# Adoption and US Citizenship



## JakeSaPI (Sep 9, 2014)

I am in the process of adopting my wife's son, he is 7. 

My question is after I adopt him is he eligible for US citizenship? 

It was my assumption that once I adopted him he became eligible for US citizenship, but as I am researching this it appears that I was wrong, he is not. 

Has anyone worked through this? How does it play out?

Thanks all


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

You are in for a long an expensive process and I really feel for you but good luck ... been there done that and now just live with my legally adopted kids here in the Philippines.


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## JakeSaPI (Sep 9, 2014)

Thanks for reply. Were you able to get citizenship for the adopted kids?


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Adopted kids*



JakeSaPI said:


> Thanks for reply. Were you able to get citizenship for the adopted kids?


Not possible I don't think to acquire US citizenship unless you somehow get them to the US and then they have to go through the immigration process because they are adopted not your original blood line. We adopted our first two kids from the family ... it was very expensive and we did this through a law firm in Manila, cost in 1993 was more than 100,000 pesos and several trips back and forth from Manila, each trip would have been an additional 10,000 pesos for the rented van and food costs, they managed to get us Philippine passports but the US wouldn't okay the travel Visa, at the time the state or the US territory required (states have differing rules) a home study and the only certified people to perform this home study was the Catholic church the cost was $25,000 and requirement that each child if one female the other male, my daughter and son have their own room, I don't know the current rules because we did all this in 93. I still have the copy of the Manila Times showing that I had adopted legally two children, that was another requirement. 

Easier way to get a child out if it was an abandoned child, if you can figure out how to get the child labeled as abandoned, but we adopted our from the in-laws, tough US laws so it didn't matter that I was active duty military.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

Not sure this is totally relevant, but for information. The US is very tough on the laws concerning these circumstances. Just too much smuggling and such going on and especially with any younger ones involved, there is always suspicion. Years back, when we were going through the process to get my now wife to the states with a Fiancee Visa, we included her then 17 year old adopted daughter to come with her. As it turns out, after a DNA test showed she was not the biological daughter, this was refused even though she had been with my wife since 3 days after birth and had all records to back it up. 

Fred


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Adopting*



fmartin_gila said:


> Not sure this is totally relevant, but for information. The US is very tough on the laws concerning these circumstances. Just too much smuggling and such going on and especially with any younger ones involved, there is always suspicion. Years back, when we were going through the process to get my now wife to the states with a Fiancee Visa, we included her then 17 year old adopted daughter to come with her. As it turns out, after a DNA test showed she was not the biological daughter, this was refused even though she had been with my wife since 3 days after birth and had all records to back it up.
> 
> Fred


That's the main reason Fred but I feel it's hurting more than helping and the only people that can afford to adopt would be the very well to do it's been made into a red tape nightmare or next option is to retire here with the legally adopted kids. If I'm not mistaken it's much easier to bring a child to Canada and another issue that hurt us while I was working in the military was that I couldn't claim my adopted kids on my tax returns, I did manage to get them Social Security numbers but ...because I didn't live with them more than 6 months per year or some silly rule like that but there is no rule like that for Mexico, you can claim a child for tax purposes if he's living in and adopted from Mexico. 

It's been along time I had to do allot research the wife wanted the kids out but couldn't believe how many red flags and closed doors I came upon even though I was sending allot of money every month for my kids to live on and legally adopted by a judge, this took us a couple years and several trips to Manila and one of those trips I had to be there so on my vacation or military leave. 

Yet it doesn't seem like the human trafficking issue has been resolved at all in the US so I feel these tough rules only hurt those that want kids and are in the lower class, me and my wife couldn't have kids so we turned to adoption but it's class warfare.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

https://travel.state.gov/content/ad.../acquiring-us-citizenship-for-your-child.html

Chuck


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Adoption process since 2001*



bidrod said:


> https://travel.state.gov/content/ad.../acquiring-us-citizenship-for-your-child.html
> 
> Chuck


Thanks Chuck nice ... looks like it changed in 2001, too late for my kids they are now 23 years old and this all works if you live with your child and the child/children are 18 or lower ... nutz, I book marked the spot so maybe I can help someone else in the future.


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## JakeSaPI (Sep 9, 2014)

Thanks All


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