Adoption step children before citizenship

[we are one 0]

Hi, everyone.

I am a US citizen and want to adopt my wife's children. They are here in the US as Green card holders and also are still citizens of their home country. I found out that it's much easier to adopt stepchildren in their home county. I would like to mention that their birth certificates do not list any fathers and my wife is their biological mother. In her home country, she has complete total rights over her children.

I would like to pursue the process without me or my family travelling to the home country, but we are not sure how to proceed. We just started to search for lawyers over their, too.

Did anyone do something like this before?

Will the U.S. accept these adoptions from the home country in full standing?

Can we submit new birth certificates and adoption certificates to USCIS with the packet of documents for removing conditions from their Green Cards?

Do we need to notifiy US government on some other level about the their adoption?

I would like to mention at we are not pursuing this to get their citizenship any sooner although it may result in that in end. We just want to simplify the adoptions.

Thank you for any help

[Chemmy 3]

Hi, everyone.

I am a US citizen and want to adopt my wife's children. They are here in the US as Green card holders and also are still citizens of their home country. I found out that it's much easier to adopt stepchildren in their home county. I would like to mention that their birth certificates do not list any fathers and my wife is their biological mother. In her home country, she has complete total rights over her children.

I would like to pursue the process without me or my family travelling to the home country, but we are not sure how to proceed. We just started to search for lawyers over their, too.

Did anyone do something like this before?

Will the U.S. accept these adoptions from the home country in full standing?

Can we submit new birth certificates and adoption certificates to USCIS with the packet of documents for removing conditions from their Green Cards?

Do we need to notifiy US government on some other level about the their adoption?

I would like to mention at we are not pursuing this to get their citizenship any sooner although it may result in that in end. We just want to simplify the adoptions.

Thank you for any help

Hi!

We went through the process of step parent adoption here in the U.S. recently, pretty painless process if you've researched it well and organized all the requirements. It can save you time and some money also, because the kiddos automatically gets US citizenship (your relevant law is Child Citizenship Act of 2001).

First, check the step parent adoption process in your county's probate (they're usually available online), inquire if you need a lawyer, sometimes they allow you to file it on your own (pro se). Download all the forms and prepare all the requirements (green cards, birth certificates, passports, your tax returns, medical records for family, etc). Probate usually would provide a checklist specially if they allow pro se filing. Fees are usually reasonable, it's the lawyer's fees that could be steep sometimes.

After getting final adoption decree, you need to get them US passports, which serves also as proof of U.S. citizenship, aside from the Certificate of Citizenship from USCIS (this one is optional).

Good luck!