Step Father Adoption

[Eliot]

I would like to adopt my wife´s daugther who is seven years and live at present with my mother in law in the Philippines ,my wife was never married to her daughter´s biological father who unfortunately died before she was born. My question would be, is it worth to go through I imagine the legal and expensive paper work through an Attorney in the Philippines or just arrange her visa for the UK and once she is here living with us have my surname added to her surname which is my wife by deed poll , the reason I need to have my surname added is because I am Spanish and in Spain children have two surnames , the first one from their father first surname and the second from their mother first surname, a requirement for my step daughter to be added in our family book through the Spanish Consulate in London and be recognised as our daughter in Spain. Really the main question here is should we go through the process of adoption from London through an Attoney in the Philippines or leave things as they are and go for the deed poll option. Any advise would be ver much appreciated. Thanks

[joebloggs]

I think if you have the money and time, its probably better to adopt, becuase there could be some problems with the deed poll

http://filipinaroses.com/showthread....light=adoption

what kinda visa is your wife on a spouse visa or a family permit ?

[Eliot]

Thanks for your reply joebloggs , My wife arrived in the UK in March 2010 with a fiance Visa which we arranged through VSF Global in Manila , We married in April 2010and in the same month we did the same day service in the Home Office, Croydon , and she was granted two years extension visa and she is able to work now, before the two years are up we will apply for the leave to remain and hopefully she will be a resident in the UK and then we will be able to apply for visa in Manila for our daughter, I must say the Visa aplications is not cheap, The Fiance one granted in Manila was around £650, the extension visa in Home Office was £730, and the final one for the leave to remain will be £1.100 , but I don´t mind , it´s money well spent as I love my wife and step daughter and we are very happy. I know that names can not be altered in birth certificates as I have found on the net but the deed poll alternative to legally change her name can be done, also as I mentioned my step daughter biological father unfortunately is dead and my wife was not married to him, anyway we have still lots of time to decide what is best, I will have a look at the link you sent me, thanks also for that

[joebloggs]

it might not be a good idea to wait til your wife has ILR to apply for a settlement visa for her daughter, who's looking after her daughter now, her grand mother? you know your wife needs to show she has custody and 'sole responsibility' for her daughter, custody is ok, but if you leave her daughter in the phils for near 3yrs b4 you apply for a visa, you could have problems with the 'sole responsibility' as the embassy could say who ever is looking after her now has it, and not your wife

[Eliot]

it might not be a good idea to wait til your wife has ILR to apply for a settlement visa for her daughter, who's looking after her daughter now, her grand mother? you know your wife needs to show she has custody and 'sole responsibility' for her daughter, custody is ok, but if you leave her daughter in the phils for near 3yrs b4 you apply for a visa, you could have problems with the 'sole responsibility' as the embassy could say who ever is looking after her now has it, and not your wife

Many thanks for your reply joebloggs, since my stepdaughter was born my wife moved from Mindanao to Cebu to find work and support financially her daughter and family as the main bread winner, she remained in the only job she found in Cebu working for a family business for the past seven years until she came to London and married with me, she visited her daughter whenever she could and has also kept maintenance receipts to her parents over the years,, I have read the link you sent me and we will try to legally adopt in the Philippines if we find a reasonable priced Attorney so we do not have problems later when it comes for my stepdaughter to aquire if she wants dual Ph / British nationality , anyway when we find an Attorney and if I manage to legally adopt her in the Ph , then I suppose it will be easier to get her a UK Visa . What do you think ? .

[Jenky]

Like Joe Bloggs says the sooner you get your step-daughter in the UK the better. It was a shame that you did not apply for her visa at the same time as you applied for a fiancee visa for your wife. The longer you leave her in the Phil being looked after by somebody else the easier it will be for the embassy to give you a problem. And also she is seven now and i presume is already going to school in the phil. How good is her English/Spanish? she is still young enough now to pick up a new language without much difficulty in school but the longer you wait the tougher it will become for her. I got married in the Phil and applied for a spouse visa for my wife and step-daughter at the same time. All you have to do is prove that your wife has sole responsibility for her child. I needed an annulment to do that but as her dad has passed away providing that you can prove that then i dont see a problem. I asked the attorney who did our annulment about adopting my step daughter in the Philippines and was told by her that if you have the money, are prepared to wait a very long time and visit the Phil several times then you can do it. She said "it is better to try and adopt her in your own country" but i never looked into this. Anyway whatever you do you will never be able to change the name on her Filipino birth certificate to yours. So i am planning to change my step-daughters name to mine by deed poll and then when we apply for ILR and eventually citizenship her UK passport will be in that name. as one of our friends in the same position has already done. My advice to you is just get her here asap, get her settled in a school and worry about names and adoption afterwards

[Eliot]

Dear Jenky

Many thanks for your kind reply , We will be taking your advise as well as joeblogs, we´ll leave adoption aside and concentrate on a Visa to bring my step daughter as soon as we can to the UK, I was under the asumption that we were unable to bring her with us until my wife passed the two years trial Visa period that she was given soon after we got married in London when she arrived on a Fiance visa, this is what I read on the Home Office Immigration Border Control website , it stated she could only bring her over to the UK once she was given ILR, maybe in your case was different because you got married in the Phil and your wife arrived in the UK with a spousal visa. Thanks again for your kind advise, it has been very useful.