PLEASE HELP! International Adult Adoption???

[chicatortuga]

Washington... Is it possible to adopt a 20 year old from Mexico? A woman I know is interested in adopting a friend of mine from Mexico. I know that in Washington state it is legal to adopt an adult under 21 however does this interfere with immigration laws or adoption laws of the US and Mexico? If you know of anyone I can call to get information from or if you yourself have any information I would love to have you share it!
Thanks!

[nextwife]

Adult adoption can be done. However adult adoptess are not given the special immigration status that a child would be and must apply for the same visas, and go through the same wait process that they would have if ni
ot adopted. It DOES give the adoptee inheritajnce rights, but will not change their immigration status.


[url]http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/fororphan.htm#adopt[/url]

Who is Considered an Orphan?
Under U.S. immigration law, a foreign-born child is an orphan if he or she does not have any parents because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents. A foreign-born child is also an orphan if his or her sole or surviving parent is incapable of providing care of the child and has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption. For such a child to gain immigration benefits, an orphan petition must be filed before his or her 16th birthday. An orphan petition may be filed before the child's 18th birthday, if the child is a natural sibling of an orphan or adopted child, and is adopted with or after that child, by the same adoptive parents.

[chicatortuga]

So even if he were to be adopted in the next few months, he still would not be able to come to the United States unless he applies for a visa and gets it approved beforehand?

[stealth2]

Exactly. Adopting a foreign adult doesn't make all of the immigration stuff disappear - you don't get to make that sort of end run.

[nextwife]

Even when adopting an ACTUAL "orphan CHILD", a visa process is required. I had to go through about a six month approval process, including fingerprinting and a state approved homestudy BEFORE a visa was issued to allow us to bring a 25 month old ORPHAN to the US, and that was pre 9/11.

A Stealth stated, adoption is NOT an end run around the immigration process.

[chicatortuga]

Would he apply for the same visa he is trying to get right now? Currently he is working on having the same job for 2 years and buying a home so that he can apply for his visa.

[daverax]

I have a friend who is 26 and is from S. America. She has been in the US since 1988 (via her parents, who lost her paperwork) and has no immigration documentation. Her parents no longer live in the US and is on her own. A family is thinking of adopting her to help her become a US citizen. She knows very little of her culture and does not want to go back. She is having a hard time supporting herself because she cannot get a job because of her lack of documentation, has no DL, state ID, or even SS card. She has a SSN and it is hers, but she can't get the card without her Visa, which she has not had in many years. She graduated college here in the states. She does not want to go to INS because she is afraid of being deported. If the family adopted her, would that enable her to apply for citizenship without having to worry about deportation?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by daverax

I have a friend who is 26 and is from S. America. She has been in the US since 1988 (via her parents, who lost her paperwork) and has no immigration documentation. Her parents no longer live in the US and is on her own. A family is thinking of adopting her to help her become a US citizen. She knows very little of her culture and does not want to go back. She is having a hard time supporting herself because she cannot get a job because of her lack of documentation, has no DL, state ID, or even SS card. She has a SSN and it is hers, but she can't get the card without her Visa, which she has not had in many years. She graduated college here in the states. She does not want to go to INS because she is afraid of being deported. If the family adopted her, would that enable her to apply for citizenship without having to worry about deportation?

Thanks.

You have a better shot of getting a answer if you post a new thread.

[daverax]

Thanks, doing it now