PLEASE HELP!My son's passport expired, stranded in Singapore

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Post by Mad Scientist » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 3:59 am

k1w1 wrote:I agree it makes sense. I know it definitely doesn't happen in New Zealand though, as my kids got new passports last year and their father did not sign, or even see, a single paper through any of it.

Regardless, these things have an expiry date and when living overseas, parents need to be mindful of that - Singapore would not take kindly to people being here without a valid travel document, and I think the passes would even be cancelled at that point (not sure about that bit). It seems to me that if the parents are not in regular contact it would be something to think about long before this kind of thing happened...

Mate

The word is joint custody. I was trying to find the legal term for it. That is why she is in the mess

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Post by k1w1 » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 7:51 am

I know what joint custody is. That's not the problem. (It's very rare for someone to not have any parental rights after a divorce, as it's not usually in the child's best interests.)

Fact is, she got a passport five years ago, so she must have had contact then. Unless the father has completely disappeared off the face of the earth, then I can't see why she can't track him down via mutual contacts or family members. I'm sure he is liable for child support, so perhaps the family court has an address.

Sadly, parents do just walk off, so there are probably ways around this (perhaps signing an affidavit or something).

Of course, all of this takes time and should have been dealt with long before now, and this is what is actually causing her to panic.

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Post by Mad Scientist » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:05 am

k1w1 wrote:I agree it makes sense. I know it definitely doesn't happen in New Zealand though, as my kids got new passports last year and their father did not sign, or even see, a single paper through any of it.

Regardless, these things have an expiry date and when living overseas, parents need to be mindful of that - Singapore would not take kindly to people being here without a valid travel document, and I think the passes would even be cancelled at that point (not sure about that bit). It seems to me that if the parents are not in regular contact it would be something to think about long before this kind of thing happened...
Kiwi Passport Application too has this section of parental consent for parent or legal guardian and divorced parents for under 16 years old.
As such she has to get her ex hubby to sign off if this is the case . Same goes to OZ law

OZ passport once invalid automatically denies the child student pass in SG as he cannot transfer it to a new one since he has NONE

Anyway why she is in this predicament is for herself to be blame but we are not here to judge what has happenned but try to provide advice the next best step for her :)

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Post by k1w1 » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 3:19 pm

Well, that's very strange because I applied for the mini k1w1's to have new passports just last year, and as my (now ex) husband was not even in the country, his hands went nowhere near it. Not a word about it and the new passports came back just fine... Weird. Maybe they've changed it since then. (It's a good thing if they have, really.)

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Post by Mad Scientist » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 5:10 pm

k1w1 wrote:Well, that's very strange because I applied for the mini k1w1's to have new passports just last year, and as my (now ex) husband was not even in the country, his hands went nowhere near it. Not a word about it and the new passports came back just fine... Weird. Maybe they've changed it since then. (It's a good thing if they have, really.)
I am not sure whether your mini kiwis were a breeze due to the fact that it were up for renewal is factor but if you were to apply for a NEW Kiwi passport for the first time for a minor i.e 16 yrs and below, your witness needs to be known to your child at least for six months. If child comes from a divorce parent, they will need to see legal custody letter and other docs too.

BTW which part of Aoteroa are you from ?

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Post by k1w1 » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 6:08 pm

I just checked again, and nope, only one parent is needed for the application of a NZ passport. Another parent can ask for the child to not be allowed to leave the country but can't stop them having a passport... Definitely no need for custody letters.

I'm from Christchurch, originally, but will live in Wellington when we head home later this year. :)

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Post by Mad Scientist » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 6:18 pm

k1w1 wrote:I just checked again, and nope, only one parent is needed for the application of a NZ passport. Another parent can ask for the child to not be allowed to leave the country but can't stop them having a passport... Definitely no need for custody letters.

I'm from Christchurch, originally, but will live in Wellington when we head home later this year. :)
Thanks for clearing it up
Hurricanes got stolen a win from the Crusaders at overtime. Damn !!it's a draw 26 a piece

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Post by k1w1 » Fri, 02 Apr 2010 7:14 pm

Hmm... Gotta say, I'm not annoyed about that... (You can take the girl outta Canterbury, but taking Canterbury outta the girl is another matter! :wink:)

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