[sak9645]

Remember that all international adoptions, from any country and to any country, involve two separate actions --adoption and immigration.

With regard to adoptions, you must adopt under the laws of the CHILD's country of citizenship. So if you are Russian and living in the U.S., or if you are Russian and living in Russia, you have to look at a specific foreign country, such as Ethiopia, and determine whether that country will place a child with you.

Countries' laws regarding who may adopt from them vary widely; here are just a few examples:

1. Islamic countries, in a few cases, "may" allow a family to take guardianship of a child if the family is actively Muslim or holds citizenship in a Muslim country. Shaaria, or Islamic law, has a different concept of adoption from U.S. law, and generally permits only guardianship, not adoption as Americans know it.

2. Some countries, such as China and Korea, may require that the prospective parents be living in a country that has signed a formal agreement with them. The citizenship or ethnic heritage of the adoptive parents is less important than their country of residence, although the parents will have to be permitted by their country of residence to adopt and immigrate a child. Neither China nor Korea has an adoption agreement with Russia, to the best of my knowledge, although both have an adoption agreement with the U.S. China also has agreements with countries such as France, Italy, the U.K., Canada, and so on.

3. Some countries, such as China and some of the Latin countries, may allow adoption only by people residing in countries that have ratified the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption. Again, the citizenship of the parents is less important than the country of residence, although parents who are non-citizens of their country of residence must be permitted by that country to adopt and immigrate a child. As an example, it is highly unlikely that you could adopt from most Latin American countries, if you live in Russia, because most Latin American countries have ratified the Hague Convention and Russia has not. However, people living in the U.S. may be able to adopt from at least some Latin countries, because the U.S. has ratified the Hague.

4. Kazakhstan will not allow an international adoption if one spouse holds citizenship in one country and the other spouse holds citizenship in another, regardless of where they are living. It is concerned about what would happen in a divorce situation, with regard to custody, visitation, and the child's citizenship status. So it is possible that Kazakhstan would let you adopt as a Russian citizen with a Russian spouse, but it would not allow you to adopt as a Russian citizen with an American spouse.

Immigration poses its own complexities. Any time you bring an adopted child INTO a country in which you reside, you must comply with the immigration laws of that country, whether or not it is your country of citizenship.

If you live in the U.S., but are a citizen of another country who is here on any sort of visa, you CANNOT bring a newly adopted child into the U.S. on an adoption visa, unless your spouse is a U.S. citizen.

The only way to immigrate a newly adopted child would be for you to leave the U.S., live abroad with the child for two years, and then apply to return to the U.S. with the child on a regular dependent visa. Unfortunately, this is virtually impossible for most people who are in the U.S. on visas -- even those with permanent resident (green card) status -- since they would lose their visa status by leaving the U.S. for two years.

In other words, if you are a Russian citizen living in the U.S., but unmarried or married to another person who is not a U.S. citizen, you cannot immigrate a child on an adoption visa. However, if you are a Russian citizen living in the U.S. and married to an American, you can immigrate a child on an adoption visa, as long as that child and you qualify on other grounds.

Each country has its own immigration laws. So if you are a Russian citizen living in Russia or Canada or France or Turkey, you would have to comply with the rules of those countries regarding immigrating an adopted child. Some countries make immigration of a child fairly easy. Others make it very difficult. If I had to guess, I would say that Russia is likely to have fairly strict immigration laws, but that is something you will have to check out with an immigration lawyer in your country.

And expect that the lawyer may be surprised and may have to do some research. In general, as I'm sure you know, there is a stigma against adoption, even domestic adoption, in Russia, because of a cultural belief in the importance of the "blood tie". People do adopt, but often in secrecy. I talked to a group of visiting Russian judges who process adoptions, at one point, and they told me that many Russians who are unable to conceive still pretend to be pregnant, by putting padding under their clothes, then go away from home for a while, presumably to the hospital, and come home with an adopted child who looks like them. They do not tell others, or even their child, that he/she is adopted. They were quite startled to see how Americans adopt kids of other races, talk openly about their adoptions, and teach their children to appreciate their birth heritage. In such a setting, it is highly unlikely that the country has extensive experience with international adoption, especially from countries where the children do not "look Russian", so a body of law about immigrating an internationally adopted child is likely to be scanty and hard to find.

Sharon