Hague Country Adoption

The Hague Adoption Convention entered into force for the United States on April 1, 2008. The Hague Adoption Convention is a multi-national treaty that provides uniform standards for intercountry adoptions and establishes international procedures and safe guards to protect the best interests of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents who are involved in intercountry adoptions.

The Hague Adoption Convention affected several aspects of the adoption and immigraiton process.

First, each country that has ratified the Hague Adoption Convention must have an officially designated “Central Authority” to ensure that the adoption process is safeguarded. In the U.S., the Central Authority is the U.S. Department of State.

Second, in a Hague Adoption Convention adoption, prospective adoptive parent(s) must use the services of an authorized “adoption service provider.”

Third, USCIS has introduced two new forms for this program:

• Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country,

and

• Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative.

Interested parties must submit Form I-800A to USCIS in order to establish their eligibility and suitability as prospective adoptive parents under the Hague Adoption Convention. If USCIS approves Form I-800A, then the prospective parents must submit Form I-800 to USCIS in order to determine the child’s eligibility as a Convention adoptee before adopting or obtaining legal custody of the child.