April 15, 2010
From: U.S. State Department
United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) regulations in 8 CFR 204.3(d) require that, in order for Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative (Form I-600) filed by prospective adoptive parent(s) to be approved, the prospective adoptive parent(s) must provide proof of a full and final adoption or custody of the child for emigration and adoption abroad in accordance with the laws of the foreign-sending country.
The Government of Uganda advised the U.S. Embassy in Kampala on March 16, 2010 that legal orders for guardianship issued by Ugandan courts that do not contain specific language authorizing emigration and overseas adoption should not be construed as sufficient to allow Ugandan children to depart Uganda to be adopted abroad. In the past, the U.S. Government has treated Ugandan guardianship orders that did not contain such language as sufficient to underpin the approval of the I-600 petition and immigrant visa, but based upon this clarification from the Government of Uganda, explicit language authorizing emigration and adoption abroad must now be included. Effective immediately, if an I-600 is filed with a guardianship order that does not include authorization for emigration and adoption abroad, the petition will be noted as not clearly approvable and forwarded to USCIS in Nairobi for further adjudication. However, we understand from USCIS that if the court order does not contain the required language, the petition would not be approved.
