Applying for a Child (Dependent Visa)

it was
a8amg

Fathers whereabouts where unknown!

A post on one of his threads

The rule of sole responsibility is observed strictly and any involvement of the other parent in the upbringing of the child may lead to the conclusion that the sponsoring parent does not have sole responsibility for the child, or have responsibility for the major decisions in the child’s life. It is possible that even having regular contact with the other parent can serve as an indication that the sponsoring parent does not have sole responsibility and this may lead to an adverse decision on child dependant visa application. Entry Clearance Officers often seem to wrongly employ an ‘all-or-nothing’ approach to the issue of sole responsibility and we strongly recommend that you approach accredited immigration advisers such as Imperial Visas in relation to problematic applications.”

http://www.imperialvisas.com/family-visas/child-dependant-visa.html

It is not a plug for an Immigration Advisor, but simply highlighting the point about sole responsibility which fits in with what Maharg and Chicfire have said.

Also from a similar source:

“The Home Office complies with strict adherence to the sole responsibility principle. When making an application based on having been solely responsible for the child, any form of interference by the other partner would break the sole responsibility; based on the conclusion that the there is some form of shared responsibility in the child’s upbringing.

We have seen a couple of situations where Entry clearance officers follows the all-or-nothing rule in determining sole responsibility. This is where a decent immigration law firm such as Reiss Edwards can be of a massive help in your application.”

ah--my mistake. but there definitely was a case where the father was in japan and didnt have any contact with the child.

although it doesnt apply in the OP's situation, i really think any child born into a marriage which has ended in divorce is most likely to be refused a visa if the father is alive and on the scene. it doesnt matter what the child wants.

you can see the dilemna facing UKVI: any child will need access to medical services and education--all of which costs the taxpayer. the parent..not so much.

Hello, BIGMAC and MATTECUBE, sorry I got preoccupied that I have not read this thread for the past couple of days. Anyway, I still have some contact with the biological father, but I have always had the sole responsibility of my daughter and he is very much willing to attest to that. Also, we are in the process of adoption (where biological father had signed an affidavit infront of the fiscal for him to give up his rights, and be erased from my daughter's birth certificate).

Hi

Hi I have given this a fair bit of thought and would suggest that given your child was born outside of marriage this under Filipino law gives the mother sole responsability and also you have an affidavit off the biological father already i think you have enough to proceed already.
To bring the childs father back in at this stage would suggest he still has an input into the childs upbringing.

Thank you for putting some thought into this!

For this part here, I entered myself as Parent Number One. Who should be the second parent? is it the biological father, or the stepfather who is the sponsor as well?

Think normally it is as per the birth certificate.

Was reading the thread and you may want to be careful on timing of adoption. If your husband obtains British citizenship then may want to consider doing the adoption afterwards in the UK using UK family court. That has the advantage that child would quality for British citizenship straight away. Would require either filipines adoption to be completed afterwards or getting court order in philippines recognising UK adoption to get the philipines birth certificate updated.

If doing the philippines adoption only then should consider trying to get it done as Hague convention international adoption as if completed after husband gets British citizenship as that would allow the child to be recognised as british

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-child-pass...ter 1,are recognised for nationality purposes.

This is such a big help, as I have not thought of this beforehand. The adoption case is ongoing now. It says in the link you have attached:

"Your child can get a British passport if either parent is British and the British parent was usually living (‘habitually resident’) in the UK when the child was adopted."

By saying "when the child was adopted", it means, when the ruling by Philippine courts have been done, and not the date when we applied for the adoption, right?

I am asking this because at this point my husband is already qualified to apply for British citizenship but has not done so yet.

As with everything adoption wise it is never that simple.

I checked the citizenship by adoption rules and it either needs to be a Hague convention or done in uk court. Adoption in philippines will I suspect be a local adoption without Hague convention certificate.

If your husband acquires British citizenship then can do adoption in UK court which meets requirement for citizenship although will require input from child's father as he has parental responsibility when the child moves to the UK under UK law although no parental responsibility when child us in the philippines. Will then require a court order in Philipines to recognise UK adoption.

Ideal scenario would be to get child to UK, husband gets uk citizenship and do UK adoption and then finish off philippines adoption to get record straight there. Gets child british citizenship straight away and can change name in UK.

