How to Adopt from Dominican Republic Part 3

The National Palace.
Source: Wikipedia.org.

6. Bringing the Child Home

Now that the adoption is complete, there are a few more steps to take before heading home. Specifically, adoptive parents need to apply for three documents for their child before he or she can travel to the United States:

1. Birth Certificate

Dominican Law requires adoptive parents to first apply for a new birth certificate for their child, so that they can later apply for a passport. The adoptive parents' names will be added to the new birth certificate. Please visit this link to learn more about applying for a birth certificate in the Dominican Republic.

2. Dominican Passport

An adopted child is not yet a U.S. citizen, so he/she will need a Passport from the Dominican Republic. Please visit this link to learn more about how to obtain a passport for a child in the Dominican Republic.

3. U.S. Immigrant Visa:

Before adoptive parents come in for a final visa interview, they need to have obtained a new birth certificate and passport for their child as well as have completed the co-residency requirements under Dominican law. Once adoptive parents are ready, they may contact the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo at CONSULARSANTOD2@state.gov.

Adoptive parents will be given an open appointment via email to come to the Consular Section at their convenience during normal working hours to complete the visa interview. However, the visa cannot be issued until a U.S. Embassy designated panel physician completes a medical examination of the child. Once the final medical report is obtained from the panel physician, the adoptive parents and the child may come in with an open appointment letter for the visa interview.

On the day of the interview, adoptive parents will present their appointment letter to the guards outside the Consular Section who will direct them inside. Once inside, adoptive parents may proceed to Window 15 to inquire about an adoption visa interview for the day. The Embassy employee will ask for the SDO case number and the child's name in order to locate the file. The employee may ask for some additional documentation, including the final medical report, and payment of the Immigrant Visa Interview Fee at the Cashier. If the child is over 14 years of age, then s/he will be sent to be fingerprinted. Otherwise, after taking in all necessary documents, adoptive parents will be given a unique number that will be called when it is time for the interview. Until the number is called, the U.S. Embassy requests that families have a seat in the waiting area.

At the interview, the officer may ask questions regarding the entire adoption process on both the U.S. and Dominican procedures. If there are any questions, recommendations, suggestions, etc. adoptive families are free to provide these to the officer at this time. Assuming that everything is fine, the officer will approve the visa, finally approve the I-800 form, and send the file for printing the visa and the Hague Adoption Certificate. Again, families are asked to wait in the waiting area again for the visa to be prepared and printed.

Once printed, families will again be called to Window 15 by name or by the case number and will be given the child's passport with a visa inside and a manila envelope known as the Visa Packet. DO NOT OPEN THIS PACKET, as it is for the U.S. immigration officials to open once the family enters the United States. The family is now free to travel home.

TWO ITEMS TO REMEMBER:

1. DO NOT OPEN THE PACKET AT ANY TIME,

2. Please allow enough time to go through secondary at the first Port of Entry into the United States. The family will be asked to go into secondary for the Immigration Officer to open the packet and process the documents inside. If families do not allow sufficient time for this, they may miss onward travel plans.

Child Citizenship Act

For adoptions finalized abroad: The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows your new child to acquire American citizenship automatically when he or she enters the United States as lawful permanent residents.

For adoptions finalized in the United States: The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows your new child to acquire American citizenship automatically when the court in the United States issues the final adoption decree.

Please be aware that if your child did not qualify to become a citizen upon entry to the United States, it is very important that you take the steps necessary so that your child does qualify as soon as possible. Failure to obtain citizenship for your child can impact many areas of his/her life including family travel, eligibility for education and education grants, and voting.

Learn more about the Child Citizenship Act.

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