[doctor]

I have a step son. My wife does not have any court papers that show that she has the full custody of her son. As such he lives with us and we take care and support him 100%. The residence guide shows that we have to provide legal documents that my wife has custody over her son. Did anyone face similar situation and if so how did you proceed?

[veronica]

there have been several threads on this subject. If you type custody, or child custody in the forum search above, you will find a bit of other peoples stories.

[Moorf]

Helpful Thread -------> http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2161&highlight=custody

:nice1

[Charlosparky]

Hi there, hope this helps :confused:

My wife was married to my eldest stepson's father when he was born, and after phoning our case officer (who is REALLY helpful by the way :nice1 ), she said we needed a letter from his father allowing him to relocate to NZ. She explained this does not mean the giving up of visiting rights by the father- just an acceptance of Aaron's new location outside the UK. In the case of my youngest stepson Jake, who was born from my wife's later unmarried relationship, my wife simply had to have a Statutory Declaration drawn up by our solicitor stating that she knew of no outstanding custody or parental agreements with the father (who ran once she became pregnant!).

Feeling left out, i was gonna get my mum to declare her custody over mr but i'm 37 next month :laugh

hope that helps

[doctor]

thanks for all the information.
I did not know about this. I sent an e-mail to NZIS regarding this custody question. They sent me a response which implied that I have to submit some kind of legal documents. Without knowing what to do (as well as the medicals were about to expire), I sent in my ITA. I did not include my step son on that.
My wife was never married and as such never divorced. We can probably get a notarized statement from our son's father that he can be relocated to NZ.

However, I submitted my ITA without including my step son. It's been 26 days I submitted the ITA. What should I do right now?. Should I wait until a case officer has been assigned and discuss the matter with the case officer or should I send child supplement form/son's medicals etc now.
Please advise me,

[veronica]

My own feelings would be to do everything. especially get in touch with NZIS and talk to them., I wouldn't say force the issues but I wouldn't let things slide if you don't get definate answers from them.

[Charlosparky]

i have found our covering letter that came with our ITA at last :laugh . the Visa officer sent us this e-mail re- our son from my wife's previous (unmarried) relationship
"provide a Stautory Declaration stating that there are no outstanding custody orders or parental agreements in relation to the child, along with a letter from your solicitor stating this information is correct." in other words take the e-mail to your solicitor (like we did) and then let them type out a declaration so you "hereby declare" it and sign it and send it with a letter from the solicitor explaining what it is :nice1 . We even stated that we couldn't contact the father (which is true- but who would know anyway?) and the solicitor said there is no need (convenient eh? ;) )

I'd tell NZIS the delay/late inclusion is because you were trying to contact the father but now realise you dont have to- as long as you appear genuine i think they are ok back (i hope- my ITA not in yet.)

[Nicola]

My advice would be to send in your stepsons application. That is what we did, they then came back to us and told us to get a notarised letter from my ex saying that he was OK with the kids moving. This took quite a time to get but our case officer was brill with all this. Even though my ex managed to mess it up and send in the letter incorrectly 3 times and the whole thing took about 12 weeks I think.

Good luck it is all worth it in the end.

[mechidna]

I had a problem of sorts with this as well. I've never been married and have absolute sole custody of my child. Her "father's" name is not even on the birth certificate. That should speak volumes!

In the end, I went to the registrar's office. I had both our passports and birth certificates stamped and completed a statutory declaration, also stamped. Total cost...$0 NZ.

Although my case worker is still doing October's applications, he seemed okay with what I had done. He also mentioned that was the only concern he had with my entire file.

Here's hoping.

Michele

[doctor]

I sent an e-mail to NZIS explaining the situation. I got a reply from NZIS skilled migrant team (Juscinta Grace). It said "this week we will mail you information to include your son on the application".

[dawn]

My situation is very similar to yours. All I sent was a letter from my ex:

I am the natural father of Name (DOB) & Name (DOB) of Address. I have joint-custody of the afore-mentioned children, with their mother, Name.

I hereby give my consent, authority and support to my ex-wife (Name) and her husband (Christopher Hall) in their request to take the children to live in New Zealand. I also support them in their immigration application.

In the event of the application being successful, I will be happy to give my approval. Should you require further information or have any questions, please contact me on +44 1111 111111.

Yours Faithfully


Name





Witnessed by



Solicitors Name

They phoned my ex yesterday to confirm the details in the letter and asked him a few questions, basically, how do you feel about your kids being on the other side of the world.

I put a note in my covering letter explaining that there are no legal proceedings outstanding in relation to the chldren and that we'd never had custody decided "legally". Seems they are happy to accept this type of letter in lieu of legal documents.

Good luck.

Dawn

[Charlosparky]

In the end, I went to the registrar's office. I had both our passports and birth certificates stamped and completed a statutory declaration, also stamped. Total cost...$0 NZ.


The cost of a Statutory Declaration at solicitors here in Nottingham (uk) varied from £45 to £87!!! :eek: We paid £45 for the first one, then i cunningly copied the format and typed my own for the second one, just changing the relevent details, and it cost just £5 to turn up and declare it in front of the solicitor. If anyone wants to do the same then PM me i will send you the format i used :nice1