Hello
We want to adopt our niece, my brother has passed away and my sister in law cannot afford, nor wants to care for my niece who is 12 years old. We have been advised to file for a visa to get her here as soon as possible and then file abandonment papers to adopt her, but do not know which type of visa that will work. Another attorney told us to get the mom and daughter here and adopt her that way, but what type of visa do we use to get them both here?
Any help is appreciated. Our niece is living in a bad area in the Philippines and we want to get her here as soon as possible. ANY help is appreciated.
Thank you

If you go through adoption process in the Filippines, it will take forever for visa number to be available because of backlog. The fastest way is to get mom and kid to US on visitor's visas and file for adoption to US court.

If the mom lives in bad area which means she and the kid is poor. How's the chance of getting visitor visa? I thought it's very hard to get one if the applicant can't show any properties in the Phils.

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Originally Posted by lawanwadee

If you go thru adoption process in the Filippines, it will take forever for visa number to be available because of backlog. The fastest way is to get mom and kid to US on visitor's visas and file for adoption to US court.

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Lawanwadee is correct. Easiest (not easy) for the mother and child to come to the US on B visitor visa and have the adoption done in the US. Please note that this will be a voluntary adoption, so the mother will (generally) need to sign an affidavit relinquishing parental rights.

An adopted child of a USC is only recognized as a child of a USC for immigration purposes after; the parent has two (2) years of legal custody (adoption completed, signed by the judge) and two (2) years of physical custody (cohabitation and parental authority exercised). The times can of course run concurrently.

I recommend you consult with an experienced immigration lawyer as this encompasses consular processing, family law and immigration law.

Wow, sounds very though.

Hello
We have been advised to get m niece here on a Tourist Visa. With a notorized letter, that I will travel to the PI to pick up my niece. Then after she is here, the mother will sign paperwork to terminate her rights to my niece. After the paperwork is signed, we will petition the court to become her legal guardians.