US Immigration

Getting Started

Paperwork

Travel

Miscellaneous

Subscribe To This Site

US Immigration

The US immigration process is fairly straight forward. As you may already know, under the Hague Convention children adopted in China are automatically US citizens upon arrival in the United States. Regardless of whether both parents travel to China, your child's adoption is considered final and he/she will acquire automatic citizenship.

alt text

How does the US immigration process work? After your Consulate Appointment in China, your guide will pick up your child's visa that allows them to come to the United States. Along with the visa will be a large brown envelope full of documents. This is the famous "brown envelope" that you will hear many adoptive families talking about. That is your child's ticket to automatic citizenship.

DO NOT EVER OPEN THE BROWN ENVELOPE!!! DO NOT check the brown envelope in your luggage. You will need to present this brown envelope to a immigration officer at your port of entry in the United States. ONLY that immigration officer is authorized to open the brown envelope and process the contents.

Upon arrival at your port of entry in the United States, you will need to go through US immigration and present your brown envelope to the immigration officer. Most officers know what they are doing and will process the contents accordingly. That's all you need to do!

4-8 weeks after arriving back home from China, your child's Certificate of Citizenship will automatically be sent to you.

Occasionally, the immigration officers will incorrectly process the paperwork and you'll receive a green card in the mail instead of a Certificate of Citizenship. This is a mistake. You will need to contact USCIS immediately to straighten it out!

Some families receive a Social Security card automatically, some do not. It's a very hit and miss system! When the SS card does arrive, it's almost always in the child's Chinese name. If this is your situation, you'll have to go down to the Social Security office once you get the Certificate of Citizenship and get a new card for your child. Take all your official adoption documents with you when you do this!

If you do not receive the Social Security card automatically, it's simply a matter of going down to the Social Security office with your adoption documents and Certificate of Citizenship and applying for one.