Concluded on May 29, 1993 in The Hague, the Netherlands, the Convention establishes international standards of practices for intercountry adoptions. The United States signed the Convention in 1994, and the Convention entered into force for the United States on April 1, 2008.
G.W. Bush.
off point, but the Intercountry Adoption Act referenced above is from October 6, 2000. PL 106-279.
https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/PUBLAW/HTML/PUBLAW/0-0-0-21811.html
@“Cardinal Fang” can you cite the sources for your quotes or are you just quoting your own words and feeling? I’ve read the articles and no where have I seen anything about a “dirty foreigener”
My take on this is that the parents are US citizens and as such are being held accountable to the US laws on forgien addoptions. The addotion wasn’t final in Peru until March of 2017 and according to US law the couple would need to live as a family in Peru for two years before moving to the US since they didn’t go through US channels and the child was not in fact an orphin.
They applied for a tourist visa to circumvent this rule and got caught not following the established imagration rules for apdoted children in forgeign countries. If the family really thought their wasn’t an issue because the father had Peruvian citizenship why would they have appiled for a tourirst visa? And what did they think would happen when the tourist visa expired?
If he is considered a US Citizen who adopted a Peruvian child, then the Hague Convention applies, and the child needs to be certified by the DGA. I don’t know if there is any way to do this after the fact - it sounds like there is not, but there should be.
If the father is treated solely as a Peruvian citizen, then he has the same standing as any other Peruvian legally in the US - his daughter needs an immigrant visa.
The problem as I see it is his dual-citizen status, because it muddies the waters. If they had known the rules when the adoption was processed, they probably could have halted the process long enough to get DGA certification before the adoption was finalized. Obviously this situation seems to follow the intent of the law - she was not being trafficked, they simply didn’t follow the process to the letter. They delayed their return to the US in the hopes of completing appropriate paperwork, and asking for a waiver. They got their daughter a tourist visa to enter the US, in the expectation that her waiver would be issues shortly before that visa expired. They got their answer in time, but unfortunately the answer was “no.” I would think this would be a no-brainer type situation where a waiver would be issued, so I’m wondering why it wasn’t. I hope they get some answers and some kind of extension of her visa, so the waters aren’t further muddied by her being here illegally.
The article states that this particular adoption is unique because this is not an international adoption, it is a domestic adoption. I hope for these parents and their child that there is some recourse for them. I agree with 3scoutsmom, they didn’t follow the rules.
Would the US not consider this an intra-country adoption in Peru not domestic as in US domestic because the father had Peruvian citizenship. But I also think the Hague rules will be the prevailing documents. The laws in the US have been around for a long time. I think we in the US are getting a big lesson in immigration these days.
The daughter came on a visitor’s visa. Visitors visas don’t convert to citizenship path visas, or to adoption visas. The daughter is not covered under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 because she did not arrive on US soil with all the documentation to become a US citizen.
If Americans abroad want to adopt a child and bring that child to the US, they have to follow the international adoption rules. This couple didn’t do that. They adopted domestically in Peru. If anyone could do that and then just bring their child to the US as a citizen, it would a LOT easier (and cheaper) than filing all the paperwork to adopt internationally. There would also be a lot of child kidnapping as there was in Guatemala before new regulations prevented it. If both the home country and the US have ratified the Hague adoption agreement on international adoption, those steps need to be followed. I believe Peru is a signatory to the Hague agreement. There are countries with no adoption agreement with the US, and the only way to adopt from those countries is to live in that country for 2 years after adopting the child, and then applying for a visa as an immediate relative. Cambodia has this restriction because there were so many illegal adoptions/kidnappings that the US couldn’t be sure any adoption was legit. Angelina Jolie notwithstanding.
This couple didn’t follow the right procedures. They need to go back and follow the right procedures. Whoever told them to get a visitor’s visa was incorrect. They need an adoption visa and they need the adoption to be recognized as an international adoption by the US.
And we want the government involved in key aspects of our lives. All this shows is they can mess up a one car parade.
It really isn’t messed up. There is a very clear procedure and they didn’t follow it.
Agreed…the procedure wasn’t followed.
But is the right solution to send the child back to Peru?
ETA…I’m unclear why a visitor visa was used. Clearly, this just wasn’t right given the circumstances. Why was that issued…unless the parents said they were returning to Peru.
not sure the feds have gotten that far thumper.
Shortly, the child will be like hundreds of thousands of other persons remaining in the US with an expired tourist visa. As long as the 4-year old doesn’t commit any violent crimes, she’ll probably start school on time, while her case wanders thru the system.
They got a tourist visa while they were waiting for her paperwork to be finalized. There is nothing illegal about her entering the country on a Tourist visa, as long as she leaves before it expires. They were expecting to have another visa (not convert the tourist visa, but completed application for an immigrant visa) before it expired.
