Consent to take children to New Zealand

[missvee]

:( Hi everyone, still here and very fed up at the moment. Feel like I am taking one step forward and 3 back, feel like packing it in but have spent too much money. Anyway enough of the moaning.

I would like to know if anyone can help me.
I have a question regarding consent to take my daughter to New Zealand. I need consent from her father.
I did get consent from my ex partner, in a written letter, which was sent to my solicitor. Then sent on to me. I did state to my solicitor it had to be a legal document. On receiving the letter I immediately sent a copy to the officer dealing with my application. He stated that it was insufficient. It needed to be a formal declaration of consent or words to that effect. I have tried to contact immigration for an example, with no response.
Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone have a form completed that was accepted by immigration? Could I have a copy?
Hopefull Missvee

[Glenda]

Hi Missvee,

{hugs} I do hope someone can answer this for you soon. Some solicitor you have there! :(

My kids are already here in NZ, but their father in the UK still has to give his permission for them to reside here, which will be a part of the divorce documentation now being prepared. Not much help there for you, I'm afraid.

Hang on in there. At least he is willing, you just need the right documentation.

:)

[missvee]

:) Thanks Glenda. That's part of the problem my ex is a complete moron. It took 6 weeks for him to do the last letter and he put me through the wringer over it. I know there is going to be problems again and may end up in court.
My daughter wants to go, she is 13 so does know what she wants. i have given her loads of information about where we are going.
I will keep my fingers crossed.
Missvee

[MotherBear]

A difficult situation and one that's been faced by quite a lot of immigrating mother's, I suspect. Some have had to take their ex's to court to get permission, but I certainly hope it won't come to that as it's a very lengthy process.

I'll try to have a hunt around the NZIS's site to see if I can find anything like the document they want, but it's a notoriously difficult site to negotiate. They should advise you where to find the form seeing as it's they who are insisting on it. I do hope you can work this one out, although I do understand how difficult it is trying to negotiate with a 'moron'.

Will keep my fingers crossed for you.

[Glenda]

Hi Missvee,

I've had a look around and found some information. ?

The official line, which you probably already know, says:-

If you are separated or divorced and will bring any children under 16 years of age to New Zealand with you, you must provide evidence that you are legally allowed to remove the children from any country in which rights of custody or visitation have been granted to the other parent or any other person. ?If the parent of any accompanying children under 16 years of age is not included in your application for residence, you must provide evidence of your right to remove the children from their country of residence.

Evidence that you have the right to remove the children from their country of residence includes

- ?legal documents showing you have custody of the child, and the sole right to decide where they may live, without any visitation rights being granted to the other parent, or
- ?a Court Order permitting you to remove the child from their country of residence, or
- legal documents showing you have custody of the child, and a signed statement from the child?s other parent ? witnessed in accordance with local practice or law, which confirms that they agree to allow the child to live in New Zealand if your residence application is approved.

I think what NZIS are asking for is a Statutory Declaration from your ex-partner which is signed by him in front of his solicitor, who should advise him if he understands what he is signing.

I had to prepare and sign a couple of these declarations for our business visa, and one for my husband to prove he had been educated in the UK as he had lost all proof of this. ?

You can type one up yourself or get your solicitor to do it (depending on your circumstances, may be best to type it yourself and show it to your solicitor who can send it onto your ex). ?It should sound something like this:

STATUTORY DECLARATION

I, [ex-partner of missvee] of [address] do solemnly and sincerely declare that

1. ?I am the natural father of [child's name] born [date of birth] of [address]
2. ?That [missvee] has sole custody of the said [child's name]
3. ?I hereby give my consent for [child's name] to live with her mother [missvee] in New Zealand.

I make this solemn Declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835.

Declared at [date]

this [signature space for ex-partner with name under or alongside]
of [address and telephone number]

Witnessed by [solicitor signs and stamps]

As your ex-partner will have to visit a solicitor you may have to offer to pay for his legal expense - probably no more than 15-20 pounds.

Hope that is some help ... I am presuming he is your ex-partner and not ex-husband.

:)

[Welshgirl]

Hi missvee,

I ended up having to take my ex to Court for permission to 'remove the child from the jurisdiction of the UK' - he had recently obtained parental responsibility (Ha, that was a joke, my ex is a moron (to put it lightly) too) and tried to prevent us from taking her to NZ. I went through a lengthy and traumatic Court case and eventually obtained permission from the Judge to take her. Immigration will insist on the necessary documentation to prove she is allowed to be here on a permanent basis and will not grant Residency without that proof. My daughter was only 4 when we came to NZ and therefore was not deemed old enough to have an opinion on whether she wanted to go or not, but in your case, if it does go to Court, I would imagine a 13 year old would be classed as old enough to have a valid opinion and, if she is brave enough to tell them that she really wants to go, I wouldn't anticipate much problem in getting permission to bring her, especially if you can show it is in her best interests.

All said, you may not end up having to go to Court, if you moron-ex pulls his finger out, but I just wanted to reassure you that if it does end up going that way, all is not lost!

Not much help I'm afraid, but good luck anyway - it will be worth it, for you and for your daughter ?:)

You may find it needs to be witnessed and signed by a Justice of the Peace (JP), as some evidence (declaration of work experience) we used for our application was rejected because of this. ?Luckily it didnt affect our application too much, but the case officer told us it would have been accepted if a JP had witnessed it.

Good luck getting it sorted anyway ?:)

[MotherBear]

From what I can see, and as Glenda says, I think what you need is just a notarised letter or statement rather than a special document. His signature on the letter has to be witnessed by a solicitor, presumably so that it can be proved that you didn?t forge the signature.

Does your daughter have any influence over her father i.e. would she be able to put it to him that she really wants to go to NZ and would be very disappointed and unhappy with him if he makes it difficult for this to happen? Otherwise, if he pays maintenance for her, would you be in a position to ?bribe? him for a speedy result by saying you?d forego taking those payments for her in return for him signing the letter in front of the solicitor? If you type the letter/statement out yourself, he can?t really complain that it?s too much hassle (some men don?t like writing letters) as all he has to do is put his cross where it says ?signature?. The only effort he needs to make is to get his butt over to the solicitor?s office to do it.

He, like a lot of other ex?s, is just trying to make life awkward for you in a way he knows will succeed. He obviously has no real objection to your daughter going or he wouldn?t have signed the first letter, so you need good but subtle tactics to encourage him to put your differences behind you in this matter. After all, it?s your daughter?s welfare and happiness that are most important, not his unfortunate and sadistic need to continually put you through the wringer. In 3 years she?ll be 16 and won?t need him or his consent any longer. He can either keep her onside or risk losing her altogether.

[missvee]

:) Thanks everyone, some good tips . He doesn't even pay maintenance, that's how much of a moron he is. It took me 6 weeks to get a ruddy letter of consent out of him. As I informed Welshgirl I do have an ace up my sleeve, I hope I don't have to use it but have a feeling I will. Thing is, if I don't get permission before the end of February I will end up paying another ?400 for medicals. Does anyone know if you have to pay the full amount second time around?
Thanks Missvee

[Dawn]

I really hope you manage to get this sort out in time missvee. I can empathise with your situation. I am divorced from my oldest two kids father and I thought that he might have been rather silly regarding this situation but surprisingly he's given his consent. Lauren will be 16 by the time we go anyway so she doesn't need his permission but Charlie is 11. I explained to him that if he tried to keep Charlie behind he wouldn't stand a chance of having a good enough reason for a court to condone splitting a family up especially as he only sees them once a fortnight anyway. The letter my solicitor drew up wasn't as thorough as the one Glenda gave you an example of though, so I think I'll have a go at writing one of those - everything helps, especially as we'll already be over there when we apply for PR so I'll have to take it with me. That's a thought, I wonder if the date on it will matter?

Anyhows, fingerscrossed for you!!!