DD’s dad has taken her overseas and won’t bring her back

The good news is no! Bec for any renewal after age 16, they're given 10-year passports. You'll have to go with them when they're 17y 8mo because their previous passport (the one they're renewing) had been a 5-year passport.

@YankTank I'm in the US and my DD has her first adult passport. We didn't need to be involved in her getting it. For some reason, it isn't technically a renewal, it's a new adult passport application.

The interviewer said that it was wise to include her child passport in the application package though as the State Department was likely to ask for it as "additional documentation" if she didn't.

It might be different if you're applying from abroad though.

OP I'm sorry I don't have much practical to offer but I recently found out you can have more than one British passport.

It might be useful if you don't currently have her passport.

I wish you all the best with this, your ex is can't, but you know that.

One of my DCs will be a few months short of 18 when their passport expires, and because of the age of my parents and a need to be able to travel at the drop of a hat, I may renew at 17y 8mo. Does this mean that at 22y 8mo I will seriously have to accompany a nearly 23yo to the embassy to renew their passport?!?!

After 28 days it's a crime, international child abduction.

I know for a fact you can take legal action in these circumstances.

Don't rise to it, he'll be taunting you like the POS he is.

Stay calm and focused on getting her back through legal channels.

It happened to me, my child. Same, same, but slightly different. Read childlawadvice.org.uk. Find a solicitor to initiate emergency wardship proceedings, a tool to force his hand and return her while this is resolved

@ElinoristhenewEnid Yes, the first step is to confirm that they've actually left the UK and entered the US, this could all be smoke and mirrors.

As a minor US citizen, she doesn’t need a passport, visa or ESTA to enter the U.S from Canada. He could very easily have flown her to Canada on her British passport, and crossed the border into New York with her CRBA. It’s an obvious route, and would have been easy for him to do. The likelihood that he would have been stopped and questioned is small. It’s entirely plausible that she is indeed in the US.

Sans a court order which OP would have been aware of, a passport requires the signature of both parents. A CRBA only needs one.

This is all information that can be verified on the Department of State, and Customs and Border Protection websites.

https://fam.state.gov/FAM/08FAM/08FAM050601.html

www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1300?language=en_US

All OP can do is get a solicitor that is experienced in international child abduction cases, and go from there.

@cordelia16 You don't actually - we find it easier to go to the solicitor - we've made it a nice little parent/child visit to London every few years, usually when one child has an INSET day.

Is there a possibility that he hasn’t actually gone to America and is winding op up? Has his address been checked that he has actually left?

And if he tried to commit fraud, ie, “she’s deceased”, he would have to provide a death certificate.

Exactly. I don't see any way around the fraud. And all US persons are supposed to enter and exit the US on their US passports. Immigration should question why the daughter doesn't have a US passport, esp since her father has one.

(I didn’t know that I’ll STILL have to go to the embassy once my DC ages out of child passports and needs their first adult passport. FFS. 🤬 We live nowhere near London.)

I know - it's frustrating! My son's passport expires next March, so it was issued when he was 14, still legally a child. Are you closer to Edinburgh? There's a US embassy there as well.

We renew our DCs passports with one parent present - there's a form the other parent signs. It has to be notarised, DH or I go to the one solicitor in town or I think I've done it with an online US notary.
He could have a) lied about not living in the US (as it sounds like he moved over here as a young adult) or b) actually not lived in the US (maybe he did move over here as a child) or c) forged the OP's consent to the US passport.
It looks like he could have borrowed her passport and forged her signature for the CRBA:

https://uk.usembassy.gov/consular-report-of-birth-abroad-crba-and-first-u-s-passport/

OP, did he apply for your daughter's passport and do you know for sure it's a UK one? Did you sign anything?

I agree authorities can be lax when it’s just a parent travelling with a child, but I know from experience how they treat it differently when it comes to parental abduction.

A friend went through this. I only heard about him refusing to bring the children back the next day but the first thing I told her was call the police to block their passports. Unfortunately by that point it was too late and they were already abroad but the police were able to quickly investigate what flight they got and where they flew to. And when he flew back to the UK on his own, he was arrested as soon as he landed for parental abduction. So that’s why I don’t understand why OP’s daughter was allowed to leave the UK once she knew what he was planning, and why the police have not been involved.

