The immigration office wants a proof of the sole custody - How can I do it?

Question

hi  again Wefugee team,

just wanted to ask about alleine sorgerecht. My situation is like this. Im still in good terms with the Father of my daughter, because we are not married and our daughter is not German. We dont have anymore choice how can i get the Father of my child here in Germany. He travel here every 3 months he is using his 90days free visa so he can see his daughter. He still doesnt have work and im the only one in the moment providing for us.
The latest reply i get from Auslanderbehörde, bcoz our Einbürgerung is on process, is i should nachweisen my alleine Sorgerecht bcoz of our situation. How can i nachweisen that i have alleine Soregerecht to my daughter? we have Vaterschaft und Sorgerechterklärung but i cannot seebif there states i have already alleinige sorgerecht bcoz we are not married when my daughter was born. Please i need guidance so i can finish what the Behörde asking from me. Thank you

Answer 1

Hello and thank you for reaching out to us again!

Here some general information of the declaration of custody:

The declaration of custody (Sorgerechtserklärung) is a declaration of intent by the parents to the youth welfare office or a notary that they will take joint custody of the child. It is necessary if the parents are unmarried at birth. Because then the mother has sole custody. If both parents are already married when the child is born, they automatically have joint custody. In this case, a declaration of custody is not necessary.

I am not an expert on family law, but it sounds to me that you might have stated the joint custody already since you "have Vaterschaft and Sorgerechtserklärung". Since there seem to be some apects unclear, I recommend you to get in touch with a refugee/migration counselling office (you may use this search engine to find a service in your area). Together you could check your documents and they can also support you with the naturalisation process.

In any case, please also don't hesitate to get back to us with any further questions.

All the best,

Meike