Is it possible to Adopt a child while on H1B Visa?

Sam2012, I do not think that the plan to start the process here in the US and then go to India for two years would work either, and this for two reasons: 1. On Nov 30, India put a Freeze on new Intercountry Adoption Applications. 2. I am not aware of any agency who ever had H1B clients who would have gone to India for two years. Theoretically, it is possible but when the rubber his the road, you will encounter too many bureaucratic obstacles and it's VERY risky. I would not do it. As Indian citizens with an H1B, you are unfortunately in a very bad position. For some reason, whoever crafted the US immigration laws designed an overkill solution to the problem of a few individuals who pursued questionable adoptions. Even as green card holder, you still cannot adopt internationally. Theoretically, as Indian citizen, the time span from when you apply from an H1B until the time you are citizen and finally get placed with a child can be about 12 years! So this is what we have, and it ain't pretty. You have essentially two choices: 1. Return to India and do the whole adoption there, from A to Z. That means that you give up your livelihood here, your home, your job, your friends, your visa - everything. (I was advised to do that once. I will not cite my answer but it was not pretty). 2. Adopt domestically. That means that you will not adopt a child of Indian descent. You need to think if you are open to that. I have been plugged into adoptions for over eight years and saw only abut four cases with Indian kids. In all but one cases, the birthmother used drugs heavily. In one case, the child was born blind. Some Indians who wish to adopt a child who looks somehow Indian hope to adopt a Hispanic child but honestly, your chances that a Hispanic birthmother will place with you are not so great. First, as obvious immigrants, we may a-priori not be appealing as adoptive parents to a large population here in the United States, let's face it. One issue with Hispanic birthmothers is that they may have an issue with non-Christian religion. If you are open to adopting a child of Marshallese heritage, then that could work out. My daughter is of Marshallese descent, and religion and being an immigrant was not a problem at all. Feel free to PM me.

Hi Sam WizardOfOZ has some good points, and the Wizard has informed me of many good points; so, I agree with a lot of what has been said here. However, I personally intend to follow a different plan of action. I am in a slightly different position in that my GC is expected in the next few months. What I am planning to do is get the GC and then apply for adoption in India. So the time I am waiting, I will be in US. Once the adoption is finalized, I intend to take a 1 -1.5 year leave from my current organization and live in India to meet the 2 year guideline. remember the 2 year guideline is for immigration system (and you can still adopt while being in US). This may easily work for you as you are married (so one of you may spend greater time in India, if need be and bring the child back). I am single, so a bit harder for me. I have not yet tested this strategy but going on the belief that one has to do what one has to do. Wizard's suggestion also sound good if that is what you want to do. Feel free to PM me if you like. Best

Professor, the only thing is that if you leave the US for 2 years, you will lose your GC unless you get an exception granted. The drafters of the current laws that prohibit non-citizens to adopt internationally thought about that point as well. I wonder what their motivation was to go so fiercely after GC holders! They could have solved the problem of illegal adoptions by putting appropriate safety guards in place but no, they just went ahead and made things miserable for all GC holders. About your plan: make sure to file for an exception ahead of time. I thikn your plan is very risky, and things can go terribly wrong. Try go find somebody who actually did something like this. If I was you, I would start calling adoption professionals and see what they say. I see a tremendous amount of technical difficulties to comply with the Hague requirements. For example, how will you e.g. do the required post-placement visits? If you find an agency who ever had a GC client who actually left the country for 2 years - let me know. I never heard of that. It is theoretically possible, and whoever justifies the current laws will tell you stuff like "just go and live 2 years abroad" but in practice, it is not likely that this will work. When I was still a GC holder, I contacted agencies and asked them this question. No agency would agree to even talk with me as a GC holder! They all required citizenship.

