Can I Have A Green Card???

What is the name of your state?
CALIFORNIA (Alameda County)

I came to San Francisco as a Visitor from the Philippines. My CITIZEN grandparents adopted me before I reach the age of 16.

1. Can I have a Green Card? Having the right to go in and out of the country.

2. Am I considered as a U.S. Citizen?

I'm not an attorney, but The Adopted Child Citizen Act of 2000 MAY apply once you've been adopted by US Citizens. The details are on the INS website, but that appears to be "down" right now due to agency switch. So, there are links on Adoption websites that also provide details of the law: : http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/colum_article/articles/2000,1229-Anderson.shtm

http://www.adoption.about.com/library/blcitizen.htm

Please cut and paste if the link fails.

Best wishes.

One more thing. IF you qualify under that law, you are entitled to a US Passport. No Certificate of Citizenship is necessary IN THAT case. My 5 year old obtained hers in less than 4 weeks.

Her adoption was final when she left her birth country, and needed an I600 visa. Once she arrived here, she would qualify. Would the adoption be done there or here? Many states require adoptive parents to also get state approval when doing an international adoption. For those states, I believe the visa cannot be issued without the state approving. At least that was the case here. Some states do not have any requirements (Texas, for example).

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your reply, I never seen or heard those articles you attached to your response. I'm guessing that I was already 18 years old when the Act started rendering me ineligible for what could have been a wonderful thing. Nevertheless I grately appreciate your help.
--My adoption was approved in June of 1997 but I turned 18 before Feb 27, 2001 (The date when the Act was put to effect) and its requirements is for me to be under the age of 18 on 2/27/01 which I don't qualify.

I am soo sorry. How frustrating. And FYI, many agencies actually told adoptive families arriving with their kids a decade or so ago "Welcome to America! You kids are now US Citizenz" so the parents never realized they needed to have their kids naturalized! There's actually various video tapes of that happening.

Naturalized?

You know what, these immigration terminologies are sometimes confusing. As far as I know, I'm naturalized, I have this "NEW" birth certificate issued by the state of California stating my new adoptee parents. Either way, when I applied for a US Passport, met their requirements (adoption papers & new birth certf.) they denied my request for a passport. So what's the use of being "Naturalized" if a visitor adopted by CITIZEN parents cannot even obtain a US passport? Any clue?

Well, you can be legally adopted by a US Citizen, have a state issues birth certificate naming you as the legal child of the adoptive parents, but that does not remove the requirement to be naturalized if you are foriegn born and not the biochild of US Citizens.

My daughter was readopted in WI, and already had a state issued birth certificate with us as parents. She became a citizen ONLY a year later when THe Adopted Child Citizenship Act became law. Had it not, I was planning on applying for her naturalization ASAP. Obviously, the requirements imposed on a preschooler are pretty limited. INS does not expect them to know all the states, or read or write in English, as they are too young to read or write yet! They don't even interview them.

I'd get an application for citizenship started soon, the INS can be very slow. Sorry I don't have better news. Good luck.