INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION

RUSSIA

PLEASE NOTE: Please plan to stay a minimum of three business days in Moscow to obtain documents and complete the medical exams necessary for the immigrant visa interview. Parents should calculate a five-day "cushion time" in the validity dates they request when applying for a Russian visa. The U.S. Embassy recommends that flight arrangements for departing Russia not be finalized until the immigrant visa is issued.

PATTERNS OF IMMIGRATION OF ADOPTED ORPHANS TO THE U.S.: Recent U.S. immigrant visa statistics reflect the following pattern for visa issuance to orphans

ADOPTION AUTHORITY IN Russia: The government office responsible for international adoptions in Russia is the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

Ministry of Education and Science
#11 Tverskaya Street
Moscow, Russia 125993 GSP 3
Tel: 011-7-095-229-6610

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Married couples may adopt. Single parents can adopt but there must be at least 16 years difference between the parent and adoptive child. Russia also has medical requirements for adoptive parents. Anyone considering adoption in Russia should consult their adoption agency about medical conditions that may disqualify them from adopting in Russia.

RESIDENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: There are no residency requirements for adopting parents.

TIME FRAME: The average time for the adoption process is 5 months from the time US CIS approves the I-600A petition to the issuance of the immigrant visa.

ADOPTION AGENCIES AND ATTORNEYS: Russia requires adoptive parents to use an adoption agency that is accredited by the Russian Government to provide adoption services. Adoption agencies that do not have Russian accreditation must work under the auspices of an accredited adoption agency. The U.S. Embassy in Russia has a list of agencies accredited by the Russian authorities to provide adoption services. A list of accredited adoption agencies is available at the adoptions page of the U.S. Embassy's Web site at http://www.moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/wwwhci5.html and on the Web site for the Embassy of the Russian Federation http://www.russianembassy.org/.

Neither the U.S. Embassy nor the Department of State can vouch for the effectiveness or professionalism of any agent or facilitator.

Prospective adopting parents are advised to fully research any adoption agency or facilitator they plan to use for adoption services. For U.S.- based agencies, it is suggested that prospective adopting parents contact the Better Business Bureau and licensing office of the Department of Health and Family Services in the state where the agency is located.

Please see Important Notice Regarding Adoption Agents and Facilitators at our Web site travel.state.gov.

ADOPTION FEES IN Russia: Based on interviews with adoptive parents by U.S. Embassy officials, the average cost of an adoption is approximately $20,000.00.

ADOPTION PROCEDURES: Russian law requires that a child must have been registered in the state database for children left without parental care for at least three months before he or she is considered eligible for international adoption.

With assistance of an adoption agency accredited by the Russian Government, parents first apply to a regional Ministry of Education, which directs them to an orphanage. Adoptive parents are required to travel to Russia to meet prospective adoptive children. There they select a child and apply to the court to get a court date. Adoptive parents may return to the United States after applying for a court date. However, the prospective adoptive child must remain in Russia during this time. Adoptive parents travel a second time to Russia to attend the court hearing. After the court hearing, they obtain the adoption certificate and a new birth certificate (showing the child's new name, and the adoptive parents as the parents) from the ZAGS (civil registration office), after which they can obtain the passport for the child from the OVIR (visa and registration department). Parents then can contact the Embassy to make an appointment to apply for the immigrant visa. (Note: the child's passport will be issued in the child's new name, which will appear in Cyrillic characters and in "English." However, the Russian officials will transliterate the name from Cyrillic into English and the result usually will not be spelled as your family spells it. For example, Smith will be Smit (there is no "th" in Russian); Callaghan will be Kalahan, etc. The fact that the child's name is "mis-spelled" in the passport will NOT cause a problem when you travel and should not be a cause for concern.)

REGISTRATION OF RUSSIAN ORPHANS WITH THE MFA: Adopted Russian children must be registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before they leave the country. For U.S. citizen families, this is done after an adopted child receives an immigrant visa to the United States.

The Consular Section of the MFA is open for the registration of adopted children
Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for intake and 3 p.m-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday for issuance. The process takes two days; issuance takes place the day after the intake of documents. The fee for the registration is 2,040 rubles.

The following documents are needed for registration:

1. Original of the child's passport;
2. Copies of the parents' passports;
3. Letter from the orphanage (orphanage release);
4. Letter from the Ministry of Education of Russia;
5. Court decision;
6. Adoption certificate;
7. Immigrant visa of the child (original).

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR ADOPTION IN RUSSIA: The following documents are required by the Russian court for an adoption:

1. Home Study;
2. US CIS approval notice (I-171H or I-797);
3. Copies of prospective adoptive parents' passports;
4. Marriage certificate/divorce certificate (if applicable);
5. Police certificate;
6. Medical examination report;
7. Financial documents: employment verification letter, bank statements, tax forms;
8. Evidence of place of residence.

All of these documents should be translated into Russian and apostilled (see below for information on authenticating documents).

After prospective parents identify the child they should fill out the adoption application, which can be obtained at the Russian court where the adoption hearings will take place.

Additional required statements for the court hearings from the parents, which should be signed in front of a Russian notary, are:

1. Prospective adoptive parents have been informed about the health conditions of the child and they accept them;
2. They will register their adopted child with the MFA; and
3. They will provide the Department of Education with periodic, required post placement reports on time.

