Bio-dad of Wife's Daughter - permission?

[Stein 260]

What, if anything, is needed for approval for my wife's daughter to come to the US with regard to permission from the bio-dad?  They were never married and the section on the birth certificate for "father" is blank.  Only my wife's name is listed.  Wife and daughter has not seen bio-dad for more than 10 years.  My wife doesn't even know how to contact him.

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

10 minutes ago, Stein said:

What, if anything, is needed for approval for my wife's daughter to come to the US with regard to permission from the bio-dad?  They were never married and the section on the birth certificate for "father" is blank.  Only my wife's name is listed.  Wife and daughter has not seen bio-dad for more than 10 years.  My wife doesn't even know how to contact him.

If no father is listed then there is no need to contact him at all

[Ryan H 3,790]

What country are your wife and her daughter coming from?  Different countries will have different laws in this regard.

Edited July 8, 2019 by Ryan H

[pushbrk 12,093]

49 minutes ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

If no father is listed then there is no need to contact him at all

Only for the Philippines.  No name on birth certificate does not mean no parental rights EXCEPT in the Philippines and maybe one or two other obscure countries.  None I've heard of.

 

It's also important to enter the father's name where asked, if known.  If NOT KNOWN, whole other can of worms.

[Stein 260]

Sorry, I should have stated.  Wife is from Vietnam.

[Stein 260]

Based on pushbrk's comment above and other searching of old threads here we should list his name as the father even if not on the birth certificate.  That part is understood.  What I need to know now is will we need any permission form signed by him to take her daughter out of Vietnam?  Does he have any parental rights that need to be waived?  If he does need to sign something what happens if we can't find him?

[pushbrk 12,093]

4 hours ago, Stein said:

Based on pushbrk's comment above and other searching of old threads here we should list his name as the father even if not on the birth certificate.  That part is understood.  What I need to know now is will we need any permission form signed by him to take her daughter out of Vietnam?  Does he have any parental rights that need to be waived?  If he does need to sign something what happens if we can't find him?

It's not a form, but a letter or affidavit.  Yes, you will need either such a letter or court ordered full custody.  If the court document is not in English, it needs to be translated.  It's also possible you will need this to get the child a passport.  If the child already has a passport, perhaps what was used to obtain that will be sufficient.  Ultimately, you need a Vietnam specific answer based on specific circumstances.

[Stein 260]

My wife just got her daughter a passport last week.  When she went to the office they asked about the father's name being blank on the application.  She just told them that he's never been in the picture and they just said "OK " and issued the passport.  It should arrive this week. 

 

The letter is proving to be a challenge.  She doesn't know how to contact him, doesn't know how she can even get the letter chopped by the government as nobody has any knowledge of him being the father so how would they be able to approve that.  Since there is no record at all of the thater she literally could have any man of the correct age sign a letter and nobody could prove or disprove that it was him or not.  Of course we would never do that but you could see how easy it would be to do.

 

On the VIetnam regional forum another poster had the exact same situation.  They just went to the interview and the interviewer asked about the missing name for the father and they also said the same thing - he's never been in the picture - and they were approved so I think we are going to at least try to go that route.  He isn't listed anywhere on anything at all with the Vietnam government.  That said we are going to list his name on the I-130.  If they don't approve her wouldn't it likely just be an RFE and another interview?

Edited July 9, 2019 by Stein

[Stein 260]

After reviewing again there isn't anywhere to even list the father of a stepchild on the I-130.   I was confusing it with the I-130a which does as the parents of the spouse.  Juggling back and forth on the forms lead to the error.