u.s. children

Can anybody help?
My daughter who is a uk citizen married a usa man 11 years ago. They have two children aged 4 and 6. The marriage became very unstable in the last couple of years, and my daughter has recently returned to the uk bringing the two children who are usa citizens with her. As she did not have her husbands consent to bring the children here we have now been plunged into a court case as under international law what she has done is illegal. I really would just like to get in touch with anyone who has been through this experience as it looks very likely she will have to return to usa with the children. I would be very grateful if you have any advice if you could get in touch
                                                                              Thanks Sowerby

Please ask this on the visa board as well.

The only cases I have read about are in magazines and law journals and I have to be frank, the parent who does this is in VERY big trouble (and would also be if he/she had taken UK citizens to the US) and it does NOT bode well for the parent who has done this.  She may not only have to return to the US w/the children but also face being deported and/or banned from the country as well.  Extenuating circumstances such as proven abuse may assist her case, however.

I don't know of anyone on this board who has illegally removed their child from the US to the UK - everyone here has had to jump through a lot of hoops to make sure the move is done legally.

Best of luck.

Britain is a signatory to the Hague Convention, which set out laws for international custody and movement of children.  http://patriot.net/~crouch/hague.html will give you more details on what this involves.

I believe the children would actually be dual citizens of both the US and the UK if your daughter is British 'other than by descent'...but that's really beside the point.  The children will likely have to be returned to the US.  I can sympathize w/your daughter's position, but what she did was indeed illegal.  Once things are resolved, if the children are indeed UK citizens it would be easier (and cheaper) to get them a UK passport than it is to get them settlement visas.  (I just did this myself this year!) 

Good luck!

I do know that the custodial parent (as in joint custody) in the US cannot legally move the children over state lines without the other parent's permission, so I would assume moving them across the ocean would indeed be a problem.  I do sympathize, and wish you and your daughter and grandchildren the best of luck, but in reality, it could be a big legal hassle, to put it mildly.

I think it is true in almost any country.  I lived in Sweden and I was friends with American woman who have been unhappily living in Sweden for years because they married a Swede, got divorced, and cannot bring their children back to the USA with them without the fathers concent.  Some of these woman I knew were grandmothers of Swedish children.  Her children lived so long in Sweden they chose not to leave, when they hit 18, and now have children of their own.  These woman chose not to leave their children behind.  I also befriended a girl who just had a baby with her Swedish husband and after the baby was born he informed her that he never wants to retun to the USA.  When she moved to Sweden with him (they met and married in the USA and agreed to spend a few years in Sweden) they had all intentions of moving back.  Now she is stuck in Sweden forever and is very sad.  You can imagine what this is doing to their young marriage.  After hearing of these stories I will be sure to have deep discussions with my children if they fall in love with a foreigner. 
I am so sorry for your daughters situation.  I hope both parents can come to some agreement, for the sake of the children. 

I'm living in Sweden right now and know of several cases where Americans here now have to make a choice of staying here with their kids or going back to the States alone and having to travel to see their children.  Most definitely, the issue of children needs to be considered before marriage, especially since something like 50 percent of all marriages is going to end in divorce.

I am in the same boat.  I don't want to be living in the UK anymore but I have 3 young children born here and a British husband that WILL NOT allow me to move back to the USA with them.  When we first got together the plan was to stay in the UK a few years then back to the US but now he has changed his mind and won't even consider it.  He says I can go without the kids which I have thought about (because I am so desperate to get home) but can't bring myself to do it.  I never should have trusted him when he said that we would move back to the US after we got married.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I feel so bad for your daughter Sowerby.  I hope she can keep hold of her children and live where she wants to live. 

Wow, Nicole, that really sucks *hugs*

Most definitely, the issue of children needs to be considered before marriage, especially since something like 50 percent of all marriages is going to end in divorce.

Too right!  I moved here w/the express intention of never returning to the US to live.  But that whole 'we'll move back in a few years' wouldn't have worked for me, b/c you're right, a person isn't bound to move somewhere he/she does not want to go.

I moved here with my 2 kids...I was lucky I had sole custody of them...not by his choice...it was simply a fluke....
I went to a notary and she had the papers already done up where you just filled in the blanks...we missed that blank....

Must be very hard the thought of not being able to live where you want and have your children there as well.

Has your daughter been in touch w/a solicitor, sowers?  B/c she really, really needs one right about now.  Best of luck!

I am in the same boat.  I don't want to be living in the UK anymore but I have 3 young children born here and a British husband that WILL NOT allow me to move back to the USA with them.  When we first got together the plan was to stay in the UK a few years then back to the US but now he has changed his mind and won't even consider it.  He says I can go without the kids which I have thought about (because I am so desperate to get home) but can't bring myself to do it.  I never should have trusted him when he said that we would move back to the US after we got married.  Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

Nicole, that sucks.  Sorry about your situation.

I am in the same boat.  I don't want to be living in the UK anymore but I have 3 young children born here and a British husband that WILL NOT allow me to move back to the USA with them.  When we first got together the plan was to stay in the UK a few years then back to the US but now he has changed his mind and won't even consider it.  He says I can go without the kids which I have thought about (because I am so desperate to get home) but can't bring myself to do it.  I never should have trusted him when he said that we would move back to the US after we got married.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I feel so bad for your daughter Sowerby.  I hope she can keep hold of her children and live where she wants to live. 

Nothing to say, sorry about it, though. . .