Suitability-Related Changes
Alert: On Sept. 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Immigration Legal Resource Center et al., v. Wolf, et al., 20-cv-05883-JWS, preliminarily enjoined DHS from implementing or enforcing any part of the USCIS Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements rule (PDF).
While the rule is preliminarily enjoined, we will continue to:
- Accept USCIS forms with the current editions and current fees; and
- Use the regulations and guidance currently in place to adjudicate applications and petitions. This includes accepting and adjudicating fee waiver requests as provided under Adjudicator's Field Manual (AFM) Chapters 10.9 (PDF, 2.86 MB) and 10.10 (PDF, 2.86 MB).
For more information, please refer to the Federal Register Notice, dated Jan. 29, 2021.
Throughout the intercountry adoption process, USCIS must remain satisfied that you are suitable to adopