Musings on Immigration

It’s every adoptive parent’s nightmare.  They have obtained legal custody of a much longed for baby; filed the immigration work and are eagerly awaiting their little one’s arrival only to receive a Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) on their I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative. Here are some things you should consider if you have received a NOID. USCIS uses boiler plate NOIDs. Even if the NOID you received is pages long, chances are, it has been copied and pasted by the adjudicating officer from another NOID that the officer previously issued. Most NOIDs comprise of legal jargon that has nothing to do with your case. Even if the NOID seems insurmountable, there is a good chance that you can overcome the NOID and still have your child’s visa approved. Read the NOID carefully and determine what exactly it is that USCIS is looking for. In my experience, USCIS almost always wants proof that the child is really an orphan.   Do not respond to the N...

Children are bearing the brunt of the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.   Can you adopt a Syrian orphan?  According to the US embassy in Damascus, several attempts by U.S. prospective adoptive parents have failed.  I think this is because I wasn’t their lawyer!  Like many other Muslim countries Syria’s personal status law does not recognize the concept of adoption however; Syrian courts will grant guardianship decrees and these can be used as the basis for an orphan visa petition.  The State Department often places a moratorium on adoptions from war zones because it is almost impossible to verify which children might fall under the definition of orphan and which don’t. There is no such moratorium in place in Syria. That said, anyone considering an adoption in Syria should be prepared to submit A LOT of evidence to the US immigration authorities that the child they wish to adopt falls under the definition of orphan.  Even more encouraging, US immigrat...