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How Do I Apply to Bring a Foreign-Born Orphan to the US?
Who is Considered an Orphan? Who is Considered an Orphan? Who is eligible to file an orphan petition? Where Can I Find the Law? Read our information sheet on the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000. How Do I Apply? Should I do "advance processing" if I've already identified the child?It is generally advisable for all prospective adoptive parents to do advance processing. You should do advance processing even if you are traveling to the country where the child is located and will file an orphan petition at an overseas Immigration office (or at an American consulate or embassy if there is no Immigration office in the country). By completing advance processing, you will ensure that BCIS has already processed the application that relates to your ability to provide a proper home environment and your suitability as a parent before you adopt a child in a foreign country. This is important, because you will not be allowed to bring a child that you have adopted to the United States if you are found to be unable to provide that child with a proper home environment or you are found unsuitable as a parent. What kind of information about myself and my spouse will I, as the petitioner, need to provide to the BCIS? You must provide proof of U.S. citizenship. If you are married and living in the United States, you must provide evidence of your spouse's U.S. citizenship or lawful immigration status as well as proof that you are married and that any previous marriages ended legally. You must submit a complete and current home study within prescribed time limits. You may also have to prove that you comply with the preadoption requirements of the state in which you will live with your adopted child. You must submit the required filing fee for your application, and be aware that each adult member of the household must be fingerprinted by the BCIS. (Please refer to The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adoptive Children (document M-249N, revised September, 2000) for specific information on this question). Questions and answers about Fingerprinting Procedures in the Adoption Application Process A: No, there is no need for you to be fingerprinted again. Your application for a specific child was approved. If you file another I-600A application to adopt another child, you will need to be fingerprinted at that time. Q: I filed an I-600A and an I-600 application in your office. The I-600A was approved in December of 2002, and the I-600 was approved in February of 2003. My child will be brought into the U.S. in April of 2003. My fingerprints, taken when I filed my I-600A, expire in March of 2003. Should I be reprinted? A. No, you do not need to be printed again. You were able to file your I-600A and your I-600, and get approvals on both within the 15 months that your prints were valid. Q. My I-600A was approved in December of 2002, but I had my fingerprints taken in January of 2002 when I filed my application. That would mean that my prints will expire in April of 2003. I plan to bring my child home in late March of 2003. Should I be printed again, just in case? A: Yes, if you will be filing an I-600 application within 30 days of your fingerprint expiration, it is recommended that you be printed again. Q: I brought in my I-600A application in October of 2002, and it was approved in March of 2003. If I don’t know when I will be filing my I-600, should I be re-fingerprinted this summer so that I can be assured that my prints will remain valid for the duration of my approval. A: No, it is best if you wait until you are certain that your prints will expire before having them taken again. Thirty (30) days before expiration is plenty of time to have prints taken again. Q: If I do need to be re-fingerprinted, will I need to pay the fee? A: Yes, if you need to be re-fingerprinted you will need to pay the $50 fingerprinting fee for each adult member of your household being re-fingerprinted. Please note, the fingerprint fee cannot be paid at the Application Support Center (ASC) where your fingerprints are taken. The fingerprint fee must be paid at your local Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) office. When you go to the BCIS office to be scheduled for fingerprints, bring your I-171H approval notice with you. You will then be provided with a referral letter/appointment notice to appear at the ASC for fingerprinting. Q: How will I know that my fingerprint files are about to expire? A: Your fingerprint clearances files expire 15 months after that the date that the BCIS received a response from the FBI. This is approximately 15 months from the date that you were fingerprinted Q: I am planning to travel overseas to file my I-600. Can I wait and be fingerprinted at the Embassy or Consulate? A: Yes, you can. You should be aware that the fingerprint clearance process for persons fingerprinted overseas takes much more time than it does for those who are fingerprinted in the United States. If your fingerprints have expired, or will expire before your date of travel, you should contact your local office to be fingerprinted again so that your fingerprints can be processed sooner. What kind of information about the child will I need to provide to the BCIS? You must provide:
(Please refer to The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adoptive Children (document M-249N, revised September, 2000) for more specific information on this question). Can I adopt a foreign-born orphan and bring him/her to the U.S. without involving the BCIS? There is no way an orphan can legally immigrate to the U.S. without BCIS processing. Can I adopt a child from any country in the world? Countries experiencing social or political upheaval. The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services shares your concern for the children of countries experiencing social or political upheaval. However, adopting children from a country in crisis is usually not a feasible way to assist them. There are a number of reasons for this. During times of crisis, it can be exceptionally difficult to fulfill the legal requirements for adoption of the child's country of origin. This is especially true when civil authority breaks down. Correspondingly, it can be very difficult to gather documents necessary to fulfill the legal requirements of the immigration law of the United States. Also, in a crisis situation, it can be extremely difficult to determine if children whose parents are missing are truly orphans. It is not uncommon in a hostile situation for parents to send their children out of the area, or to become separated during an evacuation. Even when children have been truly orphaned or abandoned by their parents, they are often taken in by other relatives. International conventions place a strong preference on keeping children within extended family units and within their culture as opposed to uprooting the child completely. Finally, corruption and lawlessness are more likely in such countries. This increases the risk that you may be provided with false documents or otherwise taken advantage of as you attempt to adopt a child. For these reasons, individuals considering adoption from a country in crisis should proceed with extreme caution. They should review the Department of State's website and contact their local BCIS office early in the process to avoid disappointment at not being able to complete the adoption and emigration of a child. Countries that do not permit adoption Some countries do not permit adoption and will grant legal custody only so long as the applicant for custody resides in that country. This is often true in countries that apply Islamic law. Children from such countries do not qualify for immigrant status in the U.S. Where Can I File My Application? You should file your advanced processing application with the BCIS office that serves the area where you live. Please see our BCIS field office home page for more information on BCIS office locations. Forms and BCIS' guide to orphan petitions are available by calling 1-800-870-3676, or by submitting a request through our forms by mail system. For further information on filing fees, please see BCIS filing fees. Also, please see our fingerprints for more information on BCIS fingerprinting procedures. If I am a U.S. citizen, will the child I adopt automatically become a citizen too? Presently, adoption of a foreign-born child does not guarantee the child's eligibility to immigrate to the United States. If the orphan petition is approved, the child is considered to be an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen and the child can get an immigrant visa right away without being put on a visa waiting list. The child still must qualify for an immigrant visa just like any other foreign-born person. For example, the child may be inadmissible if he or she has a contagious disease of public health significance. When an orphan enters the United States with an immigrant visa, the child is considered to be a lawful permanent resident of the United States, not a U.S. citizen. However, in some situations, a child will automatically become a United States citizen immediately upon admission into the United States as a lawful permanent resident.For more information on citizenship, please see our Naturalization webpage. How Do I Find out the Status of My Application? Can I Appeal? Can Anyone Help Me? Frequently Asked Questions Please look at our recent press release statement on BCIS’ Review of Orphan Petition Processing in Vietnam. The State Department Website also has more information on international adoptions. You may also refer to information provided at the June 2002 INS International Conference on Adoption. Copyright © 1999-2002 American Immigration LLC, ILW.COM
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