Dear WizardofOz, I've been reading you for a while. Thank you so much for helping others and sharing your experience. All the best to you and your big family! We are Russians. My husband has H1B, I have H4. We've applied for GC 3 months ago via our employer. We are thinking about domestic adoption. We live in CT. A lot of adoptions agencies say on their website "at least one parent has to be US Citizen". What is your experience - how to look for an agency that will work with us? What are the right words to say at first when we contact agency? Is it a good idea to start with a lawyer who can explain our rights regarding non-citizen situation OR its anyway up to agency to decide whether to work with us or not? Thank you in advance for your answers! And good luck to anyone on this forum! :cheer: I will be very happy is someone shares their story with a similar situation.

Rori 83: I'm sorry to tell you this, but NO adoption agency or lawyer can help you to adopt internationally if you live in the U.S. and neither spouse is a U.S. citizen. Remember that international adoption actually involves two steps -- the adoption, itself, and the immigration of the adopted child to the parents' country of residence. In your case, the problem is with immigration. The only way you can bring a child home to the U.S. without living overseas with him/her for two years is by obtaining an adoption visa (IR-3, IR-4, or IH) for him/her. This is true whether the adoption is finalized overseas, or whether (as with India, Korea, and a few other countries) you bring the child home under a decree of guardianship, for adoption here. And an adoption visa is given ONLY if at least one spouse is a U.S. citizen, according to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. There are no exceptions. If anyone offers to help you adopt from India or some other country and says "No problem!" when you mention that you and your spouse are not U.S. citizens, run the other way! The person is either a scammer or very ignorant of U.S. law. Domestically, it is not always easy to adopt if you are not a citizen, and particularly if you are not a legal permanent resident with a green card. Unfortunately, adoption is not a "right", under the law, and agencies do not have to work with you, based on your citizenship status. The reasons are simple: 1. Today, most American birthmothers want some degree of openness in their adoptions. Agencies know that most birthmothers will decline to place their child with parents who are likely to move back to their country of citizenship, because they fear losing contact with their child forever. Most birthmothers won't be able to afford trips to see their child overseas, and know that once a family moves overseas, even letters, emails, and phone calls may cease. 2. Good agencies try to keep in touch with families after placement, to ensure that both child and new parents are adjusting well and that no signs of serious problems are present. They know that non-citizens, and especially non-green card holders, are likely to return to their home countries and that it will be difficult to maintain such oversight. Birthmothers also want to be sure that their children will be well cared for, and that someone will be likely to find out and take action if their child is being abused or neglected. They've heard the horror stories. As a result, some agencies decline to work with families where the spouses are non-citizens or non-permanent residents. In general, prospective parents who are not U.S. citizens will do best if they adopt either: 1. Through the U.S. foster care system, where the parental rights of the birthparents may already have been terminated, so that they are not involved in the selection of the adoptive family, or; 2. Through private adoption, where the prospective parents identify a birthmother through networking among friends, relatives, doctors, and so on, and work with a social worker or an attorney to handle the legal formalities. With adoption from foster care, you will have the most luck if you are open to children who are of school age, are in sibling groups of three or more, or have special needs. These children are hard to place, and foster care agencies will be less worried about your citizenship than about whether you can meet the children's needs. They will ask you, however, how these children will fare if you bring them to your country of origin someday, because many countries have less openness to transracial adoption, adoption of children with disabilities, and so on. It may be difficult for them to get an appropriate education, to find a marriage partner, or to obtain a good job if they are "different". If you are looking for a young, relatively healthy child in foster care, you will generally find that agencies give first preference to citizens. Since there are relatively few healthy infants, and especially White infants, in foster care, they will usually be adopted very quickly by U.S. citizens. But if you get the foster care agencies to know you and see your qualifications, and see that you would be great parents who are likely to remain in the U.S., you could possibly prevail. Private adoption is often the best option for non-traditional families of all kinds, and certainly for non-citizen families. In private adoption, you find a birthmother by networking with family, friends, coworkers, doctors, and clergy. The birthmother can see that you have ties in the U.S. and will be likely to stay around and keep in contact. She may be of your own ethnicity and glad to find a culturally sensitive home for the child she cannot parent. And she may simply decide that you would be great parents. At that point, you would work with a social worker in your jurisdiction for your homestudy, and hire a lawyer to make sure that everything is done legally. Private adoption works best if there is a fairly large community of people of your ethnicity in the area, or if you are open to other ethnicities besides your own. It also tends to work best if you belong to a mainstream religion, not one that most Americans have little contact with. Private adoption has a high risk of scams and fall-throughs, so beware. Use an attorney as a go-between, to vet a woman's story and make sure that she is actually pregnant and not trying to con several families into paying money to her. It is best if the woman is actually well known to someone you know well -- for example, the unmarried niece of a work colleague, or someone to whom your priest or minister introduces you. These women are also likely to be "motivated" to make a placement, and not to change their minds when the baby is born. As the Mom of a wonderful daughter by adoption, I understand how much you want to be parents. While I am a U.S. citizen, my adoption had its own challenges -- my older age, my single status, and so on. And yet I stuck with it, and prevailed. For me, international adoption was the right choice, and I have a wonderful daughter from China. I hope that you will find the child of your dreams through a route that works for you. Sharon

