Who Can Adopt from Latvia

View of Riga towards the cathedral and Vanšu Bridge.
Source: Wikipedia.org.

In addition to the U.S. requirements, prospective adoptive parents need to meet Latvia’s requirements to adopt a child from Latvia:

Residency

Prospective adoptive parents who are dual-nationals having both Latvian and U.S. citizenship and residency are advised to follow the Hague Adoption Convention process requirements set forth below. By doing so, you will enable your adopted child to immigrate to the United States and become a U.S. citizen immediately after adoption. If you adopt a child in Latvia as Latvian citizens and residents through a domestic Latvian adoption process without advance U.S. government approval for adoption under the Hague Adoption Convention, be aware that your adoptive child will not immediately be eligible for U.S. immigration and citizenship benefits. Your child will qualify for a U.S. immigration benefit only after you can demonstrate that the adoption took place before the child’s 16th birthday and that he/she has lived in your legal and physical custody outside the United States for at least two years. Please see uscis.gov for immediate relative petition (Petition For Alien Relative Form I-130) and application for expeditious naturalization (Application for Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate Under Section 322 Form N-600K) filing requirements.

Age of Adopting Parents

Age of Adopting Parents: Latvia requires that the adoptive parent is at least 25 years old and at least 18 years older than the adoptive child.

Marriage

Married couples, as well as single individuals, are eligible to adopt. Please note that Latvia does not recognize same-sex marriages.

Income

Latvia does not have any income requirements for intercountry adoptions.

Other

Parent-child relationship requirement: Latvian adoption law requires that a parent-child relationship be established before the final court decision can be made, by the town or city court having jurisdiction over the child. It leaves to each orphan court to decide on a case-by-case basis the period of time required to establish the parent-child relationship. The interpretation of the child-parent relationship may differ among courts. Adoptive parents are advised that orphan courts may require them to take care of the adoptive children and share a household in Latvia for up to six months to establish that the parent-child relationship exists and authorize adoptive parents to finalize the adoption.

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