Maybe so but it’s still extremely distressing during the weeks or months the parent is separated from their child while it’s been dealt with - even if they know in their heads it will eventually be resolved due to whatever legislation their hearts must be sinking.

I am just pointing out that it’s something to be aware of regardless whether the parent is from Nigeria or Pakistan or the U.S. or Spain. Even if for the latter two countries there will be a better outcome (eventually) I can imagine it’s still horrific to go through and the parent won’t be comforted much back by the legislation until the child is actually back with them.

There was someone on here who mentioned their Spanish ex had did this and it took some time to be resolved. I can’t find the post but it may have taken a few weeks or even months for their child to be reunited with them in the uk.

This. And if he tried to commit fraud, ie, “she’s deceased”, he would have to provide a death certificate.

(I didn’t know that I’ll STILL have to go to the embassy once my DC ages out of child passports and needs their first adult passport. FFS. 🤬 We live nowhere near London.)

100% true

I am a US citizen who moved to the UK when I was 33. All three of my sons born in the UK were granted US citizenship automatically. I registered their births at the US embassy and received Consular Reports of Birth Abroad certificates. I also got them US passports.

My good friend who is American and also lives in the UK did not do either of those things for her UK-born son. He is still a US citizen.

You've convinced me to be fair but I also know how lax authorities can be. And how many people just aren't even asked at airports when they've travelled with their kids solo.

I know single mums who have never been asked when taking the kids away. I wonder how it's even enforced if the dad isn't in the picture at all.

Presumably a person can say the mother isn't in the picture. Although some would check others might not bother.

However, at 6, wouldn't DD be shouting at the airport? At 6 she would know she was going abroad. Presumably they would have lots of stuff if he's moving?
At check-in a 6yo would say where's my mummy. I mean my DD says that if I've just gone for a wee so she certainly would do that if DH took her somewhere unexpected and she's 3.

But when it comes to the abduction of a child, even by a parent, they are on it. They would have immediately put an alert on her passport and they would have been stopped. That’s what I don’t understand, as he essentially told her in advance he is kidnapping their child and he was able to do it.

I thought daughter was already with him when he informed the OP? Therefore was already kidnapped if at the airport?

Hard to imagine what I'd do in that position. Wonder if I'd even believe it or think they had already landed. I prob would call the police and every airport in the UK and abroad immediately.

It's crazy to me that a dad who only saw their child once a fortnight would have any interest in having them full time. Likewise I'm confused that the school isn't also involved.

Getting a US passport for a child in the UK born to one American parent still requires BOTH parents to not only sign the forms but appear in person and swear to the facts. If the non-American parent cannot appear for any reason, he/she must sign a formal waiver.

It is not easy to get a US passport for a child in the UK via the embassy, nor is it easy to renew a child passport in any other country. We lived in SG for 8 yrs after the UK, and both parents had to appear at the US embassy to renew the passports - we also had to show yearly photographs of each child to show the age progression, as children change a lot in 5 years.

My 18yo son needs his US passport renewed. As he's converting a child passport to an adult one, both parents still need to be present. And this is for our adult child (as his most recent passport was a 5-year one).

The US does not taking issuing passports lightly, so I have no idea how OP's chid's dad has managed this without OP's permission.

I agree although I don't know how often people are challenged at the airport? Are staff worrying about offending people if it turns out the other parent has died or something?

I know in the USA they are particularly strict about so it would surprise me if they didn't get questioned on arrival.

I travelled to the USA at 19 and border control were making demands on me because I was a "minor" in that particular state. So it's hard to imagine this would get them very far.

I'm also querying whether he's said this just to be cruel.

You need to seek legal advice, make it clear you never gave permission and this is an unauthorised child abduction. The authorities have a legal obligation to return your daughter to you.

I don’t think anyone thinks it isn’t awful, it’s more the way it’s progressed. He called OP before he was about to kidnap their daughter and she did nothing. That’s what many of us can’t get our heads around.