The problem with her staying here past the expiration of the current visa is that she will be here illegally, which could impact her ability to EVER qualify for another visa, and thus her ability to ever legally be in the united states. Locally we have a family caught up in a situation caused by a similar decision to stay/re-enter the US many years ago. A young many who is starting college in a week or two, whose mother has been here since before he was born, and had been working with appropriate authorities to get a green card, and they suddenly want her out two days before he starts college. The parents are active members of the community, and operate a small business. She is caught up in the “zero tolerance” immigration policy. This child is too. OK, ignorance is no excuse, and they didn’t follow protocol, but it appears they lived in Peru with their daughter more than 2 years, which is the qualification for non-Hague countries. There is probably a system by which both countries can agree to waive the requirements on a case-by-case basis, but I’m betting it’s the US that is balking, not Peru.
@thumper1 but should the parents get a pass because they chose to not to follow the law? since the parents are also Peruvian citizans its not like she’d have to go back alone and why should they get a pass for not bothering to follow the law?
I have several friends that waited years and paid $$$ to legally adopt internationally. The rules are in place for a reason, if this family can just get by with getting a tourist visa why should others bother to follow the rules?
I went to boarding school back in the 80’s and still remember a very wealthy girl from Venezuela that was deported mid semester because she was on a tourist visa and not an educational visa. Was is right to deport her until she got her papers in order?
Yes the last Pew Study had the number at 11 million people in the US without proper documentation. It is a huge problem. The laws and rules are here and in foreign countries but they are onerous for sure. Seems like this couple given their careers should have at least been able to find and understand the rules around their Peruvian adoption and what it would entail should they want to return to the US
They won’t come and take her, but the parents will be living in limbo. No passport for this child so no trips to Mexico or France, no job or driver’s license when she’s 16. They said they are having issues with insurance. She has no SSN so they can’t deduct her on taxes. She won’t be in the US legally.
They have to complete the paperwork to do the international adoption right. Until then, it is a domestic adoption in Peru and that child isn’t entitled to come to the US. If she overstays her visitor’s visa, she may never be eligible (but maybe, I’m not sure how strict they are on children overstaying their visas).
But I don’t think the US is wrong to enforce the law. I had to fill out all the right paperwork for my daughter and pay the fees. I had to wait in line for documentation to be processed, so why shouldn’t they? How do we know these parents are qualified to adopt in the US? Homestudy, interviews, financial reviews are all required. What they did (adopting while living in another country) isn’t all that unusual. Really, people do it all the time. If they then want to return to the US, they complete the international adoption paperwork or the paperwork for an immediate relative.
Because the adoption is already finalized, there is no way to “do the international adoption right.” From what I read in a couple of articles, they did the appropriate paperwork to request a waiver. They stayed in Peru 18 months longer than they wanted, in order to follow the appropriate path, their return to the US timed so that her tourist visa would last until her immigrant visa was issued. There is no rule that says a person awaiting an immigrant visa can’t visit the US while they wait, so I don’t see how having her enter on a tourist visa would be a problem. It sounds like they started the immigrant visa process before they brought her here, so the tourist visa was issued while the immigrant visa was already pending.
Nothing wrong with the tourist visa, but she has to leave when it expires, which is Aug 31. There will be a question on future immigration paperwork asking if she has ever overstayed a visa, and if she doesn’t leave she’ll have to answer Yes. The article didn’t say which type of visa they had applied for for permanent residency. I am assuming that it wasn’t an adoption visa under the Hague because the mother said they ‘expected’ the visa by the end of the 6 months. There is no way to judge how long those will take. Sometimes it is just a few months, sometimes it is 18 months.
There are international adoptions where the adoption is finalized in the home country and there are adoptions where the parents get guardianship but complete the adoption in the US. There wasn’t anything wrong with the adoption being finalized in Peru, they just didn’t complete the second part, the US recognition of the adoption.
Dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s in international adoption has been a problem for others in the past.
“Adopted years ago, thousands find out they’re not US citizens”
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Adopted-from-Vietnam-as-a-baby—but-told-shes-not-an-American-citizen.html
And they don’t always have a happy ending:
“Adopted from Korea as a child, deported as an adult — Philly man takes his life”
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/adopted-from-korea-as-a-child-deported-as-an-adult-philly-man-takes-his-life-20170602.html
For those who say the family “should have done it right,” what part do you say they did wrong?
They were presented with needy newborn. Should they have said, no, we do not want this child?
They were living in Peru and the father is a citizen of Peru. Should they have not finalized the adoption in Peru? What should they have done instead, give their daughter back? What other legal method is available to Peruvian citizens who want to adopt a child they are (essentially at that point) fostering?
They wanted to return to the wife’s home country, where the husband is also a citizen, with their legally adopted daughter. They waited 18 months. Should they have to wait longer to return to their own country with their own daughter?
I just think the US government should make this work.
The parents had their paperwork to return. The child did not initially have the needed documents. Yes, she is their child, per Peruvian legal practices. This issue was getting her legally into the US. In ways, this is same as if any of us want to bring our kids back from another country, they need the right documents. Its the same as if a couple resident in Peru wants to enter: they and their child need the right entry papers, regardless that they’re all legit Peruvian citizens and recognized as a family in Peru. Imagine getting to the airport without the right documents for your child.
The problem seems to be the travel visa, which has an expiration. The article states, “the U.S. does not grant travel visas to anyone with a current immigration application.” For a travel visa, you attest to the intention to depart the US by the end of the permit.
I personally don’t know if you can have a travel visa and then file for legal immigration. Every family I know has to wait to visit.
Sad. We a hope for the best.