Child custody evidence requirements when filing for K1

[Sarah G 166]

Hi

 

I'm asking this for my sister who is too impatient and lazy, quite frankly, to do her own research. Hopefully I know the situation well enough to answer any questions that may arise here. 

 

So, my sister is in the UK and has a boyfriend in the US. They are considering filing for a fiancé visa. My sister has a 6 year old son. She has full custody of him and he has no contact with his father, my sisters ex husband. Soon to be ex, her divorce should be finalised no later than January. She has been separated for about two and a half years but the ex dragged his heels at every opportunity and the divorce has taken a long time.

 

The court ordered no contact between father and son earlier this year after her ex failed to prove he was clean of drugs and stopped having supervised contact in June. 

 

In order for my sister to come here with her son, she will need either consent from her ex husband or a court order giving her permission to remove the child from his home country to live overseas. 

 

She wants to know if she will need to provide evidence of either the ex's consent or the court order in order to file for K1. She wants to file for both at the same time as both 'should' take roughly the same amount of time to process. She does not want to wait to file K1 if she 'doesn't have to'. 

 

For what it's worth, I have STRONGLY ADVISED her not to file for a K1 if there is even the slightest possibility that she will not be able to use it, but right now she isn't interested in my opinion on that. She is interested in saving time. 

 

So, does she need this evidence to apply for K1? 

 

Also, will the K1 application be adversely affected by a very recent divorce, despite the long separation? 

 

Thank you very much. 

 

 

[Sparkle Sparkle 913]

2 hours ago, Sarah G said:

Hi

 

I'm asking this for my sister who is too impatient and lazy, quite frankly, to do her own research. Hopefully I know the situation well enough to answer any questions that may arise here. 

 

So, my sister is in the UK and has a boyfriend in the US. They are considering filing for a fiancé visa. My sister has a 6 year old son. She has full custody of him and he has no contact with his father, my sisters ex husband. Soon to be ex, her divorce should be finalised no later than January. She has been separated for about two and a half years but the ex dragged his heels at every opportunity and the divorce has taken a long time.

 

The court ordered no contact between father and son earlier this year after her ex failed to prove he was clean of drugs and stopped having supervised contact in June. 

 

In order for my sister to come here with her son, she will need either consent from her ex husband or a court order giving her permission to remove the child from his home country to live overseas. 

 

She wants to know if she will need to provide evidence of either the ex's consent or the court order in order to file for K1. She wants to file for both at the same time as both 'should' take roughly the same amount of time to process. She does not want to wait to file K1 if she 'doesn't have to'. 

 

For what it's worth, I have STRONGLY ADVISED her not to file for a K1 if there is even the slightest possibility that she will not be able to use it, but right now she isn't interested in my opinion on that. She is interested in saving time. 

 

So, does she need this evidence to apply for K1? 

 

Also, will the K1 application be adversely affected by a very recent divorce, despite the long separation? 

 

Thank you very much. 

 

 

So first of all...as of today she is not divorced yet so she does not qualify for K1 until the divorce is finalized. ..In all cases K1 visas allow K2 which is children of K1 to enter the US provided they are included in the petition  (kids born after petition has been filled are allowed too because they are obviously infants). She wont have any problem filling for K1 because she must include her child in  the K1 petition even if the child will not immigrate with her....now at the embassy stage that is were it gets a little difficult as the divorce papers shows who has custody of what and they might ask for consent documents...In all these to have a trouble free process she needs to find a way to seat with her ex and talk sense into him... Consulates are tailored to be country specific and they run checks to make sure you are not leaving any unfinished business ...like court cases ...unpaid dues ...debts etc thats why they need your police report and all these are check during AP.....thats my 10 cents as US is big on Child issues

[aaron2020 11,651]

She will need to have her divorce finalized before she can file the I-129f.  She will need to include her divorce decree.

