Partnees ex wants to take child to America to live.

[Jamaisy82]

My partner in which we have a two year old child together has another daughter from a previous relationship who is 8. He plays an active role in her life and have a great relationship and has been there since day one and ever since. He used to have her one week on one week off and now it's every weekend as the ex changed this. She now has a new partner who lives in America and wants to take his daughter there to live, obviously my partner has said no as this means he would never see her. She is now seeking full custody of his daughter and now he has to go to court. Has anyone been though similar. My partner is so depressed through this he's a really good guy and it's sad she would do this to him for her own selfish needs.

This and file it an as emergency order to stop it.

can’t happen without a court.

As the daughter is 8, her wishes and feelings will be considered but are unlikely to carry much weight. And there is, of course, no guarantee that moving to the USE would provide a better life, housing, etc.

Correct. It would be most unusual for an 8 year old's wishes would be taken into consideration

Your dh could apply for legal aid for the dd and tgere could be a hearing where thechild could talk to the judge and the Judge could deicide if the child wanted to stay with her df in her usual familiar surroundings.

Legal aid is not available for cases like this unless there is evidence of domestic violence.

The child never talks to the judge. As the child is only 8, what she wants will only be a minor consideration in determining the case and may well be completely ignored.

Your partner is doing the right things and as others have said, the process takes ages anyway. My DH is American, and we moved over with the children so no issues with consent or visas for them. Even then, it was a real faff to get my visa, it took months, so he went ahead and started his new job while I waited until it came through.

In the present climate, I think it'll take even longer. Would she even be eligible for a visa?

There was a poster on here some years back who wanted to move abroad with her child - it was somewhere in Europe.

She slagged the dad off like anything on here, the new wife, etc etc and swore she’d be moving abroad with said child to be with her partner who,, to be fair, was an established relationship. Wedding was booked and everything.

The courts found in his favour and she moved without the child, and suddenly the father was the best father ever and the child was going to be looked after.

It’s unlikely the courts will grant permission for the child to be moved abroad like that. In fact they’ve started to be harder even on parents wanting to move further away in the UK let alone abroad.

TBH I understand re the 50/50 access. Plenty of posters on here who criticise 50/50 so let’s not pretend that seeing the child every weekend instead of one week on one week off isn’t something which most posters on here don’t agree with.

Would she not need a job offer to be allowed to move there?

He needs to put a block on the child's passport to stop her leaving before the court date... its quite easy to do by contacting the passport office and will hopefully block any entry to the US if she is flagged as a child at risk.

I don’t see how you don’t see the issue. The problem isn’t the ex having a new partner, it’s the ex wanting to move to a different continent and take their joint child away from a loving, involved parent (along with everything she knows).

The new partner is completely irrelevant. It’d be the same if she moved there for the scenery, to try and be a movie star or because she likes cowboy hats.

The dad’s behaviour isn’t selfish because he isn’t threatening to take their joint child to another continent. Is this not incredibly obvious?

@cherish123 There's something called a finance visa whereby her partner can sponsor her by proving that he has sufficient income to support her (and her DD if she comes). They'd also need to get married within a certain timeframe. She'll need to go through the background and medical checks as others have said and if either of them has medical conditions, her partner may need to prove that he can cover all related costs, i.e. that she won't be a burden on the public purse. It'll take several months to get her visa approved.

I have a fairly silly acquaintance who was a teacher, quit her job to move to the US with a man she’d met four months prior.

She assumed she could just work as a teacher there and sort out her working visa whilst staying there on a tourist visa. She moved out there last year only to discover that moving there on a “tourist visa” is considered visa fraud and you can’t apply for a long-term visa whilst in the country.

She’s now back in the UK trying to sort a long-term visa, having sold her house and dragged her children back and forth. But she’s not that likely to get a visa because she violated the terms of her tourist visa (because she wasn’t a tourist).

People just don’t seem to think these things through.

@Tornad Exactly. The OP's partner has some time on his side, because his ex can't just go over and do the paperwork there.

Presumably, a boyfriend she's just met isn't going to pay for her upkeep!

Not necessarily true. Contrary to numerous posts on this thread, it isn't exactly difficult to get a visa when it's family based immigration.

Firstly, what rules has Trump changed exactly? Or just jumping on the bandwagon?
For Consular Processing there has been no change to the process at all.
The only minor thing to happen was Trump removing the requirement to have had a Covid jab within 12 months of the medical exam (winner, that saved £90).

She has potentially 2 realistic legal avenues and one not so legal avenue.
First option is if they get engaged, they go through the K1 (Fiance) visa. Takes around 6-9 months to process and as long as they can prove they have met at least once in person, then pending any criminal issues, it'll most likely be approved. She can move, get married within 90 days and then adjust status.
Second option is the spousal visa through consular processing. Probably about 18.5-19 months in total (14.5 for I-130 approval and another 4-4.5 for NVC/Medical/interview). Again, unless any significant criminal history then it'll get approved.

Third, not so legal option is travel on an Esta, overstay, get married and adjust status. Technically, although it is immigration fraud and illegal, an overstay is forgiven when married to a US citizen.

However, the wild card option is employment based. If she is a nurse, then it is possible. They are crying out for nurses here and to the point where job adverts are encouraging overseas applications and that they'll cover all immigration costs.
Chances are they'd do the H1B visa first to get the nurse in the job (2-8 months processing time or 15 days if using premium) and then turn it permanent with the I-140 after being there in the job.

Yes and no.

If she gets the child out there on a tourist visa and he doesn’t see his child for several months then it’ll strengthen her case that it doesn’t harm her to not see him. She’ll have successfully obliterated the relationship he’s relying on as the reason to refuse the move.

He should definitely stop the passport

She will probably win, unless he is prepared to take full residency

I'd tell your partner to make an application for a prohibited steps order saying she is not allowed to take the child out of the UK. Then later he can sort the child arrangements to solidify the contact with his child.

How do you think the Family Judge(s)’s Reasons will read for that decision ?

I do try not to be too black and white here but your post is absolute rubbish.

@BigDecisionWorthIt I still think that it’s going to be more hassle than she believes and she really he no justification for taking her DD with her. She’s met this guy twice in person, I’m skeptical that they’ll last all the checks and paperwork.

I agree that it’s nothing to do with the current administration.

She is very unlikely to get permission to do this. The child maintaining the relationship she has with her father will take precedence over the wishes of the mother to move internationally.

The judge will say if she wants to go, she has to leave the child with its father. If he says no she’ll be able to leave. Personal experience

This is essentially true. Any court order can only control the child's movements, not hers. However, in the case it sounds like the dad would be prepared to have full-time care.

@Tornad I see your point, he must definitely stop the passport.

It's horrible what people will do to get their own way; I don't believe for a minute that she's truly considering the implications for her child. She doesn't really know this man, she's met him twice and he/her DD don't know each other.
What if it's a disaster?

Thats my point the judge will ask directly are you prepared to step up and take her 100% of the time whilst the mother lives in usa and anything less than complete agreement will be thrown out of court and she will have a good case for costs too