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

First off, please understand that U.S. law does not discriminate between adopted children and biological children It DOES, however, make certain distinctions between citizens and non-citizens. Virtually ALL countries make distinctions between citizens and non-citizens, and give certain privileges to citizens that are not granted to non-citizens. Citizens are people who have, either officially or through birth, committed themselves to living in a country, taking part in its political life, contributing to its economy, and fighting and dying for it. Non-citizens have not made that commitment, although some may wind up doing some of those things and, may ultimately decide to pursue citizenship. Isn't it fair that citizens should have more privileges? Isn't it fair that, if I go to your birth country to visit or even to stay permanently, but without taking citizenship, I should have fewer privileges than a citizen of your country? One of the things that is easier for an American citizen than for a citizen of another country relates to immigration. American citizens can go and come freely from the U.S., as long as they have a passport, and can even bring in a child whom they adopt overseas as an immediate relative without waiting for years. Non-citizens have a more difficult time coming and going, and have to jump through more hoops if they wish to bring someone else into the country. Second, please remember that the U.S. does not ban ADOPTION by non-citizens. Many people on green cards, for example, have adopted children within the U.S. States regulate adoption, and while a few may not allow non-citizens to adopt, many WILL allow legal permanent residents to adopt domestically, since they plan to remain in the U.S. permanently. Courts may insist that, if birthparents are involved with the child at the time of adoption, they given consent to having the child adopted by a non-citizen. The reason is simple. Open adoption -- an ongoing relationship between the adoptive family and the birth family -- is encouraged in the U.S., and if a non-American adopts a child and returns to his/her home country, the open relationship may not be able to be sustained. Still, Americans DO consent to adoption of American children by foreigners, and states allow it. People in the U.S. on relatively short-term visas -- work visas, for example -- may not be allowed to adopt domestically, simply because homestudies want to see proof of a stable living situation. Most foreign countries feel the same way. As to foreign adoption, the U.S. has no legal barriers to adoption by non-citizens, per se. However, the U.S. has laws regarding immigration. The U.S. government, like virtually all governments in the world, regulates the conditions under which people may come to the U.S. to visit, work, attend school, or live, temporarily or permanently. The goal is to limit the total number of immigrants, so that the country does not become overcrowded, and also to ensure that those people coming to the U.S. have been screened to rule out criminals and terrorists of all sorts, anyone with dangerous diseases, anyone who is likely to become a public charge, and so on. The U.S. government believes that international adoption is a good thing, if a child cannot remain in his/her birth country. As a result, it has created a process by which U.S. citizens can obtain a visa for an adopted child, without waiting the years and years that are often required for other types of visa. The U.S. citizens must satisfy all the adoption requirements of their home states and also those of the foreign country from which the child is coming, and must also prove, to the satisfaction of the USCIS, that they are unlikely to harm the child or put him/her on welfare. The U.S. has chosen NOT to extend the same privilege to non-citizens, unless they happen to be married to a U.S. citizen. One reason is simply that obtaining an adoption visa with ease is considered a privilege, and that there is no need to offer non-citizens the same privilege that citizens get. Another reason is that, unfortunately, SOME non-citizens have tried to skirt U.S. immigration laws and bring relatives and friends to the country. One thing that is important to the government is that, if a person is admitted to the U.S., he/she NOT have access to any "loopholes" in the laws that let him/her bring other people to the country without proper U.S. approval. This is true, whether the person to be brought in is an adult or a biological child or an adopted child. In the past, many immigrants -- and particularly people who have NOT become citizens -- have tried to use adoption to bring young relatives, who ordinarily would not have been able to get visas without waiting for years, into the U.S. These people do not plan to treat adoption in the way that is defined by U.S. laws and customs. Rather than assuming all legal and moral responsibility for the child, with the birthparents' rights severed, they intend to keep the birthparents as the legal and moral parents of the child. The Immigration and Nationality Act effectively closed that loophole, to a substantial degree, by creating certain conditions under which immigration of adopted persons can occur. As just one example, the law prohibits granting an adoption visa to anyone who has reached the age of 16 (18, if the family has already adopted a bio sibling of the child). Adoption visas cannot be granted to people who are 16+, whether the person adopting them is a U.S. citizen or a non-citizen. As another example, the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) says that any child who is granted an adoption visa to enter the U.S. must be an "eligible orphan". An eligible orphan is defined as practically any child who has NOT been living with two married or common-law married birthparents. He/she can be an abandoned child, a child living with a single birthparent who can't support him/her according to the normal standards of the foreign country, a child whose birthparents have died, a child who has been removed from an unsuitable home by action of a legally recognized government, or a child who has been legally relinquished and has been living apart from and without any contact with the birthparents. But the law does not permit granting an adoption visa to a child who has been living with two birthparents, in part because that's where most of the cases of adoption fraud have occurred. Some couples, usually fairly well off, have let their children go through sham adoptions just to get them admitted to the U.S. so they can grow up with good educations, good health care, lots of material advantages, and so on. The people "adopting" the children do not truly become their parents -- just their temporary guardians -- which is inconsistent with the intent of the law. If ANYONE -- U.S. citizen or non-citizen -- wishes to bring to the U.S. a child who is not an "eligible orphan", he/she must be prepared to live overseas with the child for two years, and then apply for a regular visa for him/her. This law has affected plenty of U.S. citizens, as well as non-citizens. And, finally, the U.S. has decided that there is just too much risk that the adoption visa process will be misused by non-citizens. All in all, saying that current adoption laws discriminate against adopted children is bogus. The laws do make a perfectly valid distinction between U.S. citizen prospective parents and non-U.S. citizen prospective parents, when it comes to the privilege of immigrating a child to the U.S. Citizens will have no problem obtaining an adoption visa for a child, as long as they go through the normal adoption visa process (which is not, by any means, easy). Non-citizens may bring an adopted child into the U.S., but ONLY after spending a period of time overseas with the child -- a requirement that generally DOES bar most foreigners from immigrating an adopted child, but not from adopting a U.S. born child. As to the children, any child born in the U.S. is considered a U.S. citizen, whether he/she lives with his/her biological family or is adopted by another family. And any child who is legally immigrated to the U.S. on an IR-3 visa -- one of two classes of visa commonly issued to internationally adopted kids -- becomes a citizen as soon as he/she enters the U.S. This clearly shows no intent to discriminate between biological and adopted children. Children who come into the U.S. on an IR-4 visa are considered not to have had a full and final adoption overseas. In many cases, these are children adopted from countries like Korea, which do not issue a final decree overseas but send them to the U.S. under a decree of guardianship for adoption here. In some cases, there has been an adoption overseas that is considered final in the foreign country, but that federal law does not consider final because all relevant parents did not actually see the child prior to the finalization. U.S. law requires IR-4 children to be adopted in the U.S. before they can apply for citizenship. Once they are considered to have a full and final adoption in the U.S., however, they are also considered to be automatic citizens, and can request proof of citizenship -- a certificate of citizenship -- to be sent to them. Again, no discrimination between bio or domestically adopted children and internationally adopted children. And if a child is adopted internationally and does NOT qualify for an adoption visa -- for example, because he/she is not an orphan, or because he/she doesn't have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen -- he/she still CAN get an adoption visa IF the adoptive parents live with him/her overseas for two years. I know that you are upset because you cannot find a way to adopt internationally while on a temporary visa, and bring the child to the U.S. However, please do not allege discrimination against adopted children. That just isn't the case. U.S. immigration law is more strict with non-citizens than it is with citizens, but that is a wholly different issue. Citizens SHOULD have special privileges, since they have responsibilities that non-citizens do not have. If you truly desire to adopt a child, you can adopt. You can go home to your country of origin and adopt there. You can then choose to stay there or reapply to come to the U.S. with your family. Or you can check the laws of your U.S. state of residence about adopting domestically and follow those rules. You may be able to adopt a U.S. child on your current visa, though it is unlikely, but you will probably be able to adopt if you acquire a permanent resident visa (green card). And you will certainly be able to adopt if you apply for and receive U.S. citizenship. Sharon