Adoption
Frequently Asked Questions
General Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who is eligible to adopt a child from China?
Please visit the Department of State's website for Chinese adoptions.
2. Can I adopt a foreign-born orphan and bring him/her to the U.S. without involving the Citizen and Immigration Services?
No, there is no way an orphan can legally immigrate to the U.S. without Citizen and Immigration Services processing.
3. What if we were Chinese citizens at the time of the adoption, and only recently became U.S. citizens?
If you completed an adoption prior to becoming a U.S. citizen, you must file an I-600 petition with your local Department of Homeland Security, Citizen and Immigration Services office. You do not need to first file an I-600a application because in your case, the I-600 petition will signify that you completed the adoption overseas at a previous date when the adoptive parents were not U.S. citizens.
NOTE: If you lived with your adopted child for two or more years in China, you may want to research IR-2 visas to see whether that category would be more suitable to your family’s situation.
4. What kind of information about myself and my spouse will I, as the petitioner, need to provide to the Department of Homeland Security, Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS)?
For detailed information regarding the Citizen and Immigration Services’ initial I-800A petition process, visit USCIS’ Hague Process.
5. I have many questions about the FBI’s fingerprinting procedures in the Adoption Application Process, including how do I know whether my fingerprint clearance is valid when I have my immigrant visa interview?
Your fingerprint clearance files expire 15 months after the date that Citizen and Immigration Services received a response from the FBI, which is approximately 15 months from the date the FBI fingerprinted you. Citizen and Immigration Services prints the validity of fingerprint clearances on the notice of approval for the I-800A and the I-800 or on the I-171H for non-Hague cases. Please visit Citizen and Immigration Services fingerprint processing for further information.
6. How do I find out about the Status of My Application?
Please contact the Citizen and Immigration Services office that received your application. Visit the Citizen and Immigration Services’ Find a USCIS Office page for contact information.
7. When can I come to China to pick up my child?
As soon as the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption sends a travel permission letter to your adoption agency. (The Chinese government requires all adoptive parents to work with an approved adoption agency.)
8. I have received a travel permission letter. Can I leave immediately to pick up my child?
When you decide to pick up your child is your decision and should be coordinated with your agency. However, your child cannot go to the United States without an immigrant visa. This requires an immigrant visa interview at U.S. Consulate Guangzhou. Before coming to China, prospective adoptive parents should work with their adoption agencies to schedule an immigrant visa interview with U.S. Consulate Guangzhou’s Adopted Children’s Immigrant Visa Unit.
We will try to schedule your date as close to the date requested as possible. You should not finalize travel plans until your agency has received confirmation of your appointment from the adoptions unit IN WRITING. Failure to secure an appointment in advance of your travel to China may result in a delay in China for several days or longer, particularly during busy periods.
9. My spouse and I are both adopting but only one of us can come to China. Is this a problem?
If the traveling spouse is not the U.S. citizen, the adoption agency should ensure that all forms, signatures, and proper power of attorneys are prepared in advance for the traveling spouse.
If your adoption is a Hague Convention adoption case, your child will receive an IH3 visa regardless of whether one or two parents come.
If the adoption is not a Hague case, two parents are adopting a child, and only one comes to China to register the child, the Consulate puts an IR-4 visa in the child’s passport, and your child will not acquire U.S. citizenship at the port of entry. Please consult adoption.state.gov, your adoption agency, and/or USCIS about procedures required to finalize your child’s adoption and for your child to obtain U.S. citizenship.
10. How can I know if I am required to submit a home study addendum and/or an updated approval notice?
If major household changes have occurred since the parent’s I-800A or I-600A petition approval, such as employment or residence, number of people living in the family’s residence, members of family over 15 years of age, finances, and/or the family is adopting a special needs child but was approved for a child with no special needs, the family is required to submit a home study amendment to USCIS, who will then update the approval for the family. Please visit USCIS’ Home Study Information page for details. As the process of getting an updated approval may take a week or more, families and adoptions agencies are urged to submit home study amendments to USCIS as soon as possible to prevent delays in the visa issuance of the child.
11. If I am a U.S. citizen, will the child I adopt automatically become a citizen too?
The Child Citizenship Act (CCA) declares that children who are younger than 18 years of age and have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen, whether by birth or naturalization, will acquire automatic citizenship if the child has received an IH3 or IR-3 visa (one parent adopting or two parents adopting when both travel to China to register the child).
If the child received an IR-4 visa, this stamp begins the child's green card process and the family should begin re-adoption proceedings in their home state and complete the process for their adopted child to acquire U.S. citizenship.
12. Will my adopted child have dual citizenship?
Current U.S. nationality laws do not explicitly address dual nationality, but the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that dual nationality is a "status long recognized in the law" and that "a person may have and exercise rights of nationality in two countries and be subject to the responsibilities of both." While recognizing the existence of dual nationality, the U.S. Government does not encourage the practice as a matter of policy because of potential problems. Dual nationality often hampers efforts by the U.S. Government to provide diplomatic and consular protection to individuals overseas. When a U.S. citizen is in the other country of their dual nationality, that country has a predominant claim on the person.
Federal law does require that U.S. citizens exit and enter the United States on a U.S. passport, with certain limited exceptions. In practical terms, the Chinese government will continue to consider your adopted child a Chinese citizen and not an American. However, should your child return to China using their U.S. passport, they will likely be considered an American by the Chinese authorities.
