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Hi,

My Wife, our Daughter and my 17 year old Step Daughter are in the final stages of of our Australian Visa application and we have hit what appears to be some what of an issue.

As my Step Daughter is 17 and her absent Father has Parental Responsibility our Australian Case Officer who is processing our visa application has requested the following information.

Custody of Dependent Under 18 Years
As your application includes a child less than 18 years of age and the child's other biological
parent is not migrating with you please provide:
Evidence that the law of your home country permits the removal of the child to Australia
(example: court order granting you sole custody of the child and specifically stating you have
the right to permanently remove the child) or, Evidence that each person who can lawfully determine where the child is to live consents to the
grant of the visa. Such evidence must be either:
1. A statutory declaration or other legal document signed by the child's other parent consenting
to the grant of the visa. This must be submitted with photo identification (such as a passport)
or,
2. Evidence that the child’s other parent is dead, such as a copy of the death certificate.

Now the reason I am posting is in an attempt to get the matter clarified as to what options are available to me to prove that we can remove her from the Country legally, hopefully, without having to go through the Courts which will take months and put the whole visa at risk of being rejected.

With regards to the options the Case Officer has mentioned.

1. Obtaining a signed Statutory Declaration from her Father is not an option. We have never received a penny in support from him and has been living in France for the last 5 years and hasn't seen her for over 2 years. If we ask him he will purposely make things difficult for us.

2. Going to Court will take many months and although we are likely to win as a result of my Step Daughters age I am not sure the Case Officer will wait that long and reject our visa application.

Given that he has stated "Evidence that the law of your home country permits the removal of the child to Australia" is there another simpler way of proving we can leave ?

Just for reference, people on the migration forum I use keep telling me to read Section 8 of the Children's act

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1989/uk ... 2-pb1-l1g8

As they are saying that when a Child reaches 16 they can do as they wish and their wishes are paramount to that of the Parents. I think they are correct, but what I think the are failing to realise is that their wishes have to be expressed to a judge before a Parental Responsibility order can be disolved ?

Any help or ideas really welcomed as going to Aus has been a life long dream of mine.

Thanks

What is required is defined first by Australian law, not English law. It is a question about what Australia wants - and we cannot really help with that. There is no reason why it need fit comfortably with English law.

If the law is as specific as you relate then you just have to comply - to do what it says.

The alternative may be for her to start out as a visitor, and to apply for residence or whatever when she reaches 18. If not then talk to them about just what the will accept short of the precise requirement suggested. It is not about what we might provide, but about what the might accept.

Definitely talk to an Aussie lawyer.

I am slightly confused. The Australian Case Officer has requested that we provide evidence that under UK law we can remove the Child as we are leaving the UK?

Unless I have misundersood dls, I think the point might be that you need to clarify what exactly the Australian case officer would need as evidence, e.g. would giving them a copy of the specific law be sufficient, would they require a letter from a solicitor, would they require an actual court judgment. I'm only guessing here! How long is it before your step daughter turns 18?

Waiting till she turns 18 is not an option, as she will then no longer be a dependent and will have to be assessed on her own skills. I think the Case Officer would be happy to be provided with anything that shows that it is fine for her to leave the UK.

So a legal document OR a web link to an official site (maybe). I just want to try and avoud going to court for what will no doubt be a formality. Unless we get an awkward judge who says that the wishes of the 17 year old are not to be taken into account and wants to consult the absent Father who has never contributed and has been living out of the Country for the last 5 years.

Not related, but I think PR orders should be disolved if the absent Father is outside of the jurisdication for a given period of time. Unfair that he can state we cannot leave the UK, but he can?

When you refer to "an awkward judge" what you mean is you want the law to be a selection box you pick and choose from.

There is good reason why there are procedural requirements before dependant children leave the jurisdiction. There are also presumably good reasons why the Australian authorites require non-dependants need to fulfil certain criteria.

It is your dream and your stepdaughters apparent wish. My own opinion is that you apply to a court and explain to the court the urgency. A specific issue would undoubtedly satisfy the Australian authorities.


£2,000 (I would hope), Bakedalasker.

Thanks for the reply. Are you saying that I can expect to spend £2000 on getting the order ?

I would like to think that we could apply and represent ourselves. For starters we have no idea where is living in France.

Do we just ring the court to get things rolling ?

You can apply yourselves, by all means.

Yeah, ring the court.

It is just like going to McDonalds.

This case has nothing to do with "parental responsibility". They rarely do.

The Australian guidance, for a number of good reasons, does not refer to "parental responsibility".

The point behind my original post related to the idea that you could pick and choose your law. The OP was the one who intimated that it would be an "awkward judge" who was the one who would deny them of that right.

My opinion, which is only my opinion, is that you will need to obtain an specific issue order, on short notice if required. I am pretty confident that this is the way to proceed but remember this forum is not about advice it is about discussion of law.

Do not expect to ring up the court and be guided through it.

On the other hand if we suggest you get lawyer we are accused of money grabbing.

The more recent posts suggest to me that this will be difficult, but the attitudes behind the questions on this and the other thread do not elicit sympathy.

But not, I think, by the OP.

The whole system is set up for you lawyers to money grab.

The problem with these procedures is that most people struggle to understand them. CPR being the prime example of this. Personally I feel these procedures are deliberate in their difficulty so the law trade can gain business from it. Some would disagree with me, mainly those in the trade, with the reasoning that the more difficult it is the more justice we will see.

I cant really say where the OP should start to look to diy this order. However it is worth spending time trying to find out as the answer is out there without stepping into your high street lawyer office.

Anyway back to the OP issue. I would talk to your case officier and explain to them what the other site suggests.