[rob1599]

Hello all. I hope someone here has a plan of attack for us. I was working in Thailand four years ago and I was friends with an English guy and his Thai girlfriend. Well he turned out to be a very bad person and was abusive and left her pregnant and broke. I took her in and promised to take care of her and the baby. She had a girl that is three now and I was listed on the birth certificate as the father. This is not good enough for the US embassy there and they said I need a DNA test to get Isabel US citizenship.

I have built them a small house in her village and support them and we are happy with Isabel remaining there in Thailand with her mom but we hope we can get Isabel declared my daughter in the US so she can go there when she is older for schooling and to live is she wants.

Do we have any legal ways to have me declared the legal father in the US so that Isabel can get citizenship but still remain there in Thailand? Any advise is greatly appreciated.

[sak9645]

This is a complicated situation, and your best bet would be to work with a highly reputable immigration attorney in the U.S.

I suspect that the U.S. Embassy has received many Thai documents that contain inaccurate information. I also suspect that visa fraud cases are very common. In other words, lots of Thai people are looking for ways to come to the U.S., or to send their children to the U.S., and are seeking alternatives to the normal visa process. If this were not the case, it is likely that the U.S. Embassy would have accepted the little girl's birth certificate as proof of your paternity. Then, even if you were not the biological parent, you probably could have achieved your goals. It might not have been 100% legal, but it might have happened.

But, in fact, the U.S. has demanded proof that the birth certificate is accurate and that you are the biological parent. Because you are NOT, in fact, the biological or legal parent of the child, she really can't get citizenship through you at the present time.

You could, of course, apply to adopt the child, who would then become your legal daughter, and who could probably attain citizenship through you. However, adoption, as it is defined in law and custom in the U.S., requires the termination of the legal rights of the biological parents, and from what you are saying, Isabel's mother is actively involved in her life and wants to remain so. As a result, you could not do a legal and ethical adoption.

If Isabel's mother was willing to relinquish her, you would have to do an adoption under Thai law, since Isabel is a Thai citizen. The Thai government would have to terminate her mother's parental rights and declare you the legal parent. You might or might not qualify to adopt the child under Thai law; for example, while you don't say so, it appears that you are single, and Thailand generally does not allow single people to adopt.

Since, even if you adopted Isabel, you would not be bringing the child to the U.S. to live with you immediately, she would probably NOT qualify for automatic citizenship, and you might have to live abroad with her for two years before she could enter the U.S. and pursue naturalization. A good lawyer could help you clarify both the adoption issues and the immigration issues in such a situation.

Another option would be to marry Isabel's mother, and do a stepparent adoption. However, marriage is not something to be entered into lightly, as it involves not just emotional commitment, but also certain legal responsibilities. And a marriage where you do not plan to have any involvement with your wife, and are marrying solely to get her child U.S. citizenship, might well be challenged as a sham by the USCIS. The USCIS actively seeks to identify sham marriages, undertaken solely to allow a person to enter or remain in the U.S.

Should a reputable and experienced American immigration attorney determine that there is no way to get Isabel declared your daughter and granted citizenship, he/she might be able to suggest other options for her. One option might be to try for a student visa, when she is old enough. While it wouldn't allow her to stay in the U.S. permanently, or to become a U.S. citizen, it would allow her to pursue a good education (although you would have to guarantee to provide support, school fees, etc.) Other children have received temporary visas for medical care and other purposes. Young adults with certain work skills also qualify for employment-related temporary visas.

And, of course, when Isabel grows up, she could, of course, go through the normal process of seeking an immigrant visa and then U.S. citizenship.

I think you are wonderful for taking care of a young woman who was treated badly by her foreign boyfriend, and for being concerned about the wellbeing of the child conceived in that relationship. I wish I could work magic and make it possible for you to achieve your very appropriate goals for the child.

Unfortunately, I have no such magic. The best you can hope for is that a good lawyer can find a technical solution that will work, at least to some degree, for the benefit of the child.

Sharon

[rob1599]

Thank you Sharon for your thoughtful reply. Yes, marriage is not an option as I am 25 years older than Isabel's mother and I think of her more as a daughter. I will be doing an early retirement to Thailand in a year or so and I guess at that time we will try some kind of Thai adoption that the US will recognize.

Thanks again,

Robert

[sak9645]

Unfortunately, your age, gender, and single status will work against you if you try to do an adoption from Thailand. However, here is the contact information for the only entity in Thailand able to process adoptions of Thai children. It can tell you whether there are any conditions under which you could be approved as a parent.

Child Adoption Center
Department of Social Development and Welfare (DSDW)
225 Ratchawithi Road
Bangkok 10400
Tel. (66) (2) 354-7515;
Email: adoption@loxinfo.co.th

You should also enter into discussions with the US government, via the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, the U.S. State Department, and the USCIS, regarding ways of obtaining citizenship for Isabel, via adoption or any other mechanism. Because your chances are slim, you probably should enter into these discussions only with the help of a good American attorney.

Sharon