Foreign Adoption in North Carolina
Adopting a child from another country involves both the foreign country’s adoption laws and U.S. immigration requirements. Here’s how the process works and why readoption in North Carolina is worth considering.
What Is Foreign Adoption?
Foreign adoption, or intercountry adoption, is the process of adopting a child who is a citizen of another country. Families choose intercountry adoption for many reasons, from a desire to offer a child a different quality of life, to an interest in welcoming a new culture into the family. Whatever the motivation, the underlying goal is the same as any adoption: building a loving, permanent family.
If the child’s country of origin is a party to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, the adoption must go through an agency accredited under the Hague Convention, and the process follows additional safeguards designed to protect the child’s best interests. If the country is not a Hague Convention country, the adoption instead follows that country’s own laws and U.S. immigration requirements for non-Hague adoptions.
How Foreign Adoption Works
As with domestic adoptions in North Carolina, a foreign adoption requires a pre-placement home study assessing the prospective parents’ fitness to adopt. From there, the process generally involves:
Working With an Agency
Most intercountry adoptions go through a U.S.-licensed adoption agency (Hague-accredited, if required). Some countries also permit a parent-initiated or independent adoption.
Finalizing Abroad
The adoption is finalized under the laws of the child’s home country, which determines the child’s eligibility for adoption and the paperwork required.
Immigration to the U.S.
Once the foreign adoption is complete, the parents arrange the child’s immigration through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which issues either an IR-3 or IR-4 immigrant visa depending on how the adoption was finalized.
Confirming Citizenship
Depending on the visa type, the child may need a formal adoption or readoption completed in the U.S. before citizenship is confirmed. An adoption attorney can help make sure this step isn’t missed.
Does Adoption Automatically Grant U.S. Citizenship?
Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, most internationally adopted children become U.S. citizens automatically, but when that happens depends on the child’s visa. A child who enters the U.S. on an IR-3 visa (meaning the adoption was fully finalized abroad by both adoptive parents) generally becomes a citizen automatically upon entry. A child who enters on an IR-4 visa (meaning the adoption was not yet full and final, often because only one parent traveled or the home country only grants guardianship) becomes a citizen once the adoption is finalized or readopted in the United States.
The Hague Adoption Convention and Non-Hague Adoptions
Every intercountry adoption by a U.S. family runs on one of two federal tracks, and which one applies depends entirely on the child’s country of origin. The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, which the United States joined in 2008, sets the rules for adoptions between member countries. Adoptions from countries that have not joined follow the older orphan process. The paperwork, the sequence of steps, the visa the child receives, and the point at which the family is legally committed all differ, so families should know which track they are on before they sign with an agency.
This Convention is not the same treaty as the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, which deals with children wrongfully taken across borders by a parent. If your question is about a child removed to or from another country in a custody dispute, see our discussion of international custody and the Hague abduction convention.
How a Hague adoption works
The family must work with an accredited or approved adoption service provider that serves as the primary provider for the case. The order of events is fixed by the Convention. The family completes a home study by a provider authorized to do Hague work, then files Form I-800A with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to be found suitable and eligible to adopt. Only after USCIS approves the I-800A may the family be matched with a child, and the match comes from the sending country’s central authority rather than from the family’s own search. The family then files Form I-800 for that child, USCIS makes a provisional approval, the U.S. consulate issues an Article 5 letter confirming the child may immigrate, and only then does the sending country finalize the adoption or grant custody for the purpose of adoption.
A child whose adoption was finalized abroad enters on an IH-3 visa and becomes a U.S. citizen on entry. A child who comes home under a grant of custody for adoption in the United States enters on an IH-4 visa, and the family must complete the adoption in North Carolina before citizenship attaches. The State Department issues a Hague Adoption Certificate or Hague Custody Declaration at the end of the process, and that document is what a North Carolina court relies on when the family later asks for readoption or a state birth certificate.
Adopting from a non-Hague country
If the child’s country has not joined the Convention, the family files Form I-600A to be approved as prospective adoptive parents, is matched under the sending country’s rules, and then files Form I-600 to classify the child as an orphan under U.S. immigration law. The orphan definition is strict. The child must have lost both parents to death, disappearance, abandonment, or separation, or have a sole or surviving parent who cannot care for the child and has irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption. A child who is living with two parents, even in deep poverty, generally does not qualify, and families have been stranded abroad after adopting a child the sending country considered adoptable but USCIS did not.
