Adoption Notice

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Office of Children’s Issues
______________________________________________________

February 2, 2010

On January 1, 2009 the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) announced procedures for processing adoptions pursuant to the Government of Nepal’s (GON) new “Terms and Conditions” for adoptions.  The initial announcement stated that only ten applications will be processed from each Embassy, Mission, or approved adoption agency each year.  The GON provided copies of the new requirements to all 33 U.S. approved adoption agencies. (Please note that the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu cannot submit dossiers to the MWCSW on behalf of prospective adoption parents.)

According to Nepali officials, the new requirements apply to all intercountry adoptions.  There is NO provision to permit prospective adoptive families who had already begun an adoption to be “grandfathered” under the previous Nepali regulation.  The GON required children who had been matched with prospective adoptive parents under the previous system to be released so they could be made available for adoption under Nepal’s new “Terms and Conditions”.  Some of these children have since been matched with new prospective adoptive parents.

On September 2, 2009 the Nepali Prime Minister appointed a new minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare.  This minister has authority to sign final adoption decrees.  Since then, under its new “Terms and Conditions,” the GON has granted adoptions to U.S. families in seven cases.  The GON has also indicated that they will likely process more adoption cases for U.S. families in the coming months. The U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu continues to meet with GON officials and work with the Office of Children’s Issues to provide updated information to the public as it becomes available. 

The Department of State reminds adoptive parents that consular officers are required by law to conduct an orphan investigation (I-604) to verify the child's orphan status prior to the issuance of an IR-3 or IR-4 immigrant visa.  Depending on the circumstances of a case, this investigation may take up to several months to complete.  Adoptive parents should therefore carefully consider whether to file their Form I-600 Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative with the Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the U.S. or at the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, as the Embassy’s I-604 investigation cannot begin until the I-600 has been filed and the documents have been reviewed by a consular officer.