Bahrain - Travel Ban on Children by Husband

No offence, but I don't think this forum is a place for this accept for some kind of support.
British citizens... British Embassy..... Lawyer.
I certainly do not have the knowledge to comment on such a thing.
I do empathise with people in these types of situation, however I certainly would be reluctant to give advice.
On a simple level, the train might have left the platform.
Prior to any action I would have gone to see my family in England on a vacation and waved from the window of the plane.
But hindsight is 20/20 isn't it?
I wish them luck whatever decisions they make.

I too am not aware of what your sister can do. But as a first step, she must seek assistance from the British Embassy.
If the marriage was originally registered under the laws of UK, i am not sure how Bahrain law can apply to divorce/seperation of a UK registered marriage.
Travel bans in Bahrain normally apply to cases of unpaid debts and such financial transactions. i have not heard it apply to cases of marriage and divorce.

The British Embassy will not help.

She needs to get a lawyer and fast.  There are some British lawyers here in Bahrain who deal with this kind of thing.

It is possible for the divorce to be started in Bahrain regardless of whether they are Bahraini or not.

Tell her to get to the lawyers now.

Dear Batmobile,

Not an expert, but 2 sure things :

- Travel ban requires a court order.
- Even if living here, your sister is still a British citizen. I'm not British but I don't think a husband can restrain his wife from travelling, even if they are not divorced. For the custody of the children, the British law will apply, absolutely not the Bahraini one !
As everybody said, seeing a lawyer is the urgent thing to do to make sure she doesn't make any decision that could have a rebound effect later on.

Strength and courage !

Olivier

Hello batmobile,

Married, separated, divorced or whatever else the relationship between the parents may be taking minor children out of ANY country nowadays, that are not accompanied by BOTH parents, requires  them to first of all have a valid passport, secondly they will also require either a notarized letter of consent from the parent who is remaining behind or an Order of a competent Court of Law that permits the travel. Nowadays you can't simply jump on an international flight with kids, you won't even get past airport security. You wouldn't stand a much better chance at a border land crossing either. There is a little thing called the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction that stands in the way of doing that and it does not matter whether the nation you are trying to leave is a signatory nation of the Convention or not. While Bahrain is not a signatory nation the UK is, and even if she were somehow able to get the child(ren) out of the country, the left behind parent could bring on a Hague Convention application back in the UK anyway.

Hague Convention Text:  http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=co … ext&cid=24

While the British Consulate/Embassy will not actively participate in any such plans to spirit children out of a country, they certainly will advise parents on their options and can provide a list of local lawyers. So one should always contact them in any case.

If the father (or any other left behind parent) starts setting up barriers and involves local authorities the taking parent can end up with some extremely serious criminal charges. You should advise your friend not to do anything without first obtaining legal consel and contacting the Embassy.

You may also want to read the following rather frightening webpage on how Bahrain deals with this issue:

http://www.international-divorce.com/ba … ction4.htm

Cheers,
William James Woodward, EB Experts Team

Dear William James,

In France, as long as a kid has his own passport, he can travel with one of his parents and doesn't need any other document. I'm not so sure your assertion is correct.
Furthermore, your link about the "rather frightening webpage on how Bahrain deals with this issue" concerns only couples where one of the parents is Bahraini which is not the case here.

Regards

O.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

I've been travelling on my own with my son back and forth to Bahrain twice in the last 5 months and have not been stopped or asked if my husband has any issues with our travel.

He was asked on our first trip (by the lady at UK customs as we returned) who I was, was I mummy.  He looked at her like she was mad and said "No, she's Sarah!".  We have had no issues with our travel so far.

I have a friend who was advised that she would need various paperwork with her for her travel, but the main reason was that she and her children have different surnames.  She was also told (by UK court) that she does not require the permission of her ex for overseas trips (from the UK) of up to 28 days.

As the others have suggested you are probably best talking to the British embassy and/or a UK lawyer.

Hope this helps

If she still has the children and their passports then she can get on the next flight to UK and fight him from their. He cannot put a travel ban on her. She will only have issues at UK customs if he has spoken to them and warned them, but as they are actually going back to the UK they will do nothing as it's their place of birth.

All the major travel advisory sites also clearly point out that even in the event that a country doesn't have any specific requirements regarding the documents required by one parent only travel with minor children that all airlines certainly do. The vast majority of airlines now have adopted policies that conform to the Transportation Security Administration regulations, which I stated in my first posting, especially any that also have routes to US destination or any US Territories. They generally apply these rules to all of their flights regardless of their point of origin and destination, so as not to jeopardize their ability to operate US flights. One should always check with the individual airline first for the documents they require for international travel of minor children.

While the OP does indicate that "they're all British citizens and non-Muslims" that does not necessarily mean that the father is not also a citizen of Bahrain. As the link clearly points out if that is the case Bahrain does not recognize dual citizenship and that minors automatically obtain citizenship when a parent naturalizes. I'd call that VERY SCARY indeed, given that Bahrain courts rarely ever award custody of minors to dual nationality mothers, even when one is Muslim. If the father is Bahraini then she's in for the battle of her life.

Given everything that is at stake it's certainly not something that she should decide on without first getting legal counsel and advice from the British Embassy beforehand. Certainly not what any reasonable person would do based solely on the advice of any forum board! Not even EB.

Mummy T, I think you'll find that the information you were given from your friend about UK Courts, only applies to mother's who are divorced and have a Court Order granting them full custody.