Chapter 2 - Eligibility

A. Identity and Age [Reserved]

[Reserved]

B. Eligibility Requirements Specific to Convention Adoptees [Reserved]

[Reserved]

C. Qualifying Adoptive or Custodial Relationship

1. Final Adoption [Reserved]

[Reserved]

2. Legal Custody for Emigration and Adoption

A foreign adoption order that does not qualify as an adoption^[1] for U.S. immigration purposes may nonetheless be sufficient to establish legal custody for purposes of emigration and adoption under the laws of the sending country. Such legal custody may support approval of a petition^[2] for a child coming to the United States to be adopted, provided all other requirements are met. The child may then be adopted in the United States.

Because a Hague Convention adoptee can be brought to the United States for adoption, if not adopted outside the United States, a guardianship, simple adoption, Kafala order,^[3] or other legal custody order might qualify as a decree or administrative order establishing the prospective adoptive parent’s legal custody of the child.^[4] The document giving legal custody must be valid under the law of the country in which it was obtained. Depending on the governing law, the legal custody document may be either a court order or an administrative act.

Provided the legal custody is for purposes of emigration and adoption, in accordance with the laws of the sending country, and all other requirements are met, the evidence could support approval of the petition for a child who is coming to the United States for adoption on an IH-4 visa (child from a Hague Adoption Convention country coming to the United States for adoption by a U.S. citizen).^[5]

D. Additional Requirements [Reserved]

[Reserved]

Footnotes

[^ 1] See Part A, Adoptions Overview [5 USCIS-PM A] for more information on what qualifies as an adoption for immigration purposes.

[^ 2] See the Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative (Form I-800).

[^ 3] For countries that follow traditional Islamic law.

[^ 4] See 8 CFR 204.313(h)(1)(ii)(A).

[^ 5] Visa category for an immediate relative under INA 201(b) and INA 204(a)(1), as the adopted child from a Hague Adoption Convention country adopted in the United States by a U.S. citizen.