Hi All! I am in the process of making application for my daughter to come and live here with me permanently. I am writing an Affidavit of Sole Responsibility and I hope you can help me if there is anything else I need to include in this letter: (draft) AFFIDAVIT OF SOLE RESPONSIBILITY KNOWN ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS That I, XXXXX, of legal age, and a resident of XXXXXX, United Kingdom, after being sworn to according to law, hereby depose and state that: I am the legal mother of XXXX (minor/daughter), born the XX day of XX in the year of XX I am sole responsible of the said minor and I have given guardianship authority via mutual agreement only to my mother, XXX while I am abroad in the United Kingdom. I am supporting my child, XXXX together with my husband XXX financially. I am looking after my daughter’s needs even if I am far away i.e consulted in her education decisions, health, etc. I can testify that there is no Court Order or any other kind of proceedings giving the father or his father’s family or any other person the Guardianship and rights over my daughter aside from the guardianship I have given over to my mother. I make this Affidavit from facts within my own knowledge save where otherwise appears. I appreciate all your help and guidance. Thank you.
Hi @Dinah Ellie It looks similar to what I have seen on the internet, you may want to Google "afidavates sole responsibility Philippines" to have a look at other examples. You are aware that the UKBA will need info on the father and will want to know that the father has absolutely no input into his child's wellbeing. Bringing a child across while one of the parents is still about can be difficult and on this forum members have had mixed results. They will add to this thread I am sure. Let me pose a question as a start point, no need to answer on here, just one of many questions that you may be asked "If your mother looks after the child now why cannot that arrangement continue?" Good Luck and ask away
do you have any form of philippines legal document proving you have sole custody or responsibilty for your child ?
Think this is one of the great problems. Googled this issue to see if I could confirm my understanding and found link below. https://www.smartparenting.com.ph/l...-their-Child-Support-and-Child-Custody-Rights Confirms my understanding which is if unmarried then mother has sole custody which makes difficult to get a court order as already case in law so why would court need to rule. Only scenario I can see this is if father went to court and court ruled against him. Unfortunately UK law is different and father automatically has parental responsibility if named on birth certificate. Perverse situation that if child moves to UK he would have greater say in child's life and automatically acquire parental responsibility whereas in Philippines he has none. https://www.pomsinoz.com/topic/103383-documents-to-present-for-single-unwed-mother-sole-custody/ Bit more googling found link above which was interesting although talks about Australia but principles read across. Not sure it really gives defunite answer If going to try without court order tempting to try and get the suggested items in one of the posts to try and improve chances.
Her father died last August 2016. I have acquired his certified copy of death certificate. There is no objection on my family side and her father's side for my daughter to leave the phils and join me here in the UK. When I left for the Uk, I left her to my mother's care. My daughter is now 16 yrs old and is having a little teenage drama which my mother said she couldn't handle anymore and have asked me to take over. We all think that my leaving and her without a father has taken its effect on her well being now. Are there any other documents I need to apply at the Philippine Embassy aside from Affidavit and Special Power of Attorney (this is for my mother to accompany my daughter to her visa appointment and acquired documents as part of her requirements for visa application). I would greatly appreciate if anyone could pls outline or direct me here as to what requirements she maybe needing to pass her visa application. Thank you very much and God bless x
I think you have it all to be honest. My wife was in a similar position losing her husband then in time moving to the UK leaving a 16 year old behind. Aside from what you've done in our application pack we wrote in letter form that we wanted her to reach the end of her schooling before moving her, we also wrote that we felt it would be of benefit that mum came over first to settle and when the daughter came over mum would be in a better position to lend her daughter greater emotional and cultural support. We were successful and daughter is nearly ready for 2nd FLR
thank you so much. do I need to get a sworn statement from my mother that she has no objections for my daughter to come here in the uk? Is it just affidavit sole of responsibility and special power of attorney I need to get from the embassy? Sorry to be a pain, but I am working and I would like to my maximise my time when I visit phil embassy next. I have drafted a list of requirements I need to provide. I hope someone could please let me know what else we need to comply. Again, I appreciate all of your help and advices. DOCUMENTATION CHECK LIST: Applicant’s Application Form online print copy with signature Appendix II: Appendix 2 Form duly filled up Applicant Documents: (daughter) 2x ID passport photo Latest Passport original Birth Certificate NHS proof of payment Biometric Application VIP Visa Service payment SMS service application payment proof Affidavit Sole of Responsibility Father’s original death certificate Applicant’s educational record in the Phils. Guardian (mother cover letter to support application) School ID Baranggay Clearance NBI Mother’s documentation: Id passport Biometric Driving license Cover letter Birth certificate Tuberculosis Certificate: TB result Sponsor Evidence: (My Husband) Signed Sponsorship Form Cover letter 1x ID Passport photo Passport photocopy (bio data, stamped, back contact details) Birth Certificate Sponsor Employment Evidence: Employer cover Letter Contract of Employment Payslips 6 months with signature of employer confirming validity Latest P60 Sponsor Financial Evidence: (photocopies and letters should be stamp and submitted within 28 days of validity) Bank Statements 6 months / stamp the photocopies (highlight monthly wage) Confirmation Letter from Bank regarding validity of account Accommodation Requirements: Tenancy Agreement Landlord Support Letter Council Tax with sponsor name on it Utility Bill under sponsor name Electoral Vote Registry confirmation under Sponsor name Consent Letters and Proof Relationship: Sponsor and mother UK Marriage Certificate Report of Marriage with NSO seal from Philippines Photo album collection from March 2013 – present, include picture with daughter (as applicant to establish relationship with sponsor and mother) Printed copy of Hotels, Train and Ticket proofs, proof of travel in the phils Printed Summary: Personal Messaging sms, fb, viber, skype, whatspp Other proof of address to show mother and husband (sponsor) have lived together: Council Tax Virgin Broadband statements TV License EDF Bill O2 Bill credit card statement under sponsor name Various letters from family in the UK to support my daughter’s application Financial support to applicant: proof remittance
At the end of the electronic application the system should generate a list of documents they want you to provide based on your answers on the application.the list you have on here is pretty comprehensive so I think you have it all in place. Don't forget your daughter will have to do the CFO seminar aimed at 13 to 20 year olds( I forget the exact title of it) so you may wish to get that done and out of the way so once you have the visa all they have to do is return for the stamp.
maybe a letter from your daughter ( to UKVI) saying she misses you--and very much wants to be with you since losing her father.
As I understand it the big three things they look for are sole responsibility for health, education and religion. Examples on the education side are there as I assume that the school records will list you as being responsible for her. Anything else covering health and religion may be useful. E.g. do you have phil health with her as your dependent in which case MBR would be useful or does she have any kind of medical insurance paid for by you. Do you have medical bills with you as having responsibility or trail showing you paid for them even indirectly or that you were consulted or authorised treatment. Baptism certificate might be useful to show control over religion choices. Cannot manufacture if it does not exist but may be useful if it is available I suspect it will be useful to have whatever you can in terms of statements from your mother that no longer able to look after her on your behalf in philipines to establish that options to leave her there are no longer possible and that in interests of child need to move. Good luck.
One other thing you might want to consider, and this should only be done if it is right for you and your daughter as it has legal impacts, is whether you would want your husband to have parental responsibility for your daughter in the UK. DO NOT DO THIS TO JUST SUPPORT THE VISA APPLICATION as to undo requires getting a court order. If so then could look at doing step parent parental responsibility agreement through the UK family court as this would establish a court authorised parental responsibility position that the only people with parental responsibility agreement in the UK are you and your husband and as part of that the court would need copies (not originals) of the fathers death certificate, child's birth certificate, your marriage certificate and evidence of who you and your husband are (we took passports and they noted passport numbers on form at local family court. Relatively quick to do as only requires you and your husband to attend the local family court to sign the document (and state on the form fathers name and that the father is dead) and get it witnessed. We brought all the appropriate original birth, marriage and death certificates and passports. They did not ask for details of where children were although in our case they were with us or evidence of immigration status for them or my wife. The document is then sent by you to family court in London with copies of child's birth certificate, fathers birth certificate, your marriage certificate and I would include copies of passport information page for you and your husband) who will return it with a reference number and stamp. We assumed having shown everything at local court when signing that only the form was required to be sent to london and they wrote afterwards to request copies. Can use this as evidence as well and state that this is evidence that you were the only one with parental responsibility after death of your daughters father as court will check the birth certificate and death certificate and that in anticipation of move that you have authorised your husband to share parental responsibility for your daughter. Also one piece of evidence that you have control over your daughter. It is not a guarantee that they will take notice of it but they are supposed to take regard of court agreements so may add to the case.
Got to say we did not supply any of what you have covered in this post and we were successful, it's very easy to information overload. My wife had been away from the family home 18 months between applications As I said in one of my postings a checklist is normally produced of documents required any personnel letters can be seen as contrived. There is also a set of questions on the Application about who the child has been staying with in the mothers absence and why that arrangement cannot continue (I think the system allows 500 words on this) On my wifes daughters application who was sixteen at the time we advised that she had been living in the family home with her grandfather older sister and Auntie, we advised that Grandfather was getting older and sicker and the cultural and emotional growth of a young lady could not be supported by an elderly relative. We further made the points like I said in my earlier post that we felt if mum came across first and settled she would be in a stronger position to support her daughters move to the UK, and alsop that we wanted the girl to reach the end of her High School education. Documents provided were Death certificate of father, Affidavit for Eldest daughter to sign on her Mothers\sister behalf. We were successful
It is a difficult call to make and I will admit that I tend to play safe with these things and seek everything that can add to the case especially in light of picking up stuff about problems that other people have had. Now have wife and two step children's visas and added everything that I could find covering most areas. Submitted applications and heard nothing until got passports and visas back. Can't tell if got it right or got to much. For the most part we did not seek out additional documents in excess of what we had already or had got for other reasons (parental responsibility agreements, phil health MBR records, health insurance policy for wife and kids, baptism certificate for child where I am god parent). One exception was the affadavit of sole custody as had read that might be useful. Had read that did not add much these days but thought that as only 800 pesos for two of them and half a day of effort may as well get them anyway. From embassey may add more value and weight. Remember in hindsight only used one baptism certificate in packs (as I was listed as god parent on that and letter of support from friend in UK had him listed as being there so built on link to sponsor) as did not think the other child's baptism certificate added to case. Obviously did some weeding of info and that was not a deal breaker. Picked up the big three areas listed from a facebook group that my wife is a member off and where people post refusal letters and that was something quoted in one refusal letter which she told me about and which I remember as areas they consider. Probably enough as listed above to do it and to be honest I thought the list was good. Just whether there is anything extra which might be useful.
