How to Bring Your Adopted Child to the U.S.

Children whom you adopt from overseas are not automatically entitled to enter the United States. You will need to comply with certain immigration rules to get them into the U.S. to join you. Exactly which rules you'll need to follow depend on:

• the country you're adopting from, and
• whether the child is considered an orphan, as defined by U.S. immigration law.

We'll get into the details in this article.

Which Children Are Recognized as Adoptable Orphans Under U.S. Immigration Law?

To be classified as an orphan, a child must ordinarily have:

• no legal parents, due to their death or disappearance or having been abandoned by or separated from both parents, or
• a sole legal parent who is incapable of providing care.

Children who are voluntarily relinquished to anyone other than an authorized provider of care for orphans, such as a government child welfare agency, are ordinarily not considered orphans under U.S. immigration law.

Bringing an Adopted Orphan to the U.S. From a Hague Convention Country

There is an important international agreement on adoption procedures called the "Hague Convention." Its rules apply only in countries that have agreed to follow them. The United States is one of those countries. As a result, if you're thinking about adopting a child from a Hague Convention country, those are the rules and procedures you will need to follow.

First, if you're adopting from a Hague Convention country, you will need to choose an Adoption Service Provider (ASP) that is accredited or approved by both the U.S. and the country from which you plan to adopt.

In Hague Convention countries, it is generally prohibited for prospective adoptive parents to have contact with the adopted child's birth parents, legal guardians, or the orphanage in which the child is living, prior to the adoption. The process is designed for the ASP to be the normal intermediary. The one exception to this rule applies to the adoption of a child who is related to the adoptive parents, though the child must still meet the classification criteria for an orphan under U.S. immigration law. (If the child is not a legal orphan, there is another process, discussed later in this article, which might work.)

The ASP will first determine whether the adoptive parent(s) meet the basic criteria for international adoption. For example, at least one prospective parent must be a U.S. citizen; and the other (if it's a married couple) must, at a minimum, be in lawful immigration status. Also, if the couple is not married, a parent must be at least 25 years old before filing the petition to classify the adopted child as your relative (Form I-800, discussed below). You don't need to be age 25 or up if you are married, but you and your spouse must go through the immigration and adoption process together.

Adoptive parents must also comply with certain processing requirements, which are designed to protect the orphan. For example, you, your spouse, and any adults (18 years old or older) living in your household will need to be fingerprinted and undergo conduct, background, and criminal checks. You will also be the subject of a "home study" by an ASP authorized or approved by the U.S. Department of State.

Steps in the Immigration Process From Hague Convention Countries

Step one of the immigration process is to file Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country. (If you're single, you can do this as soon as you turn 24.) You submit this form, with supporting documents (such as proof of U.S. citizenship and of a foreign-born spouse's immigration status and a marriage certificate), to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). You'll need to pay a filing fee and have your "biometrics" (fingerprints) taken. Your home study must be less than six months old, and is submitted with the I-800A unless the state you live in must approve the home study, in which case the state will forward it to USCIS after approval. A specific child does not have to be identified in order to start this part of the process.

If USCIS approves your I-800A, you can then file with USCIS a Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative, for the specific child you have identified, in coordination with your ASP. Form I-800 focuses on the child's situation and eligibility as a Hague Convention adoptee. The child must be an orphan and a habitual resident in a Hague Convention country and you must be a habitual resident in the United States.

There is no filing fee for the first child, but if you're adopting more than one child, you'll need to pay a separate additional fee for each. However, if the children are siblings before the proposed adoption, no additional filing fee is required.

You must file the I-800 before the child's 16th birthday; or 18th birthday in some cases, if you're also adopting a younger sibling. Also, there is some protection against USCIS taking so long with I-800A approvals that children will turn 16 before the process is completed. You can file the I-800 later than the child's 16th birthday if you filed your Form I-800A for a child between 15 and 16, so long as you file the Form I-800 within 180 days of the day on which USCIS approves the Form I-800A.

If your I-800 petition looks approvable, USCIS will notify the U.S. embassy or consulate. You will submit the immigrant visa application to the U.S. embassy or consulate and they will provide instructions regarding other requirements of the immigrant visa. Once all the initial requirements are met, the U.S. embassy or consulate will notify the appropriate government entity in the Hague Convention country that the adoption may proceed.

At that point you will be able to complete the adoption or custody in anticipation of adoption; a process which is different in every country. After the adoption or custody is granted, the U.S. embassy or consulate will issue final approval of the I-800 and issue the child a visa to come to the United States.

Uniting With the Adopted Child

You can travel overseas and complete the adoption there, or you can bring the child to the United States to complete the final adoption. Either way, the child will receive an immigrant visa and green card. Some children adopted from overseas automatically become U.S. citizens upon entry into the U.S. on their immigrant visa. If your child qualifies for that, you can apply for a U.S. passport for them.

Bringing an Adopted Orphan to the U.S. From a Non-Hague Convention Country

If you want to bring in an adopted orphan from a country that did not sign onto the Hague Convention, it's still possible to do so, if you meet certain qualifications and follow a different set of rules.

