Legal Matters: Pre-Move to UK

Hello,

I am an American Social Worker who is relocating to England this summer for work. As this move is likely to be permanent, I am wondering what sort of legal matters I should consider/take care of before I leave, especially anything related to my 9-month-old baby son. I am hoping that some of you might be able to offer some suggestions so that I know what to ask before I see an attorney, which I am sure will be expensive.

Many thanks!

Is your son going with you? 

It will take years to get ILR or citizenship in the UK, so I am not sure you should cut all ties right away.

I found it useful to leave my US bank account open for student loans etc.

Is your son's father going with you? If not, you will need to sort out custody before you can get his visa for him, or have a letter/declaration from his father saying it's ok for him to move to the UK.

My son's biological father lives in Northern Ireland, and his step-father, who is from the south of Ireland will be moving with us. I already know that I will have to appeal to the USCIS to get a passport for him, because I won;t be able to get his biological father's permission to get one. It's all very messy.

Do you have sole custody? If so you'll be ok for his visa. If not, you will need his (biological) father's permission.

This probably sounds dumb, but I am assuming that I have sole custody. His biological father did not come to the states for his birth, he has never seen him or contributed to his upbringing financially or otherwise, and he was not required to sign his birth cert or other docs by the state that I live in. I am legally married to someone who is not his biological father, and in my state, where there is a presumptive paternity law, my husband is considered his legal father, not his biological father, because we were married when he was born. I am sure that federal trumps state law, but I haven;t looked into that yet.

Maybe you should consult an attorney to formalize the custody arrangement in this case. If the bio-dad has never been in the kid's life, it shouldn't be an issue to have it all sorted out. Hopefully!

I think so too. I have a feeling that this is going to be mesy, and US immigration is going to be basty about the passport. Ugh. I really don;t want to pay expensive attorney fees. Hopefully, this will be painless!

If the bio father is not named on the birth certificate then you will be fine as far as the UK visa goes, not sure about the US passport).

I already know that I will have to appeal to the USCIS to get a passport for him, because I won;t be able to get his biological father's permission to get one.

If your son is a USC then USCIS has nothing to do with the process at all - particularly the passport side of things.

All the same, I hope you manage to get your son's passport sorted.

If the bio father is not named on the birth certificate then you will be fine as far as the UK visa goes, not sure about the US passport).

Should be no problem with the US passport as well.  As long as yours is the only name on the birth certificate, should be relatively easy.

I got my sons' first passports shortly after they started requiring both parents' signatures, and as mine is the only name on their birth certificates, I had no problem.  Same with their visas.

His birth cert has my name and his bio father's name on it, and under the law, the bio father has to approve his passport. problem is, i can;t get his signature. he lives in northern ireland and has no ID in order to get docs notarized, and i don;t even know if the passport agency would accept a notarized doc from over there. i consulted an attorney today and am waiting to see what he says.

the recruiter that i have been working with said that i only need a passport for my son. he doesn;t need a visa from the british government to live there. sounds like that isn;t the case with some of the moms who have posted here.

the recruiter that i have been working with said that i only need a passport for my son. he doesn;t need a visa from the british government to live there. sounds like that isn;t the case with some of the moms who have posted here.

That's true, and not true at the same time.   If you register your son as a British citizen through his biological father - which will require his cooperation, and a bit more than just notarising a document - then, yes, he won't need anything but his passport to live here.  If you obtain a US passport for him (which seems to be what the majority of this thread has been about), based on your citizenship, then he'll need a visa in order to live in England.  It's a complicated scenario.  Personally, depending on your relationship with your son's biological father, I'd recommend that you try to get your son's British passport - it'll save a lot of money and worry in the end, even if it's a hassle right now.

Edited to add:  This is of course assuming that your son's biological father is a British citizen himself, and was born in the UK - if these two statements aren't true, then you're going to have to go the US passport + visa route.

his father was born in Northern Ireland and still lives there, so he is a British citizen. I want him to have both and American and British passport. I get along well enough with his bio father, but my husband will have a heart attack if I have any contact with him. this is so jerry springer  :\\\'(