An adopted child of a United States citizen or of a lawful permanent resident may qualify for an immigrant visa if the alien child has been adopted before his or her sixteenth birthday.

The adopting parents, or parent, must prove that the child has been in legal custody of, and has resided with, those parents, or parent, for two years.

The form that should be filed with the immigration office having jurisdiction over your area of residence is an I-130, "Petition to Classify Status of Alien Relative for Issuance of Immigrant Visa," and may be obtained by mail simply by selecting the forms requests feature available at the end of this message to have the form mailed to you, please be sure to provide your full name and complete address.

The following documents will be required, when submitting the I-130 petition, as well as any others depending upon the type of relationship you are attempting to establish:

1. Proof of United States citizenship or lawful permanent resident status;

2. Proof of the adoptive relationship, which can now be an ordinary legible photocopy of the adoption decree.

Any documents submitted in a language other than English must be accompanied by a certified English translation.

This is a non-refundable filing fee which will not be refunded regardless of whether the petition is approved or denied.

Payment of this fee should be in the form of a check or money order made payable to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

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These INS topics were copied from Immigration Assistant for Windows

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Revised 9/30/95

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