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Hello friends, We are 6 months away from taking our citizenship in US. We are wanting to adopt a kid from India. Would it be workable if we do the following - My husband takes up US citizenship and I do not. I just re-locate to India for 6-12 months, show myself as Indian resident and process a domestic adoption in India. Will we able to get back the kid to US as a citizen? Please advice if this is indeed possible!! Nandhini
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For the purpose of adopting children, India's Central Authority under the Hague, which is CARA, treats Indians living abroad the same as non-Indians, whether they are classified as Persons of Indian Origin (PIO), Non-Resident Indians (NRI), etc. They MUST use the Hague-compliant international adoption process, not the domestic one. If they use the domestic process,the Indian government will not grant the child an Indian passport, which he/she will need in order to get a visa to enter the U.S., as well as other documents necessary to prove that the adoption was Hague-compliant and, therefore, that the U.S. government will grant him/her admission. India takes the Hague Convention quite seriously, as it wants to prevent child trafficking and other illegal practices.The one difference between Indians living overseas and non-Indians, for adoption purposes, is that, occasionally, CARA will institute moratoriums or slowdowns on adoption, especially of healthy infants, in order to control the number of cases in progress and encourage the adoption of children with special needs and older children. In such cases, India will sometimes allow one or more classes of Indians living abroad.to be exempt from the temporary restrictions. Exemptions are NOT granted by the Indian government to allow Indian citizens to use the domestic process, as it is known that such children would not be eligible to enter any Hague compliant country, such as the U.S. or most countries in Western Europe.Do remember that the ONLY Indian citizens living in the U.S., who may adopt from India, in any case, are those who also hold U.S. citizenship or are married to a U.S. citizen. U.S. immigration laws grant adoption visas ONLY to children (from any country) being adopted by at least one U.S. citizen, who has gone through the American I-800 approval process (for adopting from Hague compliant countries) or the I-600 approval process for adopting from non-Hague countries, which determines that the parents are qualified to bring an adopted child into the U.S. and that the child qualifies for adoption -- for example, by being an "eligible orphan" who was not living with two parents at the time of adoption. As a result, if a married couple, both Indian citizens and not U.S. citizens, want to adopt from India, they cannot do so without living with the child in India for two years; for most Indians in the U.S. on green cards, work visas, student visas, etc., this law is, admittedly, a hardship, as the couple would have to give up their visas and live in India for two years, before reapplying to come to the U.S. Moreover, at the end of two years, the parents may still not be able to get a visa for the child, if the Indian government continues to refuse to grant a passport and other necessary documents to the child, because it does not want Indian families to try to circumvent the Hague laws in this manner.In short, if you are an Indian citizen living in the U.S., and manage to adopt a child in India using the domestic (non-Hague) process, the INDIAN government will not grant the child the documents needed to allow him/her to immigrate to any country that has ratified the Hague treaty, including the U.S., and the U.S. government will not be able to issue an adoption visa for him/her to enter the U.S. While you may retain an Indian attorney to argue your case with CARA, and an American one to argue your case with the USCIS and State Department, you are unlikely to prevail, as the laws of both countries are very clear.Sharon