For individuals involved in F1, F2B, F3, F4, CR/IR visa petitions wish to include an adopted child in

their application to move to the US, it is essential to understand the regulations for applying for and

receiving adoption under Vietnamese law. Being well-versed in adoption laws will help you avoid

rejections and accusations of exploiting the system for illegal immigration.

Conditions and Procedures for Adopting a Child for U.S. Immigration Sponsorship.

A. Conditions for Adoption

1. onditions for the prospective adopted child

To understand the requirements for a prospective adopted child, you must first understand who qualifies as an adoptee. According to Clause 3, Article 3 of the 2010 Law on Adoption:

“Adopted person means the person who is adopted after the adoption is registered by a competent state agency.” To ensure the adoption is legal, the adopted child must fulfill all the requirements specified in Article 8 of the 2010 Law on Adoption:

Age Requirements for the Adopted Child

According to Clause 1, Article 8 of the 2010 Law on Adoption, the adoptee must be a child under 16 years. Individuals under this age are not fully capable of independently managing their own lives. They lack complete civil capacity and require supervision and protection from adults. This is a formative age that needs the nurturing, love, and education provided by a stable family environment. Adoptingn children under 16 provides them with a nurturing family home where they can receive care, education, and love from adoptive parents, fostering their development into well-rounded individuals. However, there are exceptions. Individuals aged 16 to under 18 may still be adopted if the stepfather, stepmother, or a natural aunt, uncle, or grandparent is the adopter. A person may be adopted by only one single person or two persons being husband and wife. This is stipulated in Clause 3, Article 8 of the 2010 Law on Adoption.

The regulation ensures that the adoptee is raised in a consistent environment, receiving care, education, and nurturing from one specific family unit. It is crucial that a specific individual or couple is clearly responsible for the child’s upbringing, as having multiple families could complicate a young person’s development, both physically and emotionally.

This policy also serves to prevent the exploitation of the adoption process for commercial purposes or other improper activities, ensuring the child's best interests are always prioritized.

2.Conditions on adopting persons

According to Clause 2, Article 3 of the 2010 Law on Adoption: “Adoptive parent means the person who adopts another after the adoption is registered by a competent state agency.” To legally adopt, prospective adoptive parents must meet the conditions specified in Article 14 of the 2010 Law on Adoption. These criteria include:

An adoptive person must have full civil act capacity.

The future and well-being of the adopted child depend greatly on the adoptive parents. The legal rights and interests of the adopted child cannot be guaranteed if entrusted to someone without full civil act capacity, and are unable to comprehend or fulfill parental responsibilities. Because individuals who lack full civil act capacity typically require legal representation or guardianship as they cannot protect their own legal rights and interests independently.

This has a profound impact on the legal rights and welfare of the adopted child. To make the adoption meaningful and ensure that the adoptive parents can provide a good living condition for the child, the primary condition is that the adoptive parents must have full civil act capacity. If the adoptive parents are under 18 years old or have difficulties in cognition and controlling behavior, or have been legally declared to have limited or no civil act capacity, they are not eligible to

adopt.

An adoptive person must be 20 years or more older than the adopted person

Biologically, once an individual reaches 20 years of age or older, they have developed physically, intellectually, and emotionally. By this age, they typically have the financial stability, psychological maturity, and a complete understanding of the responsibilities involved in parenting. This requirement is designed to establish a proper generational gap between adoptive parents and the adopted child, fostering a respectful relationship, and reducing instances of sexual abuse. However, it is important to note exceptions to this condition; it does not apply in cases where step father or step mother adopts a step child or a natural aunt or uncle adopts a nephew or cousin. This regulation encourages and facilitates a supportive family environment, ensuring that children receive the necessary love and care from their relatives.

An adoptive person must have health, financial and accommodation conditions for assuring the

care for and nurture and education of the adopted child.