Sharon, thank you for your answer. As I said before, we're not willing to adopt internationally. We are interested only in domestic adoption. Foster care doesn't work with non-citizens at all. Good luck to you in everything! :flower:

Rori38, one advice I have for you is to contact people who actually did an adoption while on an H1B and follow their input. ONLY people who did it know how it works. Other folks simply do not know the realities of it and may send you off to the woodworks, wasting your time and possibly your money. As an H1B holder, and also as a GC holder, your options are VERY limited. Your best option is private placement through an attorney, where the attorney is also locating a birthmother for you (see below). I would stay away from agencies - your chances of success are low and you could find yourself wasting precious time and money. Disagree. First: In a semi-open adoption where there are no visits, it would not matter anyway. So it would only matter in cases where there are visitations. I don't have the stats but I think that cases with visitations are not the majority of domestic adoptions. Regarding phone calls - we have Skype. Not a problem. And since post-placement contact agreements are usually not legally enforceable, this would not prevent a US citizen either from stopping phone contact. So this argument is not a good one. Second: The assumption that non-US citizens are folks "who are likely to move back to their country of citizenship" is faulty. Unless you have relatives or a spouse who can get you a GC, an H1B visa is your pathway to a GC. To assume that an H1B visa holder will just "return to their home country" is therefore wrong. BTW, most of the folks that I know who had an H1B went on to get a GC and stayed in the US! Oh no! Bad advice. I am aware of no county who would place a child with H1B holders. Counties will even hesitate to place a GC holder. How do I know? Because I tried. That's how I know. Please do not waste time on such an idea. Agree partially. My best advice is - unless you are experienced locating birthmothers :evilgrin: or we're talking about a relative - do not attempt to "network" and locate a potential birthmother yourself. You may either not be successful or worse, you may open yourself to being scammed. Let a reputable attorney do the search for you. An attorney will also understand the legal situation better than anyone else. One word about transracial adoption: Agencies tend to make a big fuss of it, partially out of a sincere concern and partially to be politically correct. I have adopted twince transracially. My own experience has been that it's no big deal, in particular not when you live in a multicultural environment. Interestingly, seems to me that as foreign born folks ourselves, because we are "non mainstream" anyway, transracial adoption goes over smoother. Don't let this be a deciding factor. There are bigger fish to fry in adoptionland. :) Also - when looking at stats on challenges in adoptions and, God forbid, disruptions, this is usually over significant emotional/behavioral issues. I have never heard of an adoption that was disrupted because of racial disparity between parent and child :D Good for you that you had the foresight to be born in the United States. :evilgrin: For us unfortunate ones who did not, we have to overcome a whole lot more than older age, single status. But we can do it. And in fact - many of us, me including, did! I am now US citizen but I have not forgotten how hard domestic adoption was. I continue to claim that among the necessary adoption reforms is lifting the ban off GC from adopting in internationally.

Dear WizardofOz, thank you so much for your answer. Your story is so inspiring. And thank you again for sharing it! We are more then open to transracial adoption. Absolutely ready for that. I've seen approx rates for domestic adoption via agencies. Do you have any understanding about approx rates re private placement through an attorney? How to look for attorneys with this particular experience? Maybe you have a list of them or any ideas? And the last question. Is it true that you can live in a rented apartment or house when adopting? Thank you so much for your support. Are you now adopting from India? GOOD LUCK to you and your husband!

