IR-3 and IR-4 Visa

International adoption
Posted by: sak9645
Date: August 26, 2007 04:35AM


First off, did your child come home on an IR-3 or IR-4 visa. If you don't know, look at your child's foreign passport. It will have the visa stamp in it.



If both members of a married couple, or a person adopting as a single, traveled and saw a child prior to the issuance of a final decree of adoption overseas, the child gets an IR-3 visa. In this case, the U.S. government considers the adoption to be "full and final". As a result, you do NOT need to readopt in your state UNLESS either your state requires it or you wish to do it. The child also becomes a U.S. citizen immediately upon entering the U.S., and a certificate of citizenship is sent to the parents automatically.



An IR-4 visa is issued in the following situations:



1. Only one member of a married couple sees the child prior to the issuance of a final decree of adoption overseas.



2. A child is issued a final decree of adoption overseas, and no parent sees the child prior to the decree being issued.



3. The child does not receive a final decree of adoption overseas, but comes to the U.S. under a decree of guardianship for adoption in the parents' state. (Possible in Korea and a few other countries.)



If an IR-4 visa is issued, the U.S. government does not consider the adoption full and final, even if a final decree was given overseas. If the parents got a final decree overseas, they must either readopt or obtain a "recognition" in their home state before the adoption is considered full and final. (Some states offer the recognition option, but some do not.) If the parents got a decree of guardianship overseas, they must finalize the adoption in their home state. In either case, the child does not become a U.S. citizen until a decree of adoption or readoption, or a recognition document, is issued. The parents must apply for a certificate of citizenship using the N-600 form.



Readoption is a legal process, in which a judge reviews all aspects of the adoption done overseas and then, after a brief hearing, issues an adoption decree. The judge basically pronounces the individual or couple to be the legal parent of the child. In some cases, the decree also includes a legal change of name, from the foreign name to the American name. (If the American name does not appear anywhere on the foreign paperwork, a legal name change is mandatory for the American name to be used on official documents.) In some states, readoption is relatively simple, and can be done without involving an attorney. In other states, the process is almost as complicated as a domestic adoption -- for example, involving a homestudy update, new police and child abuse clearances, etc. -- and an attorney may be necessary or highly advisable.



Recognition simply involves going to a state office with some paperwork, and receiving a document saying that your state recognizes your overseas adoption as valid. Recognition cannot be used for doing a legal name change, since it does not involve the judicial system; the parent who chooses to do a recognition, which is usually easier and cheaper than a readoption, will have to use an alternate mechanism available in his/her state for doing a legal name change.



People choose to readopt for many reasons. Here are some:



1. You get a final decree of adoption issued by a judge in your state. If you need to prove your relationship to your child, it is easier to use an American adoption decree than a foreign one, whose validity may be questioned by some people. The state readoption decree is a stand-alone document; you don't usually have to show both it and the foreign adoption decree. If you do a recognition, however, the recognition simply becomes an appendix to the foreign decree. You show the foreign decree and then say, "And here is the my state's reaffirmation of the decree."



2. In some, but not all, states, you MUST have a readoption decree in order to obtain a state certificate of foreign birth for your child. The state certificate of foreign birth is much more acceptable when proof of birthdate is needed than a foreign-issued birth certificate, which may be challenged as invalid. Some states do allow people to obtain a certificate of foreign birth after doing a recognition, or without requiring a formal recognition.



3. As mentioned above, if the child's American name does not appear on any of the foreign adoption documents or, especially, on the foreign passport, it cannot be considered the child's legal name. (Some foreign countries include the American name, but many do not.) You MUST do a legal change of name in order for the American name to be included on such documents as a U.S. certificate of citizenship or a U.S. passport. Without a name change order issued by a judge, only the foreign name is allowed to appear on legal documents. In readoption, the judge can write the adoption decree so that it includes a statement such as, "The child, formerly known as Zeng Chufang, will now be known as Rebecca Joy Chufang K......", which basically authorizes the legal use of the American name. Since a recognition does not involve a judge, it cannot be used for a legal name change. The parent who does a recognition, or who does not do either a readoption or a recognition, will need to find out the legal name change process that his/her state uses and go through it.



4. Since decrees of one state court are supposed to be recognized by all other state courts, a readoption decree is valid, even if the parents move to another state at some point. It is not clear whether a recognition document issued by a state office will be accepted in other states; I've heard opinions on both sides, and would suggest that you talk with an adoption attorney about this question.



5. Some adoption attorneys feel that readoption may help to protect inheritance rights. As an example, if you should die and your will specifies that your vast fortune (yeah, right) will go to your child, your evil twin might make the case that your child isn't "really" yours, because the only proof you have is a decree from a foreign country (and maybe a Communist country, at that); as a result, your evil twin, who is "really" your sibling, should inherit. While the likelihood that a judge would accept this argument is low, it gives many people (even those without vast fortunes or evil twins) a sense of comfort to know that their child is protected from inheritance battles.



6. Some adoption agencies write into their contracts with families a provision requiring readoption; mine did. If you agreed to readopt as part of your contractual agreement with your agency, you must do so or you could be sued.



I hope this helps.



Sharon