AUTHENTICATING U.S. DOCUMENTS TO BE USED ABROAD: All U.S. documents submitted to the Russia government/court must be authenticated. Russia is a party to the Hague Legalization Convention. Generally, U.S. civil records, such as birth, death, and marriage certificates, must bear the seal of the issuing office and an apostille affixed by the state's Secretary of State (an apostille is a special seal applied to a document to certify that a document is a true copy of an original). Documents must be apostilled in the state where they are issued. Tax returns, medical reports and police clearances should likewise be authenticated. Prospective adopting parents should contact the Secretary of State of the state where documents originated from for instructions and fees for authenticating documents.

Documents issued by a federal agency must be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State Authentications Office, 518 23rd St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20520, (202) 647-5002 Fee: $6.00. For additional information, call the Federal Information Center: 1-800-688-9889, and choose option 6 after you press 1 for touch tone phones. Walk-in service is available from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 am Monday-Friday, except holidays and is limited to 15 documents per person per day (documents can be multiple pages). Processing time for authentication requests sent by mail is 5 working days or less.

Please visit our Web site at travel.state.gov for additional information about authentication procedures.

RussiaN EMBASSY AND CONSULATES IN THE UNITED STATES:

Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007
Tel: 202-298-5700
Fax: 202-298-5735
http://www.russianembassy.org/

The Russian Federation also has consulates in San Francisco, California, New York, New York, and Seattle, Washington.

U.S. IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS

Prospective adopting parents are strongly encouraged to consult U.S. CIS publication M-249, The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adopting Children, as well as the Department of State publication, International Adoptions. The U.S. CIS publication is available at the U.S. CIS Web site. The Department of State publication International Adoptions can be found on the Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site, http://travel.state.gov, under “International Adoptions.”

Adoptive parents are strongly encouraged to read the flyer the requirements for filing I-600 petitions for orphans adopted by U.S. citizens before completing an adoption abroad. Please see our flyer How Can Adopted Children Come to the United States at our Web site http://travel.state.gov/

APPLYING FOR A VISA FOR YOUR CHILD AT THE U.S. EMBASSY IN RUSSIA: Parents are strongly advised to read the instructions for applying for an immigrant visa for an adopted child found at http://moscow.usembassy.gov/consular/wwwhci5.html.

U.S. Embassy In Russia:

As soon as prospective adopting parents arrive in Russia, they should contact the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in order to register their presence in Russia. The Consular Section is located at:

U.S. Embassy of Russia
#19/23 Novinsky Blvd.,
Moscow, Russia 123242
Tel: 728-5000 switchboard
728-5567 (orphan visas)
728-5058 (orphan visas)
Fax: 728-5247 (orphans only)
Web site: http://www.usembassy.ru/

NATURALIZATION: Under the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, which became effective on February 27, 2001, orphans adopted by U.S. citizens acquire U.S. citizenship automatically when all of the following requirements have been met:

• at least one parent is a U.S. citizen;
• the child is under 18 years of age;
• there is a full and final adoption of the child; and, the child is admitted to the United States as an immigrant.

A foreign–born adopted orphan who enters the United States on an Immediate Relative (IR) –3 visa becomes a U.S. citizen upon admission. A foreign-born orphan, who enters the United States on an IR-4 visa and is adopted in a U.S. court, will become a U.S. citizen when the adoption is finalized in the United States (the child will be a legal permanent resident until then). For further information, please consult with the consular section at the U.S. Embassy or the nearest office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Additional information is available at http://travel.state.gov/family/childcitfaq.html

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Specific questions about adoption in Russia may be addressed to the U.S. Embassy in Russia. General questions regarding international adoption may be addressed to the Office of Children's Issues, U.S. Department of State, CA/OCS/CI, SA-29, 4 th Floor, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20520-4818, toll-free Tel: 1-888-404-4747.

Useful information is also available from several other sources:

• Telephone:
  • Call Center – Toll Free Hotline - For information on international adoption of children and international parental child abduction, call Overseas Citizens Services at 1-888-407-4747. This number is available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays). Callers who are unable to use toll-free numbers, such as those calling from overseas, may obtain information and assistance during these hours by calling 1-317-472-2328.
  • U.S. Department of State Visa Office - recorded information concerning immigrant visas for adopting children, (202) 663-1225.
  • DHS Citizenship and Immigration Services - recorded information for requesting immigrant visa application forms, 1-800-870-FORM (3676).
• Internet:
• Adoption Information Flyers: the Consular Affairs web site, at: http://travel.state.gov/ contains international country adoption information flyers like this one and the International Adoptions brochure.
• Consular Information Sheets: The State Department has general information about hiring a foreign attorney and authenticating documents that may supplement the country-specific information provided in this flier. In addition, the State Department publishes Consular Information Sheets (CISes) for every country in the world, providing information such as location of the U.S. Embassy, health conditions, political situations, and crime reports. If the situation in a country poses a specific threat to the safety and security of American citizens that is not addressed in the CIS for that country, the State Department may issue a Public Announcement alerting U.S. citizens to local security situations. If conditions in a country are sufficiently serious, the State Department may issue a Travel Warning recommending that U.S. citizens avoid traveling to that country. These documents are available on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov or by calling the State Department's Office of Overseas Citizen Services at (202) 647-5225. The recordings are updated as new information becomes available, and are also accessible through the automated fax machine and the Internet web site, as above.
• CIS web site - http://uscis.gov/