Surrendering My Adopted Child's Passport
Recently, I've handled several cases where panicked parents have received letters stating that they should surrender their adopted child's US passport. Usually, the parents went through the rigorous process of adopting while they were living overseas. They had a home-study done by a US accredited agency. They filed the I600A or I800A. They completed the intercountry adoption process and the child was granted either an IR-3 or IH-3 visa. They then came to the U.S. for a while with the child and obtained a U.S. passport for the child. Often, the Certificate of Citizenship issued by USCIS was sent to their U.S. address. Then, both parents and child returned to their overseas address. In the past, this worked well. But, now, the Department of State and USCIS have both determined to treat these cases differently. The family that followed this route will get a letter from the Department of State telling the parents that the child's passport was issued erron...