INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION


BELARUS

February 2006

Disclaimer: The following is intended as a very general guide to assist U.S. citizens who plan to adopt a child from a foreign country and apply for an immigrant visa for the child to come to the United States. Two sets of laws are particularly relevant: 1) the laws of the child’s country of birth govern all activity in that country including the adoptability of individual children as well as the adoption of children in country in general; and 2) U.S. Federal immigration law governs the immigration of the child to the United States.

The information in this flyer relating to the legal requirements of specific foreign countries is based on public sources and our current understanding. It does not necessarily reflect the actual state of the laws of a child’s country of birth and is provided for general information only. Moreover, U.S. immigration law, including regulations and interpretation, changes from time to time. This flyer reflects our current understanding of the law as of this date and is not legally authoritative. Questions involving foreign and U.S. immigration laws and legal interpretation should be addressed respectively to qualified foreign or U.S. legal counsel.

PLEASE NOTE: The Government of Belarus has not completed any U.S. adoptions of Belarusian children since October 2004. Although the Government of Belarus changed its adoption procedures in 2005, intercountry adoptions involving U.S. families have yet to proceed. Thus, the information in this flyer relates to how the process should work, according to Belarusian law, if and when the Government of Belarus again begins allowing U.S. adoptions.

The very small number of immigrant visas that the U.S. Government was able to issue to Belarusian orphans in Fiscal Year 2005 (see below) reflects adoptions approved in Belarus before the Belarusian government stopped processing adoptions. The Department of State encourages U.S. citizens contemplating adopting from Belarus to monitor closely the Important Notices page of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs web site for the most recent information on Belarusian adoptions.

The government of Belarus stresses that American citizens interested in adopting a child in Belarus should not travel to that country until the stipulated adoption procedures have been completed.

Belarus requires post placement reports on Belarusian orphans for the first five years after an adoption. Please see Post Adoption Reporting Requirements below for more information.

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

Fiscal Year

Number of Immigrant Visas Issued

FY 2005

21

FY 2004

202

FY 2003

191

FY 2002

169

FY 2001

129


ADOPTION AUTHORITY IN BELARUS:

Belarusian National Adoption Center
Ms. Natalia Pospelova, Director
Platonova Str. 22, 11 th Floor
Minsk, BELARUS
Tel: 375 – 17-232-6701
Fax: 375 – 17-231-0617

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ADOPTIVE PARENTS: A prospective parent may be married, single, divorced, or widowed. A prospective parent must be at least 16 years older than the adoptive child. Single parents are permitted to adopt a child of either sex.

RESIDENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: There are no residency requirements for Belarusian adoptions.

TIME FRAME: The adoption process in Belarus from start to finish generally takes 18 months.

ADOPTION AGENCIES AND ATTORNEYS: Although foreign adoption agencies are permitted to facilitate adoptions in Belarus, the actual adoption procedures are handled exclusively through Belarusian government bodies, while the foreign agency is restricted to a purely liaison role.

Prospective adoptive 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.

ADOPTION FEES IN BELARUS: Adoptive parents can expect to pay $18,000 to $25,000 to complete an adoption in Belarus.

BELARUSIAN ADOPTION PROCEDURES:
Interested American citizens should find and work with a licensed adoption agency or provider that employs representatives or facilitators in Belarus. Because prospective parents are advised that they should not travel to Belarus until a suitable child has been selected for them, a representative in Belarus is absolutely essential in order to work through the adoption process.

Applicants must send their completed application, together with Russian language translations of all documents, to the consular section of the Belarusian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (see below for contact information). After verifying and notarizing the documents, the Embassy transmits them to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Minsk.

The consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Minsk checks to see that the application has been verified and properly notarized and then passes the application to the Ministry of Education in Minsk (Ministerstvo Narodnovo Obrazovaniya, or MNO).

The MNO reviews the application and decides whether or not to allow the process of selecting a child for the applicant(s) to go forward.

Note: For additional information on the notarization and authentication process, please see the section below entitled “Authenticating U.S. Documents for Use Abroad.”

