Immigration For Adopted Children

When you decide to adopt a child, you are opening your heart and your home to an underprivileged child. Although you can adopt within the United States, many people turn to international adoptions. This may be to rescue a child from a dangerous area, or give them a better life than they may have in an orphanage. This is a life-changing decision, but once you find a child, you also have to worry about immigration.

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, plays a large role in international, or intercountry, adoptions. First, USCIS looks at your credentials as a parent to see if you are eligible for adopting a child. Once you pass this test, the organization also looks to see if the child is adoptable. After you find the child for you and your family, there are several ways in which you can bring the child over to the United States.

First, if you are U.S. citizen, you can follow either the Hague or Orphan (non-Hague) processes. If the child is from a country that is party to the Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention, you can bring the new family member over immediately after adoption, or even right before adoption for the process to be completed in the U.S. The Orphan process, or non-Hague method, is for children who are not part of the Hague adoption convention. Instead, you must work to prove that the child is indeed an orphan, and that you are suitable parents.

If you are not a U.S. citizen, there is another way that you can adopt a child from abroad. This is called the immediate relative process. The adoption must be completed before the child can be brought to the U.S. This process is helpful for people who want to adopt people over the age of 21, and it can help adopted children in bringing over parents and siblings from other countries.

Adopting a child can be a very complicated process, and immigration plays a large role in bringing your precious new family member over to the United States. If you are looking at international adoption, you should talk to an immigration attorney to learn more about the various processes.