A couple of answers: 1. The American Academy of Adoption Attorneys is the best place to go to find qualified, ethical attorneys with adoption experience in your state. The website is at [url=http://www.adoptionattorneys.org/]American Academy of Adoption Attorneys - Home[/url]. You can see profiles of member attorneys in your state and read about their specific interests. 2. It is absolutely true that you can live in a rental apartment or home and adopt a child, as long as the living arrangements meet general state and local health and safety requirements and any specific requirements unique to adoption. 3. Many attorneys work on a time and expenses basis. If you want the attorney to "vet" all of the pregnant women who contact you, you will pay for his/her time on that. You will also pay for his time, court costs, and so on for the finalization. But those are not the only costs you will pay. You will pay for a homestudy by a licensed social worker in your jurisdiction. You may need to pay certain birthmother expenses that are legal in your state. As an example, if the birthmother is uninsured and not eligible for Medicaid, you may have to pay for her doctor visits and hospitalization. You may have to pay for her to have a lawyer and a social worker to counsel her and be sure her interests are represented. In some cases, if the woman has been put out of her home by her parents or boyfriend, you may need to pay some living expenses. Never pay any birthmother expenses without discussing the issue with your attorney, as you could jeopardize the adoption. Sharon

Sharon, thank you so much! Your answers are very helpful!

You're welcome. I gladly help others who are in the situation our family was several years ago. Great. As non-US born, we add an interesting spin to the topic. And as I said, I think for us it is easier. Roughly speaking, agencies and attorneys are similar. You will find folks saying that attorneys are a bit cheaper. Maybe, maybe not. Be prepared for a failed match, that can happen. If you have paid birthmother expenses and the match falls through, you will lose that money. The order of magnitude of money you will lose is more than the difference between agency and attorney. Absolutely. In my first adoption, we lived in a rented apartment. You're welcome. This time, it will be from China. The first choice was India but the adoption process there has changed, it's slow and now India is temporarily not accepting new applications. Uggh. So then the choice became China special needs. :) I am in contact with an Indian couple who gave up on India after a while and just came home with a gorgeous baby girl from Ethiopia! :flower:

:clap: Good luck to you with your new adoption. May it go quick and smooth...so you can faster meet with your baby! If you have any attorneys you can advise, please PM me. THANK YOU!!! I wonder if there are other forums where such cases are discussed. So far this is the only one I've met in web.

Thanks for your wishes. And it's not going to be a baby ... it will be a slightly older child this time :) I PMed you the names of two attorneys. Feel free to call them up :) There are no forums that I am aware of. Adoption on an H1B is very rare. Very few people know what an H1B is (e.g. precursor to a Green Card) and even fewer know that you can actually adopt on an H1B visa. Unfortunately - or maybe not - you do not have many options to choose from and there is not much research that you can do on the topic.

Thank you for your PM.If I haven't found this topic describing your experience, I would have lost a lot of time and nerve to research all that. :love:

Thanks Wizard for the reply. Also, I appreciate your suggestion to file an extension. My own thought is that if I visit US once in six months that would be fine. I like to think of myself as resident of two countries - India and US. So, if I have a child; she/he and myself can live in the US or Indian home with my parents etc. depending on what the powers agree to! From reading previous posts it seems the legal technicalities are a bit complicated, but guess that's what life is. I plan to get into the technicalities in few months as I finish some projects here. Two other ideas that I am currently exploring 1. Exploring visa options for an adopted/ non-adopted child to study in US ( I already sponsor education of a child in India) 2. Explore tourist visa for a child after I have adopted in India ( like I do for my parents). Though it seems I have to adopt as a local indian resident to do so! Would you have any inputs/experience? Sam and Rori: if you don't mind, please share your experiences as you move forward. This seems to be one of the very few places to exchange information on the topic. I will keep you all posted.