Determining Eligibility for Intercountry Adoption:
Once it has been established that there is no possibility of a child’s adoption by a Belarusian family, the National Adoption Center (NAC) gains the consent of the child’s guardian or orphanage director, the district (municipal) department of education, and the regional (oblast) department of education within a respective regional executive council (e.g., for Minsk children, this would be the Education Committee of the Minsk City Executive Council) and then initiates putting the child’s name on the List of Children for International Adoption.

The List of Children for International Adoption is approved by the Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus. There is no set schedule for the Minister to do this, but no child may be added to the list without ministerial approval.

Identifying Foreign Prospective Adoptive Parents:
Each child’s case is then considered individually when the child is matched with foreign adoptive parents and the NAC forwards his/her case to the Council on International Adoption for its consideration. (The Council’s eight members consist of representatives of the government, NGOs, media, scientific organizations, and social protection authorities, plus a Chairman appointed by the Minister of Education.)

The Council considers the child’s case, looks through the submitted documents, evaluates the efforts made by the guardian and custody authorities to place the child into a Belarusian family, and approves or rejects the child for international adoption to that specific foreign family.

If the Council approves the adoption of the child to the prospective parents, the case is sent back to the NAC. The NAC will prepare the case for the Minister of Education’s decision. If the Minister of Education personally approves it, the adoption case is forwarded to a regional court or the Minsk City Court (for Minsk children);

Foreign prospective adoptive parents are notified of the prospective match after it is approved by the Minister of Education. Belarusian authorities will also inform the prospective adoptive parents when their court hearing date has been set.

At this time point in the process, the prospective parents should contact the U.S. Embassy in Belarus. The U.S. Embassy is responsible for investigating whether the child meets the definition of “orphan” in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. (This is known as an I-604 orphan investigation.) This usually consists of an interview with the parents and adopted child as well as a review of the child’s medical records and other documents. To schedule an interview, email your name, the number of children you are adopting, and the date you would like an interview to minskadoptions@state.gov. The Embassy prefers at least two weeks notice for an appointment. The Embassy will send you an email to confirm your appointment or offer you alternative dates. Please note: The U.S. Embassy in Belarus only handles the I-604 orphan investigation. The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw will actually handle immigration procedures for the child. Please see the section below entitled “The U.S. Immigrant Visa Process in Warsaw, Poland” for more information.

When the prospective parents arrive in Belarus, they will meet the child in the presence of a representative of the local guardianship and custody authority and then go to the appropriate regional court or to the Minsk City Court.

The respective court then considers the case and rules for or against the adoption of the Belarusian child to foreign adoptive parents.

Obtaining Travel Documents for the Child
Before the court appointment, the prospective parents will have an opportunity to declare whether they wish the adoption decree and subsequent documents to be issued with the child’s new name.
If the court approves the adoption of the child to the prospective parents, the Belarusian authorities will issue the adoption decree. The adoptive parents must then obtain the child’s Belarusian passport as well as the exit stamp that makes the passport valid for international travel. Please remember that at this point, the child is still a citizen of Belarus and not of the United States, and therefore the child is NOT yet entitled to a U.S. passport.

The parents should apply for their adopted child's passport with the local Office of Visas and Registration (OVIR). Please note that this may take a few days. The passport is issued in the child’s new name if the adoptive parents wish to change the name. A Belarusian passport costs 2,000 Belarusian rubles for the computer registration plus 1/2 of the “basic rate.” The “basic rate” is the unit the Belarusian government uses to calculate everything from fines to fees. It is adjusted quarterly. As of February 2006, the basic rate is 14,500 Belarusian rubles, so the total cost of a Belarusian passport is 16,500 Belarusian rubles. This is, however, subject to change.

Polish authorities require a passport and a visa for Belarusian children. When adoptive parents make their appointment with the U.S. Embassy in Minsk, the Embassy sends the names of the parents to the Polish Embassy in Minsk. The Polish Embassy offers expedited appointments for the Belarusian children and issues their visas free of charge.

The procedure for applying for a Polish visa is as follows:

At 10:00 am the adoptive parents may appear at the VIP line at the Consular Section of the Polish Embassy, 91A Kropotkina Street. This means no waiting in line. Along with the visa application, photo, and newly-issued passport, the Polish Embassy also requires copies of the court decree, the revised birth certificate that reflects the adoptive parents and name change, and the certificate of adoption. Original documents are seen and returned to the parents. Generally, between 3:00 and 4:00 pm the same afternoon, the visas are issued and available for pick-up.

