Teleconference on Nepal Adoptions
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On October 5th, the USCIS International Operations Division and the Office of Public Engagement invited prospective adoptive parents seeking to adopt children from Nepal to a teleconference with USCIS and the Department of State to discuss the current situation of adoption processing in Nepal.
Background:
On August 6, the U.S. Government suspended the processing of new adoption cases from Nepal that involve children who are claimed to have been abandoned because documents presented in support of their abandonment have been found to be unreliable and circumstances of alleged abandonments cannot be verified in most cases. Recently, USCIS and the Department of State also centralized the adjudication of Form I-600 petitions filed on behalf of children residing in Nepal at the U.S. Embassy Kathmandu and advised prospective adoptive parents of the option of filing their Form I-600 petitions with the Embassy BEFORE completion of the adoptions. We strongly urge prospective adoptive parents to file their Form I-600 petitions (with all required documentation except the adoption decree) with the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, through their local agency representatives and before traveling to Nepal to adopt a child. This will enable the U.S. Government to determine whether the children identified in the petitions qualify as orphans before prospective adoptive parents travel to Nepal to complete the adoptions.