Dear Mrs Macaulay,

I am of Jamaican nationality, and now a United States (US) citizen. My son migrated with me in 2016, and has always lived with me solely for all of his 14 years. His father and I have never been married. I have applied for my son’s US passport, and his father has signed the consent form they requested. Now they are requiring me to show that I have had sole custody before the US migration, and beyond. I have 90 days to get this done. What can I do?

It is clear from your letter that you’ve had the sole custody, care and control of your son throughout his life. And what is more important is that at the time you both emigrated, your son’s status must have been checked by US immigration and determined to be acceptable, that is to say that you indeed had sole custody of your child, and care and control, and in addition the full consent of his biological father.

I am therefore surprised that they are again asking you to prove that you have sole custody. Is his father also in the US, and has he given an affidavit sworn before a notary public stating that you have always had custody from birth up to the time you both left for the US, and all the time that you and he have been there? Did the father say that he has never had custody or care and control? If not, you must ask to have this done.

If the father is in Jamaica, ask that he go to the Family Court in his parish and explain the situation that the US immigration officials by their request has placed on the future of his son, who has never lived with him at any time in his life. He must state that he is in full agreement with his son becoming a US citizen, and to continue living with his mother in the USA, and that he wishes to apply for the court to make a declaration that the mother of the child has had sole custody and care and control of your son from his birth to the current date.

Meantime, I assume that you have made a sworn statement before a notary public about the facts they have required of you. If not, please have this done immediately with a lawyer’s assistance and submit it within the allotted 90 days assigned to you. You can also have someone not related to you — if possible a teacher or the family doctor who used to treat your child before the immigration, or a like person, do the same — an affidavit in the same manner as I have stated, and submit all these to the authorities.

I should explain that sole custody of your son means that you alone made all decisions relating to his upbringing, his schooling, his religious practice, all his medical decisions and that you took care of all his material needs yourself. Care and control means that you and he lived together and that you cared for him everyday and provided his daily needs and protected him and watched over his welfare.

Unfortunately, these are all I can advise you to do about the request. If the US is not satisfied by the affidavits you have submitted within the 90 days, they would then inform you of this fact and I dare say, they would inform you if you need to send a declaration made by a court of law which would have to bear the seal of the court and the judge’s signature or that of the clerk of court’s.

I hope that I have clarified matters for you, and that you can have the father do what I have suggested within the time, and that you succeed.

All the very best to you and your son.

I must take this opportunity to wish you and your son, my editor and all my readers, and all the staff at the Observer a very merry, peaceful and safe Christmas and a very happy, blessed and fulfilling 2024.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.