Foreign Adoptions

Many prospective adoptive parents look to other countries in order to adopt a child. If a couple (or an individual) is seeking a child through this route, it is best to work with an agency or an attorney experienced in foreign adoptions with particular experience in the country from which the child is being sought. The adoptive parents will have to deal not only with U.S. regulations, but also with regulations of the country from which the child comes.

Depending on how the adoption is set up, the child might be adopted by the American couple in the country where the child was born and then brought to the United States, or the child might be brought to the United States with adoption proceedings taking place in an American court. Either way, entry of the child into the United States will need to be cleared by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).

The INS requires that the adoptive parents have a home study by a licensed social worker and that the child receive a medical exam before being brought into the United States.

Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, children adopted abroad become U.S. citizens automatically provided certain conditions are met, including:

• The child has at least one United States citizen parent (by birth or naturalization);


• The child is under 18 years of age;


• The child is currently residing permanently in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the United States citizen parent;  and


• The child is a lawful permanent resident.