Worth engaging with UK adoption authorites where you live to get their input on requirements and how long to get done.

It's the biological parents as the next question is "who is responsible for bringing you up"
You will then enter the details here of you and your new hubby and the last question in the section is what relation is he yo you and we put there mother's husband

But Philippines, I believe is a signatory of a Hague Adoption Convention. Does it not automatically give you a Hague Convention Certificate?

i dont think they are.

If you know any lawyer, would you refer me to one?

Philippines is a signatory, I have confirmed it.

Yes the Philippines are a signature to the Hague conventiom as of 2019.

@aling have a good read of this link
UKguidelines
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adoption-in-the-philippines

in that case then--doesnt it mean the philis have to recognise a UK divorce ?

I'll be honest and admit that I'm not an expert on this. Found an out of date article which might be useful to ask your lawyer in philippines about.

http://www.vduanolaw.com/adoption-philippines-legal-guide/

Reading the article it seems to imply to me that there are two adoption routes in the Philippines, one domestic and the other inter country adoption and I think it is the latter that gets a Hague convention adoption certificate. I suspect based on your circumstances you would fall under domestic adoption rules.

Personally would be tempted to get child to UK, freeze the philippines adoption, get partner to get british citizenship, do UK adoption, then unfreeze philippines adoption and complete it to tidy up all loose ends. Rationale for that is sorts out British citizenship for child, and then gets everything tidied up in the Philippines by completing the adoption process there.

Was going to say that philipines adoption is good evidence of sole responsibility but not sure how that plays out with UKVI if adopting father is ILR or British citizen. I seem to remember questions about whether coming to UK to be adopted when doing visa application and was honest in that it was not reason but would definitely be looking at doing that. We got kids visas and now going through process in UK. After that have to think about how to legitimise in philippines. Process as I understood it was court order in philippines although not sure if signature to Hague convention in 2019 would simplify the process.

One thing to be aware of is that in UK if the father is named on birth certificate he has parental responsibility whereas if not married in the Philippines he doesn't. Bringing child to UK gives father more rights although would have to be here to exercise them. That said does not sound like he is bothered about having those rights. Uk adopton would require him to be consulted again.

One other thing to consider on timing is that I'm assuming you are here as dependent of tier visa holder as in working visa. Under the impression these are cheaper and requirements are easier than if spouse or dependent of British citizen so something else to consider with regards to timing of husband's British citizenship application. I'm assuming that you can continue on current visa if he moves to British citizen as opposed to having to move visa to spouse of British citizen.

Best of luck with visa application and adoption.

They do as I was divorced when I married over there as have others.
There must be some clause or commitment in the HC that allows the current Filipino stance on divorce where it's own citizens are concerned.
It's a bit like the Philippines are saying *Yes you can but not in my back yard*

On the link I posted one of the first rules stipulated is that if you habitually live in the UK you cannot start the adoption process in the Philippines.
Then there is this
A British National (male) married to a Philippine national (female), where the British National wishes to adopt his spouse’s Filipino children. Consult a lawyer.
This is point 2 0n the link and the UK gov clearly state consult a lawyer which suggests it's a very complex area.
(0nthe link if you click the word lawyer there is a list of lawyers they probably have a work history on dealing with UK gov) so suggests a good place to start
Highly complex and each case slightly different.
Good Luck

https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...ocess/understanding-the-hague-convention.html

Hague convention in this context is to do with adoption.

Situation with regards to divorce is:

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/24/18/supreme-court-says-foreign-divorce-valid-in-ph

https://psa.gov.ph/civilregistratio...ree granted by,RTC which granted the petition.

My reading is that yes divorce overseas will be recognised for a Filipino/Filipina but have to do additional work getting a court ruling and then sending court ruling to PSA to get them to update the records.

Same process I believe applies to overseas adoptions. Can do it overseas but to get the birth records updated to show effect on a PSA birth certificate then have to get similar ruling send to Local Registry Office and then get them to update PSA records.

If change name in UK adoption will need to go through that process to get name reflected in Philippines and get passport in new name. Otherwise have to lose Philippines passport or can't get UK passport as they won't issue passport if have another one in different name.