Single parents in the DV Lottery Program: This guide is for the single parents that are intending to apply for the DV lottery or are selected or they are selectees in the DV lottery.
Categories of Single Parents in the DV Lottery Program
We have two categories of single parents:
Category one: Maybe you have never gotten married in your life, but you have kids and that means that even when getting the kid, delivering the kid, there was no manly figure that was there to claim paternity of the kid or the kids.
Or if you’re a man, the lady gave birth to the kid and left the kid immediately, and therefore you are the custodian of that child as a man.
Category two: You are a single woman because you have a relationship with a man, and therefore you have kids whose birth certificate have the name of the second parent as well as yours. That means that during birth of your kids, that man was there to give you support and claim paternity of that kid.
You are in either of these situations or scenarios and you want to apply for the DV lottery or you have been selected a winner in the DV lottery.
- If you are in either of those scenarios and you are intending to apply for the DV lottery, the first key point that you should note is that you are supposed to apply as a single.
- Applying as a single, you have to add all of your kids. All of your kids must be lined up in the application.
Those two things must be done. If you get successful and you are selected, the process begins. So you proceed the way you did in the application.
When it comes to your kids and immigration, of course, no country will allow anyone to get out of the country with any kid without the consent of both the parents.
For the first case that you are single and your kids, no one came to claim paternity. That means that you have the full custody over your child. That means the children belong to you solely, you alone. No one claims the other parenthood.
In that case, you have nothing to worry about. You don’t need to look for any consent. In any case, whose consent are you looking for? You don’t have anyone claiming paternity.
Even on the birth certificate, there is no indication of the other parent. It is only you. And therefore that means these children belong to you. No consent is needed. You are right to go ahead and immigrate with them. You have the full custody over your children.
But when it comes to the single parent who is maybe in a relationship or was in a relationship and the kids have the second name of the parent in their birth certificates. So there’s someone claiming the parenthood of the children as well. In this case is when you will be required to have the consent of the other parent.
You cannot move out with the children without the consent of the other parent claiming parent hold of the children. It does not mean that it’s a hard process. You just need to get the other parents to sign a consent letter.
It must be a notary consent letter, meaning before an advocate or a court that is signed and stamped by the legal authority that the other parent intends the children to immigrate with you. In this case, you will be required to look for that consent letter and it should be notary, that should be noted.
If you are a single parent, and you have another parent claiming parenthood of the children, then look for his or her consent.
However, there is a second option, if at all you cannot reach the other parent, maybe you were in a relationship long time ago and there’s no way you can access this other parent, then you need to look for the full custody through a court, the full custody of your children. It is called the sole custody.
That means that before a court or an advocate, you will sign the sole custody of your children. It means all of the decisions around your children be imposed on you, be transferred to you.
When you obtain the sole custody over your children, then you have the right to make all decisions, be it academic, be it immigration, about your children, you are allowed to do that. That is the second option.
If at all you cannot reach the other parent in whichever way, then you can go and seek to sign the sole custody of your children and you’ll have all the decisions over your children by yourself without needing any consent letter.
Finally, remember that in this case, if you don’t or you are unable to get the consent letter, you will not be allowed to get out of the country with your children.
Some Questions About Applying As Single Parents In The DV Lottery Program
Question: Is there any advantage applying as a single parent?
Answer: No.
Question: What if I don’t want to initially travel with the kids and later pick them up? Should I tell them so or keep it to myself.
Answer: First, even if you don’t want to go with them, you have to add them in application and also in ds260. And in DS-260 you select not immigrating with them.
Question: I’m the principal applicant and have a husband and daughter, I filled DS-260 with both as my accompany but we got issues with the husband, can I travel alone with daughter, what do I expect on interview because since we separated he won’t be coming, can I remove him?
Answer: First, a consent letter for the kids from him is a must. Second, you can immigrate without him.
Question: Will you be denied visa if you applied as single parent but you want to leave your child behind?
Answer: So long as you included the kid in the application you are safe. You can choose not to immigrate with him. However if you left the kid out, you will be denied visa.
Question: Can you be denied visa if you are married for like 20 or 25 years and you recently got your marriage certificate like this year.
Answer: No you won’t be denied. You did good to get the certificate.
Question: The person on my son birth certificate died some yes back which was my uncle, since the father deny the pregnancy and I don’t have any information about his dead. How am I going to do to have consent letter for my child, can a lawyer sign the consent letter for me?
Answer: A lawyer cannot sign. What you do, get the uncle death certificate. You will be totally safe.
Question: What if one is a widow how do you go about it?
Answer: You use the death certificate of the husband.
Question: If I happen to fill DS-260 form before I give birth and I don’t include my baby, will I be denied visa? or where will I fill baby’s details? Or I can wait to start the process once I give birth?
Answer: You will fill the DS-260 early, and unlock it to add the newborn.
Question: Does the consular at the embassy ask for consent letter during interview or is it at the port of entry you are asked for?
Answer: At the embassy.
I hope this information for the single parents is clear.
DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.