Source: http://blog.cyrusmehta.com/2014/01
Timestamp: 2018-02-22 18:42:19
Document Index: 319272201

Matched Legal Cases: ['§101', '§101', '§101', '§204', '§204', '§204', '§204', '§101', 'art 204']

January | 2014 | | The Insightful Immigration Blog
January 14, 2014 /2 Comments/in Blog, uncategorized /by David Isaacson
The reader may wonder at this point why the unavailability of an I-130 petition under INA §101(b)(1)(E)would be a problem for a child from a Hague Adoption Convention country, if Hague Adoption Convention procedures under INA §101(b)(1)(G) can be used instead. The answer is that the procedures under INA §101(b)(1)(G) are designed for cases in which the petitioner seeks out a child in a foreign country for the specific purposes of adoption and immigration, and are ill-fitted for many cases in which an adoptive relationship already exists before any thought of immigration benefits has entered anyone’s mind, or in which the child already resides in the United States. For example, one factor ordinarily requiring the denial of a Form I-800 petition under the Hague procedures, according to 8 C.F.R. §204.301(b)(1), is that “the petitioner completed the adoption of the child, or acquired legal custody of the child for purposes of emigration and adoption, before the provisional approval of the Form I-800,” unless “a competent authority in the country of the child’s habitual residence voids, vacates, annuls, or terminates the adoption or grant of custody and then, after the provisional approval of the Form I-800 . . . permits a new grant of adoption or custody.” Many adoptive parents are understandably horrified at the thought of giving up custody of an adopted child with whom they have had a parental relationship for some time, in order to allow the Hague Adoption Convention procedures to play out. Also, unless the child was already related to the adoptive parent in one of several ways listed in the regulations at 8 C.F.R. §204.301(b)(2)(iii), any contact with the child’s biological parents before the Hague process begins can be grounds for denial of the I-800 petition under 8 C.F.R. §204.301(b). Even if these pitfalls are avoided, Form I-800 cannot be approved for a child who is in the United States “unless the petitioner, after compliance with the [regulatory] requirements . . . either adopt(s) the child in the Convention country, or else, after having obtained custody of the child under the law of the Convention country for purposes of emigration and adoption, adopt(s) the child in the United States.” 8 C.F.R. 204.309(b)(4). Thus, where there is a pre-existing adoptive relationship or other obstacles to the Hague Adoption Convention process would apply, U.S. citizen adoptive parents may be anxious to escape the bar of 8 C.F.R. §204.2(d)(2)(vii)(D) and obtain approval of an ordinary I-130 petition based on two years of legal custody and residence with the child under INA §101(b)(1)(E).
For purposes of paragraph (d)(2)(vii)(D) of this section, USCIS will not approve a Form I-130 under section 101(b)(1)(E) of the Act on behalf of an alien child who is present in the United States based on an adoption that is entered on or after the Convention effective date, but whose habitual residence immediately before the child’s arrival in the United States was in a Convention country. However, the U.S. citizen seeking the child’s adoption may file a Form I-800A and Form I-800 under 8 CFR part 204 , subpart C.
If the child’s actual residence is outside the country of the child’s citizenship, the child will be deemed habitually resident in that other country, rather than in the country of citizenship, if the Central Authority (or another competent authority of the country in which the child has his or her actual residence) has determined that the child’s status in that country is sufficiently stable for that country properly to exercise jurisdiction over the child’s adoption or custody. This determination must be made by the Central Authority itself, or by another competent authority of the country of the child’s habitual residence, but may not be made by a nongovernmental individual or entity authorized by delegation to perform Central Authority functions. The child will not be considered to be habitually resident in any country to which the child travels temporarily, or to which he or she travels either as a prelude to, or in conjunction with, his or her adoption and/or immigration to the United States.
The requirement that “[a]t the time the child entered the United States, the purpose of the entry was for reasons other than adoption,” PM 602-0095at 3, also seems overbroad given the lack of an expressed time limitation. Logically, intent to adopt a child at the time of the child’s entry into the United States should not be considered problematic if the child’s country of origin, or the United States, were not signatories to the Hague Convention at the time of the entry. If a child entered the United States before April 1, 2008, for the purpose of adoption, but the adoption was finalized after that time (thus potentially subjecting the child and adoptive parents to the strictures of the Hague Adoption Convention), what purpose is served by denying an I-130 petition filed for such a child who has established compelling ties in the United States, and to whose adoption the COO Central Authority has not objected after being given notice?
http://blog.cyrusmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_2016.png 0 0 David Isaacson http://blog.cyrusmehta.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/01/CDMA_IIB_Logo_2016.png David Isaacson2014-01-14 00:03:002016-01-13 12:06:19USCIS LIBERALIZES CRITERIA FOR DETERMINING HABITUAL RESIDENCE IN SOME HAGUE CONVENTION ADOPTION CASES: A SMALL STEP, BUT AN IMPORTANT ONE