http://www.workpermit.com/us/family_visas/adopted.htm
Information for US permanent residences
The US government says that each year, non-US citizen parents legally adopted a child internationally, only to learn that the child cannot join them in the US. The problem with non-US citizens living in the US attempting to adopt internationally is the following:
Long term nonimmigrant visa holders and legal permanent residents can bring their spouses and children with them when they enter the United States or have them enter later. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) divides the definition of "child" into several sub-groups: natural born children, step-children, and adopted children. The INA recognizes as a "child" one who has been adopted before the age of sixteen and who has resided with, and been in the legal custody of, the parent for two years. A child born overseas to the principal applicant after his or her entry to the US may receive the appropriate dependent visa immediately. A child adopted overseas by a non-citizen must first meet the two-year co-residence requirement. However, the INA does not provide any way for the child to enter the US to satisfy this requirement.
As a solution, the parents could live with the child for two years in the child's country of origin. However, a permanent resident cannot reside outside the US making the two-year requirement basically impossible.
The best solution is for legal permanent residents to first naturalize as US citizens and for
long-term nonimmigrant visa holders to return to their home countries before adopting.
http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/four.cfm
U.S. Children Placed for Adoption With Non-U.S. Citizens
Author(s): National Adoption Information Clearinghouse
Year Published: 2004
There is an increasing group of private adoption agencies and attorneys who are placing children _ primarily infants _ with families in Canada and Europe. There are no solid and reliable studies or data to support this information because no agency is currently tracking issuance of U.S. passports to infants, nor is any group tracking visa applications for U.S. infants moving abroad for adoptive placement with non U.S.-citizen parents.
Statistics from the Canadian immigration bureau indicate that 786 children aged 0 to 21 have been adopted by Canadian citizens from 1993 through 2002. Additional Canadian Adoption Statistics are available from the Adoption Council of Canada.
The Clearinghouse occasionally receives inquiries from European families who have completed home studies which approve them for the placement of a child. These prospective parents generally request information on agencies willing to place American children with non-U.S. citizens.
Most States do not have statutory requirements that prospective adoptive parents be U.S. residents. Citizens of other countries residing in the U.S. as resident aliens can adopt U.S. children but not children born abroad, unless they are married to a U.S. citizen. Under the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act, at least one spouse must be a U.S. citizen to petition for the orphan visa, and single applicants must be U.S. citizens over age 25. Further, since some States do not have residency requirements for prospective adoptive parents, adoptive families from abroad are able to apply to adopt U.S. infants.
There is a requirement in the Hague Convention on International Adoption that would require the State Department to begin tracking placements of U.S. children with non U.S.-citizen parents once the treaty takes effect in the United States.
