we haven't budgeted for.
Are you also suggesting that a DNA test may not be proof enough for the embassy ?

Thanks janeth

Bob

If you have proof the son is from the USC, he's a USC too, in most probability, so he wouldn't need a visa.

If he's having problems getting a US passport, you probably really want to speak to a US immigration lawyer.

jeffreyhy

I'd ask a US immigration attorney what the law allows your husband to do or not do. No. I'm not a US immigration attorney, I don't know what the law requires a consular officer to do in this case. Regards, JEff