13. How do I apply for my child's U.S. passport once we've returned to the United States?
According to the provisions of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, the recipient of an IH3 or IR-3 visa becomes a citizen of the United States the moment an official at a U.S. border stamps his or her passport. You can therefore take your child's Chinese passport that contains the IH3 or IR-3 visa and the admittance stamp to any passport agency. In order to receive the child's passport, you will need: (1) Evidence of the child's relationship to a U.S. citizen parent (a certified copy of the final adoption decree); (2) the child's foreign passport with Citizen and Immigration Services' I-551 stamp or the child's resident alien card; and (3) the parent's valid identification.
If two parents are completing a non-Hague adoption and only one comes to China to register the adoption, the Consulate puts an IR-4 visa in the child’s Chinese passport. If your child receives an IR-4 visa, you must first complete the adoption process in your home state and receive your child's Certificate of Naturalization before applying for a U.S. passport.
14. I filed an I-600A two years ago for a healthy child, but my family and I have decided to adopt a special needs child. We have already submitted our updated home study amendment to our local USCIS office, and we are due to come to China in one week. Is there anything else we need to do?
It depends. Has USCIS already issued you an updated I-171H for your new home study update? If not, then you are not currently approved for a special needs child, and you should not be traveling to China until you have this updated approval. Should you arrive at the consulate in Guangzhou and USCIS has not yet approved your home study update, then you will need to wait in China until USCIS approves it. This is a costly option that results in delays of the visa issuance.
15. I filed an I-600A three and a half years ago and now realize that our I-600A has expired. How do we file for an extension of our I-600A?
From the date the Hague Convention was implemented on April 1, 2008, USCIS cannot grant extensions on I-600As. If a family’s I-600A has expired, they must now file Hague adoption paperwork, starting with the I-800A. Families with Hague adoption cases cannot travel to China until they have received an approved I-800A, an approved I-800, and had an Article 5 issued by the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou. Families in this situation will not lose their referral (nor will they lose their paperwork login date with CCCWA).
16. The medical reports I received for my child state the child has chronic coughing. I am worried my child may have TB. I have heard children with TB have delays in receiving their visas. What can I do while in the United States to avoid visa issuance delays once we're in China?
All immigrant visa applicants are required to undergo a medical examination at a panel physician clinic, whose report will determine whether or not the child has any medical reasons for not receiving a visa. The consulate bases any visa ineligibilities on this report, not on any other medical reports. If the panel physician's medical examination determines the child is suspected of having TB, the child will need to undergo further testing and possible treatment before being cleared to receive an immigrant visa.
While it is understandable to want to avoid delays while in China, no specific measures can be taken in advance of the family's traveling to China until the child's medical situation is determined by a panel physician. However, if the child has already been diagnosed with TB and is currently receiving TB treatment, the family should contact the consulate at GuangzhouA@state.gov for specific guidance.
17. We are adopting a teenage child about to turn 14. What, if anything, can be done to expedite the paperwork for this child?
Chinese law governing Chinese adoption states that children 14 and older cannot be adopted. Both the Hague and orphan adoption processing requires months for appropriate approvals to be completed. The consulate is willing to expedite its own internal processes, but cannot estimate the amount of time USCIS and CCCWA will require to finish their own processes. Families planning on adopting a teenage child should keep in mind the months that may be required to complete the paperwork.
Overseas Residents (Expat Adoptions) Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I begin to adopt if I already live overseas?
Prospective adoptive families must use an agency that is both U.S. Hague accredited and a CCCWA-licensed agency for all steps in the intercountry adoption process in both transition cases and Convention cases. Your adoption agency can walk you through the steps to adopt, which are the same for U.S citizens living inside or outside of the United States.
2. What type of U.S. visa should I pursue for my adopted child?
If adopting parents currently live outside of the United States, their child may not automatically acquire U.S. citizenship upon arrival in the U.S. For more information on the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, please see the Department of State’s website for intercountry adoption.
Children adopted by U.S. citizens who currently reside overseas and who intend to continue residing overseas may apply for a nonimmigrant visa upon receipt of an approved U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) appointment for expeditious naturalization. Information on filing an N-600K to obtain this approval is available at USCIS’s website. U.S. citizens currently residing overseas, and who intend to take up residence in the U.S. upon their adopted child’s entry to the U.S, should apply for an immigrant visa. Please note than an immigrant visa application does require a U.S.-based address.
3. Is Honolulu, Hawaii the only place we can go to complete the expeditious naturalization and passport process?
The Honolulu District office offers a fast expeditious naturalization process for adoptive parents residing overseas, but is not the only location which can process these cases. Please consult USCIS’s website for current information.
4. Can my child travel back and forth into the United States with an immigrant visa?
No. Your child can only enter the U.S. one time with an IR-3, IR-4 or IH-3 visa. We highly recommend that before you leave the U.S. you obtain your child’s U.S. passport.
5. We are living overseas on official U.S. Government orders. Do we need to complete the expeditious naturalization process?
No, if you are living overseas on assignment with the U.S. Government you are considered a legal resident of the United States and your adopted child traveling on an IR-3 or IH-3 visa will automatically acquire U.S. citizenship upon admission at the port of entry.
For additional questions on overseas resident adoptions please email our office at GuangzhouA@state.gov.