Dear Mrs Walker-Huntington,

I have two daughters, ages 13 and 16. Their father is filing for them. However, they do not want to go with him overseas. They want to remain with me and continue their studies. How can I stop their father from continuing to proceed with the filing when he knows the kids don’t want to go? He is like a stranger to them. They do not see them often and he cares little about them.

Kind regards.

S

Dear S,

There are lots of issues tied up in allowing minor children to migrate with a parent to America.

The first thing you should do if you do not already have a custody order giving you custody of these two girls is to get one now. A court order giving you sole custody of your children will go a long way in the courts in America if the father takes the children and does not return them to you.

Second, how did the father get hold of their passports and birth certificates? He would need these documents to begin the filing process for the girls to migrate.

Also, the girls will have to be physically taken to the US Embassy in Kingston for their immigrant visa appointment – you would know when this is happening.

While the embassy does not require written approval for a minor to migrate, you must advise them if you do not approve of the children of whom you hold custody to migrate without your permission. A Custody Order will state unequivocally that you have the right to deny the children being taken to the United States without your permission.

Too many times, parents allow children to migrate and then their contact with their children is completely cut off and/or the children are mistreated and end up in the foster care system in America. It is important for parents to weigh the opportunity for their child to migrate with the best interest of their child. Most certainly, the past actions of the petitioning parent speak volumes to their future action concerning their child.

There is nothing wrong with the parent in the United States waiting until a child is emancipated at age 18 and can decide where they want to live and can, in essence, migrate to America as an independent person. Under US immigration law, however, a person under age 21 is a child for immigration purposes, and when a US citizen files for them, they are treated as an immediate relative.

Dahlia A. Walker-Huntington, Esq. is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States; and family, criminal and international law in Florida. She is a diversity and inclusion consultant, mediator and former special magistrate and hearing officer in Broward County, Florida. info@walkerhuntington.com [2]