Unusual adoption opportunity - Husband US Citizen, Wife P. Resident

J

justme2

New Member
My wife and I have an unusual opportunity to adopt and are pursuing it. My wife can adopt as a citizen in her country, legally and all. In a couple of months she can have an infant. I am a citizen, she is still on a green card.

We would have pursued a formal adoption process *except* I cannot adopt, only she can (my age is higher than the maximum age difference).

She can adopt on her own legally. Only problem is American Immigration right? We understand this could be tricky, but we would still do it even if she had to stay in country for 2 years and bring her back.

But, I am also hoping there is another way. Once the child is legally adopted can I either:

1. Bring her in as my wife's legal child, which will be after her adoption. I have read the law and if the child is no longer an "orphan", and is legally my wife's child, don't I have the capability to bring them both in as a (I am) US citizen?

2. If that will not work, it may be possible for me to adopt the child in her home country after my wife is her legal mother.

3. In this country they consider an adoption to be a "fresh start". My wife will be the mother, *and* the child will have a birth certificate with my wife's name as birth mother. Does that provide any other opportunities.

4. If wait 2 years could I have trouble getting her back into the country with the child?

Thanks in advance!
 
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justme2 said:
We would have pursued a formal adoption process *except* I cannot adopt, only she can (my age is higher than the maximum age difference).
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Who set that rule? The country where the child lives, or the adoption agency you are working with?
3. In this country they consider an adoption to be a "fresh start". My wife will be the mother, *and* the child will have a birth certificate with my wife's name as birth mother.
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Seems like fraud.
 
No, this is all above board. Nothing fraudulent.

Sounds like you are not much involved in international adoption. It is the country that has the maximum age difference requirement (35 years), but it is also legal in the country for a married person to do the adoption as sole adopter. Creating a new birth certificate used to be the way it was done here in the US as well, that is just the way they do it there.

We would have taken the "both adopting at the same time" but it just is not possible in this case. That certainly would have been better than possibly having to be apart for 2 years. We have been married for almost 10 years, but we are childless and are willing to be apart if we have no other option.

This is an unusual approach but it is perfectly legal. She is going through social services in her country. I am just trying to see if it will be possible to bring my wife and our new child home in less than 2 years.
 
justme2 said:
No, this is all above board. Nothing fraudulent.

Sounds like you are not much involved in international adoption.
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Why would I? This is a forum focused on immigration, not adoption. People here might know the general rules for getting an adopted child to immigrate, but not nuanced situations like yours. You're more likely to find somebody who knows about scenarios like yours if you ask on a forum that's focused on international adoption.
We have been married for almost 10 years, but we are childless and are willing to be apart if we have no other option.
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Any reason your wife hasn't applied for US citizenship? Being married to a US citizen, she would only need 3 years as an LPR instead of the usual 5.
1. Bring her in as my wife's legal child, which will be after her adoption. I have read the law and if the child is no longer an "orphan", and is legally my wife's child, don't I have the capability to bring them both in as a (I am) US citizen?
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A US citizen can bring in a noncitizen's spouse's child, but if that child is adopted the 2-year rule still applies, as far as I know. But I could be wrong. You need a consultation with a good lawyer who specializes in this.
 
My wife comes from a country that does not allow dual citizenship and she has not been ready to give that up, otherwise she would have been a citizen by now.

Yes, it is an unusual situation. For us it is an opportunity because it is difficult to adopt an infant these days unless you have 30-40k sitting around, which we don't. So this is a way for us to do it (we are not poor, I have a good job, but like most folks on this board we are not wealthy).
All the adoption matters are straight forward. It is just the immigration situation is not straightforward. But thanks for the help. I probably do need to find an immigration lawyer to get into the "nuts and bolts" of what may be possible, since it is indeed not a "usual" situation.
 
justme2 said:
My wife comes from a country that does not allow dual citizenship and she has not been ready to give that up, otherwise she would have been a citizen by now.
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Well that's another option to explore, if it hasn't already been done. In recent years several countries have modified their laws to allow dual citizenship. Some will outright allow it for everybody, others require the individuals to get permission prior to obtaining the second citizenship. But they often don't publicize the decision to allow dual citizenship, so many or most of their citizens don't know about it.
 
Jackolantern is correct. Several countries have recently modified their laws and they dont publicize it. In some instances you need to get permission, in other cases, u need to inform your birth country that you wish to retain citizenship after giving it up to become an american (a very very simple process in some countries) Some countries have modified their laws in ways that are similar to the "dont ask, dont tell" they will not allow dual citizenship, yet they will allow you to hold another country's passport (birth country considers you a citizen of birth country, not the US) but in practice....you have both citizenships. Totally legal.

You may want to look into it, but be warned, information is hard to come by and even when you ask officials of the birth country, they may not know about the changes in law. If your wife's countries is one of these countries, citizenship may be the way to go, with the time frame citizenship is being granted now, this may solve all your problems.
Good luck.
 
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