Interim Decision #2195 

MATTER OF RODRIGUEZ 

In Visa Petition Proceedings 

A-20034976 

Decided by Board April 13, 1973 

The validity of the adoption of a child under Chinese customary law in Hong 

Kong in 1967 is not vitiated by the fact the child was adopted by an unmarried 

woman. 

ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER: ON BEHALF OF SERVICE: 

Pro se Robert A. Vielhaber 

Appellate Trial Attorney 

(Brief filed) 

The United States citizen petitioner applied for immediate 

relative status for the beneficiary as his stepson (an adopted child 

of his wife) under section 201(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The District Director, in an order dated November 4, 1971, 

approved the petition but certified his decision to this Board. His 

decision will be affirmed. 

The beneficiary is an unmarried male, who was born in Hong 

Kong on May 1'7, 1967. He is evidently of the Chinese race. He was 

adopted, under Chinese customary law, by an unmarried woman, 

Wong Man Lin, on' May 18, 1967. On November 20, 1967 the 

petitioner and Wong Man Lin were married under the Hong Kong 

Marriage Ordinance. They had lived together without being married for the previous two years. The petitioner and Wong Man Lin 

came to the United States in August of 1969. The beneficiary 

continued to reside in Hong Kong. 

The status of an immediate relative is limited to a spouse, 

parent, or child of a United States citizen by section 201(b) of the 

Act. The term "child" is defined in section 101(b)(1XB) to include a 

stepchild, whether or not born out of wedlock, provided the child 

had not reached the age of 18 years at the time the marriage 

creating the status of stepchild occurred. Inasmuch as the marriage between the petitioner and Wong Man Lin took place when 

the beneficiary was six months old, this requirement has been 

satisfied, provided that the beneficiary qualifies as a "child" of 

Wong Man Lin. 

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Interim Decision #2195 

Section 101(b)(1)(E) states that tha term "child" as used under 

the immigration laws includes a child adopted while under the age 

of 14 years, if he has thereafter been in the legal custody of and 

resided with the adopting parent or parents for two years. As the 

Attorney General held in Matter of M—, 8 I. & N. Dec. 118 (A.G., 

1959), the two-year residence requirement does not exclude computation of residence occurring prior to the adoption. Residence and 

custody with but one adopting parent is sufficient (Matter of Y .— 

K—W—, 9 I. & N. Dec. 176 (A.G., 1961)). In the present case, the 

residence and custody requirements have, therefore, been met. 

The question remains as to whether there was a valid adoption 

at all. We have recently ruled, in Matter of Poon, Interim Decision 

No. 2153 (BIA, 1972), that an adoption in Hong Kong under 

Chinese law and custom of a male child, even though the child is 

not related by blood, not of the same clan, and not of the same 

surname, is valid for immigration purposes. 

The objection posed by the Service is that adoption by an 

unmarried female is not valid under Chinese customary law. We 

find this position to be incorrect. The file contains a Memorandum 

of Law from the Library of Congress dated October 4, 1971, which 

is addressed, in part, to this question. According to the Memorandum of Law, "there is evidence to show that this was the practice 

in China in some of those cases where the adoption was not 

carried out with the motive of instituting an heir to carry on the 

cult of the ancestors." The report also cites a noted authority on 

Chinese law, M. H. van der Valk, for the proposition that "as this 

type of adoption had no connection with the cult of the ancestors it 

displayed different features. Both men and women could adopt. 

..." The District Director pointed out that the courts of Hong 

Kong have accepted the principle that a married woman was 

capable, acting alone, of adopting a child, In Re T.M.H. (An 

Infant), 1962 H.K.L.R. 184. • 

There is nothing to indicate that in Hong Kong an adoption by 

an unmarried person under Chinese customary law is not recognized as valid. See sections 4 and 11 of the Hong Kong Adoption 

Ordinance of October 12, 1956. We conclude, therefore, that a child 

can be adopted by an unmarried woman under Chinese customary 

law as applied to Hong Kong. 

The adoption of the beneficiary by Wong Man Lin, then, was a 

valid adoption for immigration purposes. Her subsequent marriage to the petitioner established the stepparent-stepchild connection between the petitioner and the beneficiary required under 

section 101(bX1)(B). We find the beneficiary, therefore, qualifies as 

an immediate relative, as the petitioner's child, for purposes of 

section 201(b) of the Act. 

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Interim Decision #2195 

Consequently, the District Director was correct in approving the 

petitioner's application. We shall affirm his decision and the 

following order will be entered. 

ORDER: The District Director's decision is affirmed. 

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