USCIS Announces Adoptions From Vietnam Not Resuming

USCIS and DOS issued a joint statement with the government of Vietnam announcing that the processing of new adoption cases will not resume until both countries sign a new bilateral agreement.USCIS and DOS will continue to process Vietnamese intercountry adoption cases where the child was matched with the prospective adoptive family before Sept. 1, 2008. The Government of Vietnam and the Government of the United States have agreed that U.S. citizens will not be able to adopt Vietnamese children until both countries sign a new agreement or Vietnam joins the Hague Convention. While Vietnamese Decree 69/2006 contains provisions that could allow for the adoptions in certain limited cases, including children with medical issues and certain relative adoptions, the Government of Vietnam has not developed the implementing regulations for these procedures. Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the U.S. Department of State have determined that neither government will process adoption cases, except for those cases that received an official referral prior to September 1, 2008, until both countries sign a new agreement or both are parties to the Hague Convention. USCIS and the Department of State strongly caution adoption service providers to stop matching prospective adoptive parents with children from Vietnam. USCIS statement advised prospective adoptive parents should not seek or accept post- September 1 referrals from Vietnam at this time. The governments of the United States and Vietnam are strongly committed to negotiating a new bilateral agreement that addresses the deficiencies in the current system. Both governments acknowledge the complexity of these issues and the importance of developing a transparent adoption system that protects the fundamental rights of all parties.

Prospective adoptive parents, who may need clarification of the status of their case, may verify whether their adoption petition qualifies as a pre-Sept. 1 case by e-mailing the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi at: hanoiadoptions@state.gov. The Embassy strongly advises prospective adoptive parents not to travel to Vietnam until they have received notification from the Embassy that their case is ready for final processing and travel is appropriate.