Question on Family Sponsorship

[d_j_heckford]

So question for all of you. My sponsorship papers arrived in Mississauga just on Friday. We are in the UK And I am sponsoring my wife as well as my step son to go to Canada. My wife has really full custody of him due to his dead beat dad that has had nothing to do with him since he was like 2 years old. He is now 15 years old.

So my question is, in the documents, she has a certified letter stating that he mainly belongs to her in custody and that the dad doesn't acknowledge him whatsoever in addition we through his sister managed back in 2012 to force him will say to sign a note stating he's aware of our son travelling abroad to canada, along with his birth certificate and my wifes certificate. All these documents are notarized in the submission as well as a well prepared cover letter stating that he to this date is unreachable and unobtainable and his whereabouts are unknown. We even managed to get his passport number included in these documents. Do you think this will be enough to satisfy the officer? I know it all depends really who you get. You get an officer with enough common sense to acknowledge the facts and accept it as the way it is. Or you could get an officer who's had someone pee in his cornflakes and can be a real jerk and query it himself. I offer all thoughts on the matter.

 

[scylla]

It's not so much about whether someone pissed in the VO's cornflakes as it is about the Hague Convention on Child Abductions. VOs are obligated to ensure certain conditions have been met before a child can be moved from one country to another.

Does your wife have sole LEGAL custody (i.e. court appointed sole custody)? Does the letter she have from 2012 allow visits outside of the country - or does it also mention moving / relocating the child out of the country permanently?

 

[d_j_heckford]

The certified letter via solicitor states he has no parental responsibility and no court has granted him parental responsibility or made any order in respect in the fathers favor. The note that we got which is certified to be true says gives consent for my son to travel abroad and that he's aware of the travel arrangements that are made to canada, as well as our cover letter with documents stating he's unreachable and no way of finding or locating him, no phone number known or anything, so we sent off some quite strong evidence on it. can cross fingers and hope its enough i guess

 

[andyb2404]

Depending on when your Step Son turns 16 it may be worth holding off, once he is 16 he is a Legal Adult in the UK, so you wouldn't be dependant on getting the Dad's permission.

I don't know enough about other factors that may come into play from an immigration standpoint, the age could be 18 in Canada instead of the 16 in the UK.
I'm sure one of the seniors on here will have an answer for you!

 

[d_j_heckford]

He will be 16 in August. Any decision made could be made as early as September or October, so will run past his birthday time which this could also go in my favor on that as well. I did support good evidence on it so will have to hope the VO is having a good day and is satisfied and accepting everything we've told here's hoping