Change of Country
Alert: On Sept. 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Immigration Legal Resource Center et al., v. Wolf, et al., 20-cv-05883-JWS, preliminarily enjoined DHS from implementing or enforcing any part of the USCIS Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements rule (PDF).
On Sept. 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Immigration Legal Resource Center et al., v. Wolf, et al., 20-cv-05883-JWS, preliminarily enjoined DHS from implementing or enforcing any part of the USCIS Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements rule (PDF).
While the rule is preliminarily enjoined, we will continue to:
- Accept USCIS forms with the current editions and current fees; and
- Use the regulations and guidance currently in place to adjudicate applications and petitions. This includes accepting and adjudicating fee waiver requests as provided under Adjudicator's Field Manual (AFM) Chapters 10.9 (PDF, 2.55 MB) and 10.10 (PDF, 2.55 MB).
For more information, please refer to the Federal Register Notice, dated Jan. 29, 2021.
You may request a change of country at any time.
While Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition, Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, or Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country, is pending:
- You must notify the USCIS National Benefits Center (NBC) in writing to request a change of country.
- There is no fee for a change of country before the initial approval of Form I-600A, Form I-600, or Form I-800A.
- You must submit an updated home study specifying the new country or countries you are recommended to adopt from.
- There is no limit to the number of change of country requests that you may submit.
- There is no fee for your first change of country request.
- For a Form I-600A case:
- For your first change of country request, you must submit the request in writing to the NBC.
- For any subsequent change of country request, you must submit Form I-824, Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition, with fee.
- You must update your home study for any change of country request (first or subsequent).
- For a Form I-800A case:
- Request a change of country using Form I-800A, Supplement 3 (PDF, 127.25 KB).
- You must update your home study.
- There is a filing fee for second and subsequent change of country requests.
If you filed Form I-600A and you now wish to pursue an adoption from a country that is party to the Hague Adoption Convention, you must file Form I-800A with fee. Likewise, if you filed Form I-800A and wish to pursue an adoption from a non-Hague country, you must file Form I-600A or Form I-600 concurrent (or combination) filing with fee