Custody document requirements for South Africa

[Disfan01 9]

We are currently at the NVC stage of our petition to bring my stepson to live with us in the U.S. (I am the petitioner and USC).  My husband and his ex-wife are in the process of redoing the custody documents to give him legal and physical custody but the lawyers are moving so slowly.  Obviously our priorities are not theirs.  So, should our case progress quickly from here, would a signed affidavit from his mom be sufficient at the interview or would it be best if she took him to the interview?  My husband was planning to fly down to go with him for his interview because we don’t want to mail all of our original documents in case it should be lost. It took almost a year just to get our marriage certificate from home affairs. We are guarding that thing with our lives. 😂

Edited June 10, 2021 by Disfan01

[arken 4,197]

An affidavit from the child's mother agreeing to his immigration to the US is sufficient.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

A signed affidavit is probably enough for the interview/visa, though you should check with the consulate. Johannesburg are quite good at responding to queries in my (not totally recent) experience. However note that in due course if your husband naturalizes, for your stepson to acquire citizenship at that stage your husband will need to have legal custody. (I’m not sure why the lawyers are involved in “physical custody”, all that means is that the child is actually living with the parent - it is a factual rather than a legal issue.)

[Disfan01 9]

46 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

A signed affidavit is probably enough for the interview/visa, though you should check with the consulate. Johannesburg are quite good at responding to queries in my (not totally recent) experience. However note that in due course if your husband naturalizes, for your stepson to acquire citizenship at that stage your husband will need to have legal custody. (I’m not sure why the lawyers are involved in “physical custody”, all that means is that the child is actually living with the parent - it is a factual rather than a legal issue.)

Thanks for that info.  I’m hoping that the custody variation the lawyer has drawn up will be sufficient for him to acquire citizenship when my husband does.  Does he have to have full custody for that to happen?  The wording they have used is that they “shall act as co-guardians of the minor child.”  The terms further down state what’s in the attached image. My husband is the defendant in the document, as our son’s mom is the one filing for the changes for us. Do you know if this would grant us the necessary custody required for him to acquire citizenship when my husband eventually naturalizes? 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

3 minutes ago, Disfan01 said:

Does he have to have full custody for that to happen?  

Joint custody is sufficient according to the uscis manual.

 

The legal document about where the child is expected to reside is not the important thing for physical custody for uscis, it is proof that the child has actually been residing with the parent. (We used school records for proof of that.)

[Disfan01 9]

3 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Joint custody is sufficient according to the uscis manual.

 

The legal document about where the child is expected to reside is not the important thing for physical custody for uscis, it is proof that the child has actually been residing with the parent. (We used school records for proof of that.)

Thanks so much for all your help. They added the portion about his physical residence to the document because we need it to be there for enrollment in our local school system.