Passport to Paternity: One Man Receives DNA Test, Long-lost Daughter for Father’s Day
A Mountain View, Calif., man will finally be able to celebrate this Father’s Day after a 15-year-long battle to find and secure U.S. citizenship for his long-lost daughter from the Philippines. To celebrate Father’s Day, DNA Diagnostics Center paid off his DNA testing fees, just days before his daughter’s deadline for immigration was up.
Michael Skipwith knew he had fathered a daughter while stationed at Subic Naval Base in the Philippines in 1992; his child was due to be born in November that year, but in October, Skipwith was transferred from Subic and never heard from the mother of his child again. He spent ten years searching for his daughter Michelle, and another five years petitioning American Citizen Services for her citizenship.
The last step in the immigration application process was a DNA test that would prove that Skipwith and Michelle, now 16, are in fact father and daughter–a fact American Citizen Services requested to be biologically proven through a DNA test before they would approve the application for immigration.
On June 6, Michael Skipwith received a phone call from DNA Diagnostics Center, the DNA laboratory he initially contacted in April to perform this requested immigration DNA test. DDC had paid off the remaining balance on his case’s account as part of their annual “Father’s Day for All Fathers” campaign. Skipwith’s previous balance was reduced to zero, and DDC further assisted him by immediately forwarding the DNA test results to the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines capital of Manila.
“I’ve spent a lot of money in the past five, six years, thousands of dollars I just didn’t have,” Skipwith says. “I wasn’t able to pay for the test all at once. Last week, the U.S. Embassy said if we didn’t have the results by the 12th of June, we would have to reapply. Then Jason (from DDC) calls, and he just wanted to forgive the whole balance. He was the greatest luck we’ve had, because all they (U.S. Immigration Services) were waiting on was the DNA. Now they are ready to issue her the Passport, and she can apply for citizenship.”
DDC does not release DNA test results until the testing fee balance has been paid off, which meant that Skipwith and his daughter’s immigration case could not move forward. Based on Skipwith’s case history and financial circumstance, as well as the looming June 12 deadline for his daughter’s immigration paperwork, DDC decided he was the perfect candidate for their annual “Father’s Day for All Fathers” balance relief program that DDC spearheads every June.
“When forgiving balances before Father’s Day, we hope to contact those with a great need and Mr. Skipwith certainly fell into that category. His years of determination show his strong desire to provide his daughter the opportunities being an American citizen brings,” Client Care Manager Jason Judd said. “It was our pleasure to not only perform the test, but also to ensure he received the results before the deadline.”
Skipwith will be reunited with his daughter for the first time this summer. He leaves for a trip to the Philippines on June 27. Michelle will not move to the U.S. with him right away, Skipwith says, but will wait until her academic year in the Philippines is over.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 4:24 pm and is filed under DNA Paternity Testing.
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