This is a crucial requirement to ensure that the adopted child is raised in a positive family environment. Suitable health conditions enable parents to handle the physically demanding aspects of childcare. Financial stability and appropriate housing mean having sufficient financial resources or stable employment that generates a regular income and having safe, stable living conditions. Similar to the age difference requirement, the health and economic conditions for adoptive parents are not mandatory in cases where step father or step mother adopts a step child or a natural aunt or uncle adopts a nephew or cousin.

An adoptive person must have good ethical qualities.

Having good moral character is essential for adoptive parents to ensure that the adopted child is nurtured, cared for, and educated in a healthy environment. This also protects the legitimate rights of the adopted child. Furthermore, it limits instances where adoption could be exploited for improper, unethical purposes.

Individuals who are disqualified from adopting, as outlined in Clause 2, Article 14 of the Law

on Adoption 2010, cannot become adoptive parents.

In addition to the 4 "necessary" conditions mentioned above, the adoptive parent must also meet the

"sufficient" conditions. As per Clause 2, Article 14, the following individuals are not eligible to adopt

a child:

• Having some of the parental rights over a minor child restricted:
• Currently serving an administrative handling decision at an educational institution or medical treatment establishment;
• Currently serving an imprisonment penalty:
• Having a criminal record of commission of any of the crimes: intentionally infringing upon another's life, health, dignity and honor; maltreating or persecuting one's grandparents, parents, spouse, children, grandchildren or caretaker; enticing or compelling a minor to violate the law or harboring  minor violator; trafficking in. fraudulently swapping or appropriating children, which has not been remitted yet.

The law has established quite stringent regulations for the conditions for adopting a child, as mentioned above. This is because we cannot afford to take risks with the fate of those unfortunate children who are separated from their birth families and welcomed into a different household. The ultimate goal of these regulations is to prevent and protect the adopted child from potential abuse, exploitation, and to safeguard the rights and interests of the adopted child.

B.Adoption Procedures

1. Dossier preparation

Requirements for the Adoptive Parent's Dossier

According to Article 7 of the Decree No. 19/2011/ND-CP: the dossier for a domestic adoptive parent must consist of 01 set of documents as stipulated in Article 17 of the Law on Adoption 2010.

To legally adopt a child, the adoptive parent must meet the dossier requirements outlined in

Article 17 of the Law on Adoption 2010 . Specifically, these conditions include:

• A written request for adoption;
• A copy of the passport or identity card or a valid substitute paper;
• The judicial record sheet;
• Written certification of the marital status;
• A health certificate granted by a district-or higher-level health agency; a written certification

of family circumstances and housing and economic conditions granted by the commune-level People's Committee of the place in which the adopting person permanently resides, except for the case where step father or step mother adopts a step child or a natural aunt or uncle adopts a nephew or cousin.

Important Note:

In cases where the adoptive parents and the adoptee are not related as step-parents or natural aunts or uncles adopt a nephew or cousin, and they do not reside in the same commune, the certification of family circumstances and housing and economic conditions is conducted as follows:

If the adoptive parents submit their adoption registration at the commune-level People's Committee where the adoptee resides, a written certification of family circumstances and housing and economic conditions must be verified by the commune-level People's Committee where they reside.

If the adoptive parents submit their adoption registration at their own commune-level People's

Committee, then the judicial officer – civil status registrar will verify the written certification of family circumstances and housing and economic conditions.

Dossiers of the adoptee

According to Article 18 of the Law on Adoption 2010, the natural parents or legal guardian shall prepare the dossier for the child introduced for adoption living with the family; the nurturing center shall prepare the dossier for the child introduced for adoption living at the nurturing center. The dossier includes:

• The birth certificate;
• A health certificate granted by a district-or higher-level health agency;
• Two photos of the whole body looking straight, taken within the past 6 months;
• A record of certification made by the commune-level People's Committee or police of the place in which the child is abandoned, for abandoned children; the death certificate of the natural parent(s) or a court decision declaring the natural parent(s) of the child is (are) dead, for orphans; a court decision declaring the natural parent(s) of the person introduced for, adoption is (are) missing, for persons introduced for adoption whose parent(s) is (are) missing; a court decision declaring the natural parent(s) of the person introduced for adoption have lost civil act capacity, for persons introduced for adoption whose parent(s) has (have) lost civil act capacity;

• The receipt decision, for children in a nurturing center.