First, you must be a U.S. citizen. If you're not married, you must be at least 25 years old before filing the petition to classify your adopted child as your relative (the Form I-600, discussed below). If your spouse lives in the U.S., your spouse must have lawful immigration status.

You don't need to be age 25 if you are married, but you and your spouse must go through the immigration and adoption process together.

You must comply with certain processing requirements, which are designed to protect the orphan. For example, you, your spouse, and any adults (18 years old or older) in your household will need to be fingerprinted and undergo conduct, background, and criminal checks. You will also be the subject of a "home study" by a licensed adoption agency or a home study preparer.

Steps in the Immigration Process for Adopting From a Non-Hague Country

If you want to start the immigration process before you've identified an orphan to adopt, you can file with USCIS a Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition. (If you're single, you can do this as soon as you turn 24.) The information you provide on the I-600A, along with the results of your background check and home study, enables USCIS to determine whether you are qualified as a prospective adoptive parent or parents. You'll need to pay a filing fee, which also covers having your "biometrics" (fingerprints) taken.

Getting your I-600A approved can be the most time-consuming part of the process, so if you are eager to adopt, you will want to file it as soon as possible. However, it's not a good idea to go to the foreign country before getting your I-600A approved, because you can't be sure how long it will take or whether it will be approved.

Once USCIS approves your Form I-600A, you can identify an orphan child to adopt. After that, you must file with USCIS a Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative. Under certain circumstances, parents with an approved I-600A might be eligible to file the I-600 directly with the U.S. embassy or consulate. There is no filing fee if you're filing in connection with a recent, approved I-600A. The Form I-600 focuses on the child's situation and eligibility as an orphan.

Be aware that in non-Hague convention countries, the foreign country's determination of a child's status as an orphan might not meet the requirements to be classified as an orphan under U.S. immigration law, as outlined at the beginning of this article. For this reason, you might want to work with a U.S. agency that specializes in adoptions from that particular country.

You must, in most cases, file the I-600 before the child's 16th birthday. The adoption itself can occur after the child turns16, but only if the I-600 was filed before that date. The age limit is raised to 18 if the orphan is the birth sibling of another foreign national child whom you've adopted and brought or will bring to the United States.

If you have already finalized the adoption, have legal custody of the child, or your I-600A has expired, you can file the I-600A and I-600 simultaneously.

Uniting With an Overseas Child

If you filed your I-600 domestically with USCIS, then once it approves your I-600, it will notify the appropriate U.S. embassy or consulate so you can complete the immigrant visa process abroad and the State Department can issue the child a visa to come to the United States. It doesn't matter if you complete the adoption overseas or in the United States: the child will be issued an immigrant visa either way.

Some children adopted from overseas automatically become U.S. citizens upon entry into the U.S. on their immigrant visa. If your child qualifies for this, you can apply for a U.S. passport for them.

Bringing a Non-Orphan Adopted Child to the U.S.

If the child you are adopting does not meet the U.S. immigration law definition of an orphan, discussed at the beginning of this article, you might be able to file a petition to classify them as a relative who is eligible for an immigrant visa if certain conditions are met, even if, in some cases, the child is from a Hague Convention country. This process might also be easier than the processes discussed above if you are a U.S. citizen who has been living abroad for several years with an adopted child or a child in your legal custody, but now you plan to move back to the United States.

There are several eligibility requirements.

First, you must have the adoption finalized before the child's 16th birthday. The age limit is raised to 18 if you also adopted a birth sibling of the child and the birth sibling is immigrating either as an orphan or as an adopted child who is not an orphan or Hague adoptee as described above.

Second, you must have lived with your adopted child, and the child must have been in your legal custody, for at least two years, either before or after the adoption, but before submitting the visa petition. Moreover, if the adoption took place in a Hague Convention country, or the child is or was habitually resident in a Hague Convention country prior to the adoption, the two-year period of residence and custody can't be in the United States.

The law does not say you have to be a U.S. citizen to bring an adopted child to the U.S., but the practical difficulties of living with a child for two years overseas eliminates most lawful permanent residents (green card holders) from eligibility, because they must maintain U.S. residence to keep their green card.

If you meet these requirements, you can file with USCIS a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, to classify the adopted child as your "child" who is eligible for an immigrant visa. See Filling Out, Submitting Form I-130 for Unmarried, Minor Child of U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident. If the I-130 is approved, the U.S. embassy or consulate can issue an immigrant visa to your adopted child.

Some children adopted from overseas automatically become U.S. citizens upon entry into the U.S. on their immigrant visa. If your child qualifies, you can apply for a U.S. passport for them.

Getting Legal Help

The determination as to whether a child can be classified as an orphan, and the procedures described here, are complicated and the paperwork is intensive. There are also numerous country-specific requirements related to adoption. It can be heartbreaking and expensive for a parent to get deep into the process of an international adoption only to discover later that something was not done correctly and they cannot bring the child to the United States.

Therefore, you will most likely want to work with an experienced immigration attorney or an agency that facilitates international adoption to help you with many of these steps. Even if you get professional assistance, however, it's worth acquainting yourself with the process that you will be embarking upon.