U.S. passport for child (split)

[Ajocarajo 0]

Hello All,

 

My now wife came to the USA with  a fiancé visa K1 and my step son under k2. All went very smooth thanks to the post here we were able to navigate the ins and out of the immigration process, for that we thank you all, needless to say that we are here once more as we have hit a wall with no direction to take looking for advice. Also we have procced my step Son green card without a problem from USCIS.

 

As mentioned my step Son came here with a K2 visa attached to my wife, she has now become a citizen and applied for passport without a problem for her. As for my step Son, the passport office is asking for a letter of consent from the biological father.

We have no way to communicating with him, we don't even know where he is. My wife is from Philippines and there under article 213 a child younger that 7 is to stay with the mother if the child is illegitimate. my now wife and the biological father of my step son never married.

 

Does anyone here knows how to go about this?

 

thank you in advance for your help

 

Alex

[Talako 756]

6 hours ago, Ajocarajo said:

Hello All,

 

My now wife came to the USA with  a fiancé visa K1 and my step son under k2. All went very smooth thanks to the post here we were able to navigate the ins and out of the immigration process, for that we thank you all, needless to say that we are here once more as we have hit a wall with no direction to take looking for advice. Also we have procced my step Son green card without a problem from USCIS.

 

As mentioned my step Son came here with a K2 visa attached to my wife, she has now become a citizen and applied for passport without a problem for her. As for my step Son, the passport office is asking for a letter of consent from the biological father.

We have no way to communicating with him, we don't even know where he is. My wife is from Philippines and there under article 213 a child younger that 7 is to stay with the mother if the child is illegitimate. my now wife and the biological father of my step son never married.

 

Does anyone here knows how to go about this?

 

thank you in advance for your help

 

Alex

 

I would try the Philippine sub-forum to see if anyone there has run into this problem.

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/129-philippines/

[Ontarkie 13,917]

~~Hijack post split to it's own thread and moved to Passports ect..~~

 

Check out this forum as this comes up often. You most likely need to get the official law printed out and link to the website to explain how it works in the PI

[Adventine 3,187]

Under Philippine law, if the child is born illegitimate, the mother holds all the rights and no letter of consent is needed from the biological father. See the thread below for more information.

 

You can research the Family Code of the Philippines and bring it to the passport office if needed. They should accept that.

 

 

[Chancy 6,233]

On 6/18/2021 at 4:38 AM, Ajocarajo said:

My wife is from Philippines and there under article 213 a child younger that 7 is to stay with the mother if the child is illegitimate. my now wife and the biological father of my step son never married.

 

The relevant provision for your step-child's case is actually Article 176 of the Family Code.  Attach a copy of that to a letter explaining to the passport office that Philippine law guarantees that your wife has sole legal custody.

 

[medic5678 10]

You might be able to adopt this child in the U.S.    - without the father's permission.   It may be expensive.   I was able to do my own adoption for a few hundred dollars in Florida.   We did find the father and he signed off but there are other alternatives.

 

Good luck.  I know how frustrating it is to grope for answers when you are in unfamiliar territory.

[Chancy 6,233]

21 minutes ago, medic5678 said:

You might be able to adopt this child in the U.S.

 

While the OP may indeed want to go through step-parent adoption for other reasons, it is not necessary for proving that his wife already has sole legal custody of her child, due to the circumstances of the child's birth in the Philippines.

 

[medic5678 10]

3 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

While the OP may indeed want to go through step-parent adoption for other reasons, it is not necessary for proving that his wife already has sole legal custody of her child, due to the circumstances of the child's birth in the Philippines.

 

Probably not, but it ends all sorts of custody questions.  I was very happy to get our adoption finalized.   Not to mention that it made my daughter an instant U.S. citizen. :).  For the $400 I think I spent, it was well worth it.

[Amadia 711]

On 6/18/2021 at 11:02 PM, medic5678 said:

You might be able to adopt this child in the U.S.    - without the father's permission.   It may be expensive.   I was able to do my own adoption for a few hundred dollars in Florida.   We did find the father and he signed off but there are other alternatives.

 

Good luck.  I know how frustrating it is to grope for answers when you are in unfamiliar territory.

How much did the adoption cost?

[medic5678 10]

1 hour ago, Amadia said:

How much did the adoption cost?

I did it for very little, because I did it myself.   It's surprisingly simple, if all parties are willing.  Of course, this will have to be done according to your state.   The child must be legally present in the U.S. at the time of adoption.

 

I think I paid $400 in court filing fees but there were other expenses.  You'll have to pay other agencies various fees for things such as a search of the putative father.  I'd say I did it for $800 or so in the state of Florida.  When we got to court, it was very simple. 

 

The judge was awesome.   I had a female judge, and I was stepping up to be the father to a little girl who had never had a father in her life.  Her entire staff treated us wonderfully.  It was a very happy day in our lives :).

[Amadia 711]

5 minutes ago, medic5678 said:

I did it for very little, because I did it myself.   It's surprisingly simple, if all parties are willing.  Of course, this will have to be done according to your state.   The child must be legally present in the U.S. at the time of adoption.

 

I think I paid $400 in court filing fees but there were other expenses.  You'll have to pay other agencies various fees for things such as a search of the putative father.  I'd say I did it for $800 or so in the state of Florida.  When we got to court, it was very simple. 

 

The judge was awesome.   I had a female judge, and I was stepping up to be the father to a little girl who had never had a father in her life.  Her entire staff treated us wonderfully.  It was a very happy day in our lives :).

I'm in Florida too....I'll DM you.