The above outlines the full set of conditions and procedures for adoption that allows for U.S. immigration sponsorship, including the required dossiers for both the adoptive parent and the adoptee. The dossier must be prepared as a complete set when applying for adoption and submitted to the competent state agency.

2. Where to Submit the Adoption Dossier

According to Article 9 of the Law on Adoption 2010 and Article 2, the Decree No.19/2011/ND-CP, the authority to register domestic adoptions falls under the commune-level People's Committees in which the adopting persons permanently reside. However, in cases where the adoptive parents and the adoptee are not related as step-parents or natural aunts or uncles adopt a nephew or cousin, or there is an agreement between the adoptive parent and the natural parent/guardian of the child, the authority to register the adoption falls under the commune-level People's Committees where the adoptive parents permanently reside.

It is important to note that for abandoned children who have not yet been transferred to a nurturing center, the adoption registration is carried out by the commune-level People's Committees where the certification of the child's abandoned status was issued.  If the adopted child is already housed at a childcare facility, the adoption registration is done by commune-level People's Committees where that facility is located.

3. Timeframe for Processing Registration of Adoption

The procedures for registering an adoption are carried out in accordance with Article 22 of the Law on Adoption 2010, and are specified as follows:

• The registration of an adoption will take place at the office of the commune-level People's

Committee. When seeing that the adopting persons and the person introduced for adoption are eligible under this Law, the commune-level People's Committee shall organize the adoption registration.

• During the adoption registration, the adoptive parents, natural parents, guardians, representatives of the nurturing center, and the child being adopted must all be present to express their consent to adoption. The civil registrar will issue an Adoption Certificate to the parties involved and record it in the civil status book within 20 days after obtaining the consent of the natural parents or the guardian and consent of the child, provided the child is 9 years of age or older.

• In case the commune-level People's Committee refuses registration, it shall, within 10 days after obtaining the consent of the natural parents or the guardian and consent of the child, provided the child is 9 years of age or older.

Part 2:

• If the adoptee is an abandoned child and the section regarding parents in the Birth Certificate and Birth Registration Book held by the commune-level People's Committee remains blank, based on the Adoption Certificate, the civil status officer will add the adoptive parents’ information to the parents' section in the Birth Certificate and Birth Registration Book of the adoptee; it must be clearly noted in the remarks column of the Birth Registration Book that these are the adoptive parents.
• In cases where there is an agreement between the natural parents and the adoptive parents, and the adoptee, who is 9 years of age or older, consents to changing the parents' information in their Birth Certificate and Birth Registration Book, the commune-level People's Committee where the child's birth was initially registered will re-register the birth for the adoptee and retrieve the old Birth Certificate; it must be clearly noted in the remarks column of the Birth Registration Book that these are the adoptive parents. The Adoption Certificate will be sent by the commune-level People's Committee where the adoptive person or the adopted child permanently resides. Thus, according to Article 22 of the Law on Adoption 2010, the timeframe for resolving domestic adoption cases is 30 days, starting from the day the commune-level People's Committee receives a complete and valid dossier and obtains the full consent of the natural parents or guardian, and the opinion of the child, provided the child is 9 years of age or older.

4. Fee for Adoption Registration

According to current legal regulations, when Vietnamese citizens residing abroad or foreigners residing abroad adopt a Vietnamese citizen, they are required to pay a domestic adoption registration fee as stipulated in Clause 1, Item a, Article 6 of the Decree No. 114/2016/ND-CP as follows: The fee for registering an adoption to the United States is set at 9,000,000 VND per case. Therefore, for each case of registering an adoption to the United States, the fee is 9,000,000 VND (excluding cases that are exempt from or eligible for a reduction in adoption registration fees according to Article 4 of the Decree No. 114/2016/ND-CP).

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