GreenCard and Adoption

[Pungiwalla]

We recieved our PR 2 yrs ago. We would like to adopt a child from India and bring him/her to USA. I read somewhere that you can not adopt a child from the country of your origion and bring him/her in USa. Is this true? If not, what will be the status of the child if we wanted to bring him here. Can he come here as a PR? or we have to bring him to US in some other status and he has to reside in US for few years before a Greencard can be filed for a child?

Will adoption will easier if we were to adopt a child after a citizenship? Can someone tell me the timeline that we are talking here and what is the best way to adopt a child as far as immigration goes.

 

[sg_orl]

We recieved our PR 2 yrs ago. We would like to adopt a child from India and bring him/her to USA. I read somewhere that you can not adopt a child from the country of your origion and bring him/her in USa. Is this true? If not, what will be the status of the child if we wanted to bring him here. Can he come here as a PR? or we have to bring him to US in some other status and he has to reside in US for few years before a Greencard can be filed for a child?

Will adoption will easier if we were to adopt a child after a citizenship? Can someone tell me the timeline that we are talking here and what is the best way to adopt a child as far as immigration goes.

As a PR, inter-country adoption is almost impossible. There is no visa for this category. You will be required to stay in india for 2 yrs after taking the custody of the child, and then file for a dependent of PR for your child, which will take another 3-4 years for a visa date to become current. In the meantime, maintaining the PR status is going to be almost impossible as your cannot be away from the US for extended periods of time. Even with reentry permit, you can be away for 2 years.

If at least one parent is a US citizen, then inter-county adoption is much more simpler from the immigration point of view. In that case, child gets an immediate visa (IR-3 or IR-4) after the adoption is finalized abroad. In an event when the adoption is finalized abroad, a child automatically becomes a US citizen upon arrival at the US POE. Parents receive a "Certificate of Citizenship" for the child with in a couple months, which allows the parents to get the child's US Passport immediately.