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China Adoption Information

Once in China, and after the adoption has been completed, the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou will process the immigrant visa to enable you to bring your newly adopted child back to the United States.

The “Child Citizenship Act of 2000” became effective on February 27, 2001. This law greatly streamlines the process by which foreign-born children (including adopted children) of U.S. citizen parents can become U.S. citizens when they did not acquire citizenship at birth.

The Child Citizenship Act, which applies to both adopted and biological children of U.S. citizens, amends Section 320 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) to provide for the automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenship when certain conditions have been met. Specifically, these conditions are:

• One parent is a U.S. citizen by birth or through naturalization;
• The child is under the age of 18;
• The child is residing in the United States as a lawful permanent resident alien and is in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent; and
• If the child is adopted, the adoption must be final.

Under the previous law, internationally adopted children of a U.S. citizen did not automatically become citizens upon their admission into the United States as immigrants.

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