Document M-249-Y from the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Revised 1990
This is a private adaptation of the printed official document.
Please contact a
local INS office for the current official document. The photos of
adopted children and families in the original have been omitted due to
poor scan quality.
September 24, 1995.
Comments, corrections
etc, to: JimLWeaver@AOL.com
The purpose of this publication is to give information on the immigration benefits to be gained from adoptive relationships. It is intended for adoptive and prospective adoptive parents of foreign children, but it may be of interest to adoption and voluntary agencies and state and local officials involved in adoption procedures
Orphan petition procedures are the most common way of bringing foreign adopted and prospective adoptive children to the United States. Therefore, most of the information in this publication is about the orphan petition. There is, however a section on the immigration benefits which may be gained through procedures other than the orphan petition. There is also some general information on how a foreign adopted child can become a United States citizen
The basic orphan petition procedures are explained. Information on some of the difficult issues that sometimes come up in orphan cases is also included. In addition, summaries of the published precedent decisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service which our officers use when they decide orphan cases and other technical information is given. While this information is more comprehensive, it is meant for those individuals who want to have a more in-depth understanding of the subject matter.