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Welcome Harry and family, Good luck on your journey. Keep us in the loop. Saj

Welcome Harry. Glad to have you aboard.

Harry, just a clarification...the Philippines has been a Hague country for many years. It is the United States which just ratified the Hague.All the best with your journey,,,please contact Inter Country Adoption Board (ICAB)They are the Philippine authority who have to handle your adoption. [url=http://www.icab.gov.ph/]Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) - Home[/url]

Do be aware, however, that U.S. IMMIGRATION rules, as opposed to adoption rules, have NOT changed. Those rules are unrelated to the Hague Convention. You still cannot get an adoption visa for a child, even if he/she is a blood relative, unless the child is an "eligible orphan". If a child was living with both parents at the time of the adoption, he/she does NOT qualify as an eligible orphan. An eligible orphan is a child who lost both parents to death, who was abandoned by both parents, who was living with a single parent who could not support the child in the manner considered normal in the country, or who was officially relinquished and living away from the family for a significant period of time with no contact -- for example, in an orphanage. If the child you adopted does not qualify as an "eligible orphan", the only way you will be able to bring him to the U.S. is to live overseas with him for two years, and then to apply for a regular dependent visa for him. Sharon

Sharon: I believe your using dated information. Granted a year ago it was correct and that's what prevented us from doing this earlier. According to the USCIS [url]http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/HagueConvQA100407.pdf[/url] Also: [url=http://adoption.state.gov/about/how/childeligibility.html]Who can be Adopted?[/url] There are five primary elements to the Convention adoptee classification. In addition to other applicable requirements, all of the following must be true for a child to be eligible for the Convention adoptee classification: 1. The child is under the age of 16 at the time the I-800 is filed on his or her behalf (taking into account special rules on filing dates for children aged 15-16), is unmarried, and lives in a Convention country; 2. The child will be adopted by a married U.S. citizen and spouse jointly, or by an unmarried U.S. citizen at least 25 years of age, habitually resident in the United States, whom USCIS has found suitable and eligible to adopt (Form I-800A approval) with the intent of creating a legal parent-child relationship. Note that at this stage the child must not have been adopted yet, unless that adoption has been voided by the country of origin. (USCIS, in September 2008 FAQs on its website, offered guidance on cases in which the adoption cannot be voided in the country of origin.); 3. The childs birth parents (or parent if the child has a sole or surviving parent), or other legal custodian, individuals, or entities whose consent is necessary for adoption, freely gave their written irrevocable consent to the termination of their legal relationship with the child and to the childҒs emigration and adoption; 4. If the child has two living birthparents who were the last legal custodians who signed the irrevocable consent to adoption, they are determined to be incapable of providing proper care for the child; and 5. The child has been adopted or will be adopted in the United States or in the Convention country in accordance with the rules and procedures elaborated in the Hague Adoption Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (IAA), including that accredited adoption service providers were used when required, and there is no indication of improper inducement, fraud, misrepresentation, or prohibited contact associated with the case.