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Hello. We are interested in adopting a teenager who was brought to the US by his parents when he was 4. Both birth parents are living and are willing to relinquish. Is it possible to adopt him without him having to leave the US and return to Mexico first? Will he be eligible to become a citizen if we adopt him? He will be 16 in a month and it is my understanding that if the adoption can't be done before then, the only other way he could become a citizen by adoption would be if we adopt his younger sibling as well. The sibling is a citizen because of being born in the US. Has anyone else been through this? Any names of attorneys who could help? Thanks!
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We are in that process also, but our FD is 14. All parental rights are terminated and CPS is in the process of getting her green card. If we can get the adoption done before she is 16, she becomes an American citizen. At least that's my understanding of what CPS is trying to do. It would be like adopting a child from another country. If the adoption can not be done before she turns 16, then she would be given the green card and have to go through the naturalization process to become a citizen. I have no idea why the cutoff age is 16.
Good advice about consulting a highly reputable adoption attorney with relevant experience. I'm a little unsure of whether CPS is giving you good advice. Your adoption is nothing like an international adoption, where you receive either an adoption decree or a guardianship decree from a foreign government and then, if you have only a guardianship decree, you do a typical domestic adoption in the U.S. You have not been approved by the USCIS to bring an orphan into the U.S., you have not involved a foreign government, and your child did not enter the U.S. on an IR-3, IR-4, or IH-3 visa, etc. In short, you did not follow the rules set forth in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act and the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, because they were not applicable to your situation. If you had received a final decree overseas and both adoptive parents saw the child before it was issued, or else it was issued under Hague Convention rules, your child would have become a U.S. citizen the moment he/she entered the U.S. and received a citizenship certificate shortly afterwards, without paying fees; readoption wouuld have been optional. If you had either received a decree of guardianship or had a situation where one spouse in a two parent family, or neither spouse, had seen the child before finalization, then your child would become a citizen automatically only after you adopted or readopted in your state; you would have to apply for and pay for a citizenship certificate. If the child had come directly from a two parent family, the "orphan definition" in the Immigration and Nationality Act would have applied, unless you were adopting from a Hague country, and you would not have been allowed to bring the child to the U.S. at all, even if he/she was a relative. Be aware that the Child Citizenship Act does NOT cover children who were in the U.S. illegally, prior to adoption. The law and regulations clearly limit the people who are eligible to obtain an adoption visa that confers automatic citizenship on their adopted children, as described above, as well as the children eligible to be immigrated. The "age 16 rule" in the Immigration and Nationality Act also doesn't apply to illegal aliens. Basically, the law says that an adoption visa won't be granted to any child 16 or over, unless he/she is the biological sibling of a child already adopted by the same family, in which case the age limit goes to 18. And if an adoption visa is not granted, automatic citizenship does not apply. In short, your agency should not be considering your adoption is international. If the law allows granting green cards to illegal aliens who are minors and being adopted by U.S. citizens, terrific. I do not know the law in this area. But automatic citizenship is unlikely, though I could be wrong on that. Perhaps there is another law that allows it, but the Child Citizenship Act does not pertain. Normally, a child does have to go to his/her home country while the adoptive parents work to file the appropriate paperwork with the USCIS and the foreign country. Moreover, if the child is a citizen of any country that, like the U.S., has ratified the Hague Convention, the adoption also has to comply with Hague requirements. I am glad to see that there may be a way for a child who is an illegal alien only because his parents brought him to the U.S. illegally, to find a home. The child should not be blamed for his/her parents' action. Still, I do believe that there are some serious legal issues, and that the adoption of an illegal alien child should be undertaken only with very experienced legal counsel. Sharon
sak9645
Good advice about consulting a highly reputable adoption attorney with relevant experience. I'm a little unsure of whether CPS is giving you good advice. Your adoption is nothing like an international adoption, where you receive either an adoption decree or a guardianship decree from a foreign government and then, if you have only a guardianship decree, you do a typical domestic adoption in the U.S. You have not been approved by the USCIS to bring an orphan into the U.S., you have not involved a foreign government, and your child did not enter the U.S. on an IR-3, IR-4, or IH-3 visa, etc. In short, you did not follow the rules set forth in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act and the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, because they were not applicable to your situation. If you had received a final decree overseas and both adoptive parents saw the child before it was issued, or else it was issued under Hague Convention rules, your child would have become a U.S. citizen the moment he/she entered the U.S. and received a citizenship certificate shortly afterwards, without paying fees; readoption wouuld have been optional. If you had either received a decree of guardianship or had a situation where one spouse in a two parent family, or neither spouse, had seen the child before finalization, then your child would become a citizen automatically only after you adopted or readopted in your state; you would have to apply for and pay for a citizenship certificate. If the child had come directly from a two parent family, the "orphan definition" in the Immigration and Nationality Act would have applied, unless you were adopting from a Hague country, and you would not have been allowed to bring the child to the U.S. at all, even if he/she was a relative. Be aware that the Child Citizenship Act does NOT cover children who were in the U.S. illegally, prior to adoption. The law and regulations clearly limit the people who are eligible to obtain an adoption visa that confers automatic citizenship on their adopted children, as described above, as well as the children eligible to be immigrated. The "age 16 rule" in the Immigration and Nationality Act also doesn't apply to illegal aliens. Basically, the law says that an adoption visa won't be granted to any child 16 or over, unless he/she is the biological sibling of a child already adopted by the same family, in which case the age limit goes to 18. And if an adoption visa is not granted, automatic citizenship does not apply. In short, your agency should not be considering your adoption is international. If the law allows granting green cards to illegal aliens who are minors and being adopted by U.S. citizens, terrific. I do not know the law in this area. But automatic citizenship is unlikely, though I could be wrong on that. Perhaps there is another law that allows it, but the Child Citizenship Act does not pertain. Normally, a child does have to go to his/her home country while the adoptive parents work to file the appropriate paperwork with the USCIS and the foreign country. Moreover, if the child is a citizen of any country that, like the U.S., has ratified the Hague Convention, the adoption also has to comply with Hague requirements. I am glad to see that there may be a way for a child who is an illegal alien only because his parents brought him to the U.S. illegally, to find a home. The child should not be blamed for his/her parents' action. Still, I do believe that there are some serious legal issues, and that the adoption of an illegal alien child should be undertaken only with very experienced legal counsel. Sharon
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Thank you for posting that information I was unaware of this and have looked it up online. Sadly this means my daughter can remain in the USA if she is granted permission to stay all she has to do is tell a few more lies and be believed. It is very sad for myself and any other parent who has been the victims of losing their children through an international wrongful detainment, I realise the topics here are focusing on the usual case but in my case this child was never abused nor neglected and is being used a pawn overseas. The man who wrongfully detained her lost all parental rights to his own biological children which is why he did this to me. Thank you again for my sending me that information I guess its time for me to accept the inevitable and try to move on as best as I can as a mother. Best of luck to the rest of you.
The U.S. State Department has an office on child abduction. If what you are saying is accurate, your child's stepfather abducted her -- took her out of your country and kept her in the U.S. Contact the U.S. State Department and your own government's agency that handles international child abduction. You will have a better case if there was a divorce decree giving you custody. Sharon