They are not filing at the same time.  There is only one petition and it will be for your sister.  Your nephew is included as a potential derivative beneficiary but nothing is need about him until months later in the process.  She does not need a consent letter or court order when she files the I-129f.  She would need it at the interview.  

 

Recent divorce shouldn't affect anything.  They understand it can take years for people to divorce and people move on with their lives and relationships.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2019 by aaron2020

[aaron2020 11,651]

39 minutes ago, Sparkle Sparkle said:

So first of all...as of today she is not divorced yet so she does not qualify for K1 until the divorce is finalized. ..In all cases K1 visas allow K2 which is children of K1 to enter the US provided they are included in the petition  (kids born after petition has been filled are allowed too because they are obviously infants). She wont have any problem filling for K1 because she must include her child in  the K1 petition even if the child will not immigrate with her....now at the embassy stage that is were it gets a little difficult as the divorce papers shows who has custody of what and they might ask for consent documents...In all these to have a trouble free process she needs to find a way to seat with her ex and talk sense into him... Consulates are tailored to be country specific and they run checks to make sure you are not leaving any unfinished business ...like court cases ...unpaid dues ...debts etc thats why they need your police report and all these are check during AP.....thats my 10 cents as US is big on Child issues

You mentioned that you want to help.  Sorry, but giving out wrong information does not help people.

 

"They MIGHT ask for consent documents."  - No, they WILL ask for the father's consent or a court order.

 

"Consulates . . . run checks to make sure you are not leaving any unfinished business . . . like court cases . . unpaid dues ... debts."  - No, they don't do any of that.  Not their job to do any of that.  

[payxibka 10,044]

12 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

She will need to have her divorce finalized before she can file the I-129f.  She will need to include her divorce decree.

They are not filing at the same time.  There is only one petition and it will be for your sister.  Your nephew is included but nothing is need about him until months later in the process.  She does not need a consent letter or court order when she files the I-129f.  She would need it at the interview.  

 

Recent divorce shouldn't affect anything.  They understand it can take years for people to divorce and people move on with their lives and relationships.

 

 

^^^^^^^^

I would consider this 25 cents worth cuz 10 cents doesn't cut it sometimes 

Edited November 6, 2019 by payxibka

[Sarah G 166]

Thank you all very much. To clarify, I know her divorce must be finalised before she files and when I said file both at the same time, I meant her I129F and her request to the court for consent. 😊 

 

I will let her know that it is necessary at interview and she can make her own decisions as to how she wishes to proceed. 

 

Thank you again 

[Pitaya 2,576]

14 hours ago, aaron2020 said:

You mentioned that you want to help.  Sorry, but giving out wrong information does not help people.

 

"They MIGHT ask for consent documents."  - No, they WILL ask for the father's consent or a court order.

 

"Consulates . . . run checks to make sure you are not leaving any unfinished business . . . like court cases . . unpaid dues ... debts."  - No, they don't do any of that.  Not their job to do any of that.  

The US government is very likely not interested in getting involved in any form of international custody battle. As stated before, they WILL ask for proper documentation that issue has been resolved prior to the visa interview. They are on the alert for any signs of human trafficking. Any lack of necessary documentation would likely result in denial of the visa application. 

 

Tell your sister that this is her visa application, not anyone else's. If she doesn't want to get involved, then why should anybody else?

[Ontarkie 13,902]

~~Moved to the UK forum, from K1 P&P - As the main question is permission for the child to leave the UK. That is a country specific question best suited for this forum.~~

[S&J2013 117]

We were in this position we applied for the k1 BEFORE I had the confirmed court order giving me permission (We thought we’d save time by doing both at the same time) to take my girls, and unfortunately that didn’t go to plan and I wasn’t given the order I needed, therefore we had to withdraw our k1 petition (therefore losing the application fee too) so in my experience I would wait to apply until the permission is in writing. We are now in the process of doing the IR1/IR2 as I now have the court order allowing me to move with my daughters and the paperwork is ready for when the embassy will ask to see them (like someone else said, they will need them, not might) hope this helps!