Is my wife's son eligible for Citizenship?

[Longhorn]

Thanks Leon, OhCanadiana.

I started to fill out the forms and collecting additional documentation to complete the PR application for both my wife and dependent son.

However, I'm still unsure whether the documentation I'm including (Kevin's original birth certificate where no father is recorded, attorney's deed where paternal recognition is performed assigning Kevin my last name, modified birth certificate post-paternal recognition) to prove our child's custody will be sufficient in the eyes of CIC, and I think is because none of those documents have the word "custody" or any similar terms in them....

Am I worrying too much over this? Will this be sufficient to CIC to establish our son's custody and appease CIC's concern that the child's natural (biological) father may one day appear down the road and claim paternity?

We're now considering the adoption route just because we're not willing to give the impression to the Canadian government that we're trying to illegally remove Kevin from his natural father's hold, which of course is not the case and we're ready to do whatever it takes to prove it to CIC.

Has anyone in this forum gone through something similar to our situation and successfully concluded their immigration process? We'd love hear your opinions and advice.

Thanks.

 

[OhCanadiana]

IANAL but let me lay out my understanding of the facts of your case and implications as I see them.

As I understand them, the facts are:
- You are a Canadian citizen
- Kevin is your wife's natural son and you've been married for 9 years (since Kevin was 3 years old)
- Kevin has no Father listed on his birth certificate
- The presumed biological Father has had no contact with Kevin since your now-wife got pregnant
- You have gone through a legal procedure called "paternal recognition" in Panama whereby the child acquired your last name by means of an act of attorney. "Under Panamanian jurisdiction, a so-called paternal recognition is a de facto assignment of custody to the party performing the recognition."

There's essentially two questions you are concerned with:

1. Who is Kevin's Father for the Family Information Form?
It seems that the answer is either (i) Father: unknown (to match the birth certificate), or (ii) you
This is contingent on whether under Panamanian law you become the Father or not as legal implication of the 'paternal recognition.' Ask your Panamanian lawyer this question and have him include it in the opinion letter he'll give you. You can then add in an explanatory note listing the name of the presumed biological Father and briefly explaining the situation so that you disclose everything and there can never be any questions re misrepresentation.
Based on my understanding of the facts, I would find it hard to believe that they are going to worry about a potential biological Father who skipped town 12 (or really 13) years ago, who isn't listed on the birth certificate, and whose rights were terminated (or at least custody legally removed and transitioned to you under Panamanian law) when you stepped up and did the 'paternal recognition.'

2. Who has custody of Kevin?
From the facts you shared, Panamanian law is clear on this point:

I've spoken to an attorney about the situation of my stepson's custody (I dislike both words because I believe they are irrelevant for the reality of our situation/relationship) and he confirms that under panamanian jurisdiction, a so-called paternal recognition is a de facto assignment of custody to the party performing the recognition, in our case that would be me, the one who signed the document that resulted in the assignation of my last name to my wife's son, and by which act I became the legal representative and joint custodian of the child.

IANAL, but it seems clear enough to me! I would consider getting an opinion letter to include in your application to avoid follow-up questions but wouldn't overthink it too much (as we are all prone to do).

In general, I find that it's much more about laying out the facts very clearly for a stranger to be able to understand the specifics very quickly. You seem to have dotted your i's and crossed your t's with legal counsel (which is important to have gotten) so now get the opinion in writing to cover these points (in English if possible) and submit the app

If you want to get folks' stories you may want to ask the question over on the family forum side - the cases I can think of right now haven't yet been completed so they are less likely to give you comfort (http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/family-class-sponsorship-b5.0/).

 

[Longhorn]

IANAL but let me lay out my understanding of the facts of your case and implications as I see them.

As I understand them, the facts are:
- You are a Canadian citizen
- Kevin is your wife's natural son and you've been married for 9 years (since Kevin was 3 years old)
- Kevin has no Father listed on his birth certificate
- The presumed biological Father has had no contact with Kevin since your now-wife got pregnant
- You have gone through a legal procedure called "paternal recognition" in Panama whereby the child acquired your last name by means of an act of attorney. "Under Panamanian jurisdiction, a so-called paternal recognition is a de facto assignment of custody to the party performing the recognition."

....

OhCanadiana, you've got it nailed!! Those are exactly the facts and you also have an excellent grasp of my concerns, and honestly my concerns come up because of some folks that I've spoken to about our situation who have offered their "expert" opinion as to what the paternal recognition really is about, so they have managed to confuse me somehow, I guess I shouldn't be paying much attention to them in the first place!

Anyways, I really really appreciate your analysis and sound opinion, so we'll proceed with what we already have and really carefully craft a complete history of our situation so that the reviewing officer completely sees the whole picture and no objection could be raised.

I'll be coming back to this thread or perhaps open a new one on the Spousal sponsorship section to follow up on our application.

Thanks very much to both Leon and ohCanadiana for your great help!

 

[OhCanadiana]

OhCanadiana, you've got it nailed!! Those are exactly the facts and you also have an excellent grasp of my concerns, and honestly my concerns come up because of some folks that I've spoken to about our situation who have offered their "expert" opinion as to what the paternal recognition really is about, so they have managed to confuse me somehow, I guess I shouldn't be paying much attention to them in the first place!

Anyways, I really really appreciate your analysis and sound opinion, so we'll proceed with what we already have and really carefully craft a complete history of our situation so that the reviewing officer completely sees the whole picture and no objection could be raised.

I'll be coming back to this thread or perhaps open a new one on the Spousal sponsorship section to follow up on our application.

Thanks very much to both Leon and ohCanadiana for your great help!

Glad it helped - just repeating the facts (sometimes it's helpful to have them all laid out in front of you )

I think that the following is exactly the reason why it would be worth including an opinion letter from your lawyer - 'paternal recognition' probably varies between jurisdictions (at least according to the internet) so you want to avoid any confusion from the VO when they quickly review your application.

OhCanadiana, you've got it nailed!! Those are exactly the facts and you also have an excellent grasp of my concerns, and honestly my concerns come up because of some folks that I've spoken to about our situation who have offered their "expert" opinion as to what the paternal recognition really is about, so they have managed to confuse me somehow, I guess I shouldn't be paying much attention to them in the first place!

 

[Longhorn]

Glad it helped - just repeating the facts (sometimes it's helpful to have them all laid out in front of you )

I think that the following is exactly the reason why it would be worth including an opinion letter from your lawyer - 'paternal recognition' probably varies between jurisdictions (at least according to the internet) so you want to avoid any confusion from the VO when they quickly review your application.

Absolutely right! Thanks again!

 

[OhCanadiana]

Absolutely right! Thanks again!

Good luck with your application!