Kai4886

You would need to apply to the UK Courts to ask for formal permission to remove the child from the UK, without the other parent's consent.  The child's father would have joint parental responsibility and so can also put up a defence against you taking the child out of the country, especially if there are grandparents and extended family.  Under the laws of the Hague Convention, to which both the UK and Australia are signed up to, they use the rule of habitual residence of the child, and at the moment, it's definitely the UK. You would need to get a good immigration lawyer to put up a case to prove why it is in the best interests of the child to remove them from the UK.  The other side will scrutinise your proposal carefully, including looking at how stable your relationship is, whether you could afford to support the child for definite, and also looking at how long you and the mother have been together, etc.  Part of this scrutiny will include how solid your job situation is, how definite your visa situation is and all that kind of thing - you would need to ensure you could obtain your visa, etc, before you start the court process.  And be warned, it's not a cheap process.  I think also once you have been granted permission to leave UK, that you have to register the situation with the Australian courts as well.  As Snifter said above, there are other threads on this.  Good luck!

Me and my fiancee want to move to Australia...all my family live there except my father..my fiancee has a son from a previous relationship..hes 3..could we fight to take him if his part time dad disagrees?we could both get great jobs as my company has a base there? Anyone else in the same boat or know of anyone thats managed the move...many thanks..