The U.S. Immigrant Visa Process in Warsaw, Poland
Once the child has both a Belarusian passport and a Polish visa, the child and his/her parents must travel to Warsaw, Poland.

Please contact the consular section at the embassy in Warsaw, 48/22/625-1401, to schedule the final visa interview. We require three working days’ advance notice for all appointments. Please also do not plan to depart from Warsaw the same day as the interview, in case problems arise in the visa processing. Visa appointments are scheduled between 8:30 and 10:30 am to allow enough time to prepare the visa for pick-up at 3:00 pm that same day. Visas cannot be issued outside of working hours.

For additional information applying for the immigrant visa, please also visit the web site for the U.S. Embassy in Poland at http://warsaw.usembassy.gov/poland/adoption.html.

Post-Adoption Reporting Requirements
Belarusian law requires that adoptive parents register their child with the Belarusian consular office that covers the child’s new place of residence. Parents should do this as soon as possible after they and the child have entered the United States.

Belarusian law also requires that the appropriate social services agency in the child’s new country of residence visit the child at least once a year for the first five years following the adoption and provide a report to the Government of Belarus.

Parents of Belarusian adopted children may, however, choose to provide to the Belarusian embassy or consular office their own annual reports on the children’s well being. Such reports serve to reassure the Government of Belarus that the United States and its citizens adequately care for and protect Belarusian adopted children.

Belarusian Citizenship
Under Belarusian law, children adopted from Belarus remain citizens of Belarus at least until their 16th birthdays, notwithstanding the children’s acquisition of a new citizenship in their new country. (See below for more information regarding the acquisition of U.S. citizenship by foreign-born adopted children.) When the child turns 16, the adoptive parents may apply to the Belarusian embassy in Washington to have the child’s Belarusian citizenship terminated. Parents with more detailed questions concerning this process should contact the Belarusian embassy at the address provided further down in this flyer.

AUTHENTICATING U.S. DOCUMENTS TO BE USED ABROAD: Please visit our Web site at travel.state.gov for additional information about authentication procedures.

BELARUSIAN EMBASSY AND CONSULATES IN THE UNITED STATES:
Embassy of the Republic of Belarus
1619 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
Tel: (202) 986-1606
fax: (202) 986-1805
Email: consul@belarusembassy.org
http://www.belarusembassy.org/

Belarus also has a Consulate in New York at its UN Mission.

U.S. IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS
Prospective adopting parents are strongly encouraged to consult U.S. CSI publication M-249, The Immigration of Adopted and Prospective Adopting Children , as well as the Department of State publication, International Adoptions. The U.S. CSI publication is available at the U.S. CSI Web site.

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/.

U.S. EMBASSY IN BELARUS:
Americans living or traveling abroad are encouraged to register with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the State Department’s travel registration website, https://travelregistration.state.gov/, and to obtain updated information on travel and security within the country of travel. Americans without Internet access may register directly with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. By registering, American citizens make it easier for the Embassy or Consulate to contact them in case of emergency. The Consular Section is located at:

U.S. Embassy Belarus
Consular Section, U.S. Embassy
46 Starovilenskaya St.
220002 Minsk, Belarus
Tel: 375-17-210-1283
ACQUISITION OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP: Fact sheets on acquiring U.S. citizenship are available at: http://travel.state.gov/family/childcitfaq.html or http://uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Specific questions about adoption in Belarus may be addressed to the U.S. Embassy in Belarus. 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, 4th Floor, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20520-4818, toll-free Tel: 1-888-407-4747.
Useful information is also available from several other sources:

Telephone:

Toll Free - 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 1-202-501-4444.

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/family/adoption/adoption_485.html contains country-specific adoption information flyers like this one as well as links to extensive information about intercountry adoptions.

Country Specific Information: 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 Country Specific Information 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 CSI for that country, the State Department may issue a Travel Alert 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 Toll Free Hotline at 1-888-407-4747. This number is available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern 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 1-202-501-4444.

USCIS web site - http://uscis.gov/