Since 2014 the Universal Accreditation Act has required families in non-Hague cases to use an accredited provider as well, so the agency standards are now the same on both tracks. The child enters on an IR-3 visa if both parents saw the child before or during the foreign adoption and the adoption was final abroad, or on an IR-4 visa if not, with the same citizenship consequences as the IH-3 and IH-4.
Countries open, close, and change
The list of countries that allow adoption by U.S. families changes without much notice. Several large sending countries have stopped intercountry adoption entirely in recent years, and others have suspended programs while they reform their systems or move from the non-Hague track to Hague accreditation. A family that started a case under one set of rules can find itself facing another midway through. The State Department’s country pages and the family’s accredited provider are the sources to check, and the adoption should not be treated as certain until the child has a visa in hand.
Readoption in North Carolina
Readoption, adopting the same child again under North Carolina law after a foreign adoption, isn’t mandatory in every case, but it’s available and often worthwhile. It’s typically most important when the child’s home country isn’t a party to the Hague Convention, or when the foreign proceeding granted only guardianship rather than a full adoption.
Readoption offers several practical benefits:
- A North Carolina birth certificate that’s easier for schools and other institutions to accept, easier to replace if lost, and simpler to use for a legal name change
- Confirmation of the child’s inheritance rights under North Carolina law
- U.S. legal jurisdiction over the adoption, which can matter if the foreign decree is ever challenged or if the home country’s adoption laws change
At McIlveen Family Law Firm, we help clients navigate the legal paperwork involved in foreign adoption and readoption, coordinating with foreign legal authorities where necessary.
Common Questions
Do I need a lawyer for a foreign adoption?
While not legally required, an experienced adoption attorney can help you navigate the overlapping requirements of the foreign country’s adoption laws, U.S. immigration law, and North Carolina readoption procedures, reducing the risk of costly mistakes.
Is my child automatically a U.S. citizen after a foreign adoption?
It depends on the visa used to bring the child into the country. Children who enter on an IR-3 visa generally become citizens automatically. Children who enter on an IR-4 visa become citizens once the adoption is finalized or readopted in the United States.
Do I have to complete a readoption in North Carolina?
No, readoption is optional in most cases, though it’s often recommended for the practical and legal protections it provides, and it may be necessary to confirm citizenship for children who entered on an IR-4 visa.
What does readoption involve?
Readoption is a court proceeding similar to a domestic adoption. An attorney can help you gather the required foreign adoption paperwork and file the readoption petition in North Carolina.
Is the Hague Adoption Convention the same as the Hague child abduction convention?
No. They are separate treaties. The Hague Adoption Convention governs intercountry adoptions between member countries, sets accreditation standards for agencies, and fixes the order in which the immigration and adoption steps happen. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction provides a process for returning a child who has been wrongfully taken to or kept in another country by a parent. It has nothing to do with adoption.
What is the difference between an IH-3 and an IH-4 visa?
Both are Hague adoption visas. An IH-3 means the adoption was finalized in the sending country and the child becomes a U.S. citizen on entry. An IH-4 means the family received custody for the purpose of adoption and must finish the adoption in a U.S. court before the child becomes a citizen. IR-3 and IR-4 visas work the same way for children from non-Hague countries.
Can we adopt a relative’s child from another country?
Yes, but the same rules apply. A relative adoption still runs on the Hague or orphan track depending on the country, the child must qualify under U.S. immigration law, and the family must use an accredited provider and complete a home study. There is no shortcut for family members, and a child living with a parent abroad usually does not qualify as an orphan even if the parent wants the child to come to the United States.
Considering a Foreign Adoption?
Our family law attorneys can help you navigate the foreign adoption process and determine whether readoption in North Carolina is right for your family.
Managing Partner and Co-Founder, McIlveen Family Law Firm. Angela is a Board Certified Specialist in Family Law, certified by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, and an experienced family law trial attorney who represents clients across North Carolina. She personally reviewed this page for legal accuracy.