General Information

Hello and welcome! U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou’s adoptions unit issues all immigrant visas to adopted orphans from mainland China.  Adoptions from China currently account for more than one third of all international adoptions to the United States, making Guangzhou’s ACIVU one of the largest adoption units in the world. Since international adoptions began in China, our adoptions unit has issued over 70,000 immigrant visas to Chinese orphans adopted by American citizens.

The rewards are obvious. However, potential adoptive parents should know that adopting Chinese orphans can be expensive, time-consuming, and difficult, involving complex Chinese and U.S. legal requirements. Chinese authorities and American consular officers give each case careful consideration to ensure that parents meet the legal requirements of both countries, for the protection of the prospective adoptive parent(s), the biological parent(s), and the child. In addition, the China Adoption Law has specific provisions specifying availability of children and acceptable adoptive parents.

Please click on our "Adopting a Child from P.R.C." to begin researching this multi-phase process.

Note: Chinese authorities are extremely sensitive about the intrusion of foreign entities. Because international adoption is often a sensitive issue for host countries, any person interested in adopting a child from China should act with discretion and decorum.

Disclaimer: The information in this circular relating to the legal requirements of specific foreign countries is provided for general information only and may not be totally accurate in a particular case. Questions involving interpretation of specific foreign laws should be addressed to foreign legal counsel. The information is based on the Implementation Measures on the Adoption of Children by Foreigners in the People's Republic of China of November 13, 1993 and the China Adoption Law of April 1, 1992.