Well, immigration have decided to throw a spanner in the works
For those of you who don't know our circumstances, our two oldest children, Lauren, 17, and Charlie, 12, are from my first marriage. I am divorced from their father who resides in the UK. Immigration procedure requires that if you are immigrating with children under the age of 16 from past relationships, you must have the permission of both natural parents to remove them from their country of birth. You must present a Statutory Declaration from the other parent stating that they give their full consent for the child to go and live in another country. It has to be signed and witnessed by a solicitor.
We did this, and an arduous and unpleasant task it was too because my ex-husband and I do not have a very amicable relationship.
Immigration have now requested a Custody Document for Charlie.
When my ex-husband and I divorced, we never went to court. It was, at that stage all very civilised and amicable. We agreed on everything. The finances, the house, the possessions, the kids. It was never, ever under any question who the kids would stay with. He worked away, all over the country and often all over Europe, for months at a time. I had always provided 99% of their care. They didn't even really know their father and he certainly didn't know them. There was never any discussion about where the kids would stay. Since then, ten years ago, they've had a tenuous relationship with their father. I can count on two hands the number of nights they've spent with him in those ten years. I cannot, however, count on q thousand hands the amount of times he has let them down in those ten years
There is no doubt that I have custody of them. He has hardly shown any responsibility.
Anyhow, it seems immi want this 'Custody Document'. We wrote to them to explain the situation. We told them that when I had the Stat Dec drawn up I asked about the custody issue and was told by solicitor that it was a mute issue and was not required. We told them that in our opinion, he would never have signed the Stat Dec if it wasn't already decided that I have custody and added that his solicitor would not have allowed him to do so had this been the case. Surely the stat dec is one step further than the custody thing? I am so flippin annoyed because it just adds insult to injury as far as I am concerned. So we'll just wait to hear from them. Gary will ring tomorrow to find out what they say.
If they dig their heels in then I have been advised to see an MP. Apparently, this kind of thing isn't unusual. From talking to other people, immi can be a bit silly about making sure boxes are ticked. I know at least 8 other people who have been through similar situations only to get an MP involved and the 'problem' sorted out in a few days.
Fingers crossed eh?