one US citizen parent?

thepaki2000

May 30, 2012

Hello All,

My husband and I live out of the US, he is an American citizen, I am a citizen of the country in which I live. My understanding was that we can still file the i600A as the instructions simply say that the non citizen parent has to sign off on the form- has anyone successfully adopted from a non hague IR4 granting country with only one US parent? We do NOT intend to reside in the US, but we want our child to have access to US citizenship because eventually we will move there

Thanks

sak9645

May 30, 2012

As long as one spouse is a U.S. citizen, you can file the I-600A (before a child is identified) and the I-600.

Do be aware that citizenship is a little harder to get for the adopted child whose new parents live outside the U.S.

Sharon

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thepaki2000

May 30, 2012

Thank you for your response Sharon, unfortunately we don't know where to go from here....

Oh well, something will come up

sak9645

May 30, 2012

If you have not yet had your homestudy, you will need to have one. Ask the U.S. Embassy or a U.S. adoption agency for recommendations. Also pick the country from which you wish to adopt, and get to know its requirements. You can go to the website of the U.S. State Department, at adoption.state.gov to find information about the process for various countries.

As far as citizenship, my understaning is that it's not completely automatic, but that there's a process available for U.S. citizens living abroad who have adopted children, as long as the U.S. citizen parent has spent a certain length of time living in the U.S., and as long as the parents come to the U.S. for an expedited citizenship process. A lot of families go to Hawaii for a brief vacation, and do the citizenship formalities there; the USCIS people there are familiar with adoption by expats.

Sharon