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DV2014 Custody for minor Children

Kadeer

New Member
Hi people,

Ok now, My son is 16 yo and he will be accompanying me to immigrate to the US. For the interview at the Embassy, will I need to provide a custody document if his mother and I are divorced?
 
Yes, you will have to show that his under your custody.
And don't forget to translate the document if its not in english.
 
Thanks for your quick response:
I am a Syrian citizen,
1. In a divorced case once the child reaches 14 years old the father gets custody. This is the Syrian Law for custody.
2. My son and I have been residing in China for the past 3 years due to the war in Syria, and because of the civil war it is near impossible to get any custody documents from there.
3. We haven't spoken to the mother in 10 years and we're unable to reach her.
Are there any other ways around this?
 
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I would suggest to contact the embassy, they might provide you with help.
Or if you can get hold of the syrian law code that stipulate that the father has full custody after the child reaching 14 years, than get it translated and show it to the CO...
Btw do you have the divorce decree by you?
 
vladek15425, Yes I got the divorce document and I just spoke to a lawyer in Syria that says he might be able to get me some kind of a law code stipulating the custody law. At the same time we are trying to track his mother to get some kind of paper from her (will she have to go to the US Embassy to have it written or certified?)
SusieQQQ your link is very helpful in getting better insight of what we might need at the border
 
If you can't trace the mother, and have not seen her for 10 years, there must be a way around this too. The embassy is probably the best to ask.
 
vladek15425, Yes I got the divorce document and I just spoke to a lawyer in Syria that says he might be able to get me some kind of a law code stipulating the custody law. At the same time we are trying to track his mother to get some kind of paper from her (will she have to go to the US Embassy to have it written or certified?)
SusieQQQ your link is very helpful in getting better insight of what we might need at the border
If you can get hold of the mother it will be the best option you can get, to avoid any trouble at the interview and by the borders ....
And yes I believe the document must be certified to make them autentic, even at the local police station or at the municipality....
Some other forum friends will surely come and add more valuable inputs to help you out, so hang on there.
 
If you can get hold of the mother it will be the best option you can get, to avoid any trouble at the interview and by the borders ....
.
Agree it will be best but there must be a way of doing this even if he can't, there are other people who have successfully gotten visas for themselves and their kids despite being abandoned by the spouse years before.
 
Custody is not relevant for immigration. I asked if the co wanted to see my custody and the co said. As strange as it may seem sole custody is not an immigration requirement.......all we need to see is birth certificates. I was surprised. But on the other hand there is really no federal laws abt custody and divorce. This is a state matter.
 
Custody is not relevant for immigration. I asked if the co wanted to see my custody and the co said. As strange as it may seem sole custody is not an immigration requirement.......all we need to see is birth certificates. I was surprised. But on the other hand there is really no federal laws abt custody and divorce. This is a state matter.

It may not be a matter for granting a visa, as I have said before, but people need to ensure they know the border laws of the countries they are leaving and possibly transiting as well as the US. In a number of countries you are either required or may be asked to show custody documents, permission from other parent etc to transport a minor child across borders, regardless of passport or visa.
 
It may not be a matter for granting a visa, as I have said before, but people need to ensure they know the border laws of the countries they are leaving and possibly transiting as well as the US. In a number of countries you are either required or may be asked to show custody documents, permission from other parent etc to transport a minor child across borders, regardless of passport or visa.

Those papers would also be useful for other things such as booking school places and so on...
 
It may not be a matter for granting a visa, as I have said before, but people need to ensure they know the border laws of the countries they are leaving and possibly transiting as well as the US. In a number of countries you are either required or may be asked to show custody documents, permission from other parent etc to transport a minor child across borders, regardless of passport or visa.
Absolutely! These are must have docs.
 
Those papers would also be useful for other things such as booking school places and so on...

How do you "book" a school place in advance btw? We have been told we have to prove residence before we can do that, which could take a number of weeks...?
 
How do you "book" a school place in advance btw? We have been told we have to prove residence before we can do that, which could take a number of weeks...?

Well yeah - you need a residence first - but you're not planning to make that phase last weeks are you? Once you have a place you show a lease or something like that.
 
Well yeah - you need a residence first - but you're not planning to make that phase last weeks are you? Once you have a place you show a lease or something like that.

Not planning on it, no, but i don't know how long it will take us to find a suitable rental property. And the schools in the area seem very sticky about residence requirements and want 3 different pieces of evidence, apparently people try to trick the system to get their kids into the schools there... I guess your school district is similar though?
 
Not planning on it, no, but i don't know how long it will take us to find a suitable rental property. And the schools in the area seem very sticky about residence requirements and want 3 different pieces of evidence, apparently people try to trick the system to get their kids into the schools there... I guess your school district is similar though?

Yeah they were a bit picky in here too.

Best to line up some rental options before you arrive so at least you can have a shortlist. Hotels suck after a while!
 
Yeah they were a bit picky in here too.

Best to line up some rental options before you arrive so at least you can have a shortlist. Hotels suck after a while!

Yeah that's the plan. Hope the time of year doesn't work against us too much!
Ah well we can always crash in your living room if necessary :p

(J/k in case not obvious!!;))
 
Yeah that's the plan. Hope the time of year doesn't work against us too much!
Ah well we can always crash in your living room if necessary :p

(J/k in case not obvious!!;))


We have a spare room and a blow up bed. Looks like we'll be building a house now, but that won't be ready before you need to move - otherwise you could have crashed there!
 
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