A common way that many United States citizens adopt a child is through international adoption. After the adoption is granted, the child will have to be brought into the United States and needs to obtain citizenship. There are three different ways that international adoptions can take place, all of them requiring the adoptive parents of the child to bring them into the country legally. The first way to immigrate an adopted child requires that child to have been orphaned in their original country. This situation means that the child was born in a foreign country and their birth parents were deceased or have abandoned them. The other way a child is considered an orphan is if the parent of the child does not have the ability or necessary means to care for the child. In either of these circumstances, the country where that child lives must release them for emigration. In order to be eligible to petition for an orphan is that you must be a U.S. citizen over the age of 25 if you are unmarried or over 24 years old if you are married. The necessary forms that need to be filled out for an orphan petition must be submitted before the date of the child’s 16th birthday. The adoption itself can occur after the child has turned 16 years old as long as the petition was filed before then. The form to fill out in order to adopt an orphan is known as the I-600. All forms of adoption, international or not, require a home study to take place that would ensure that the location the child will live is suitable.
The Sesini Law Group is an experienced immigration law firm serving Wisconsin. If you have questions regarding your specific case, please contact our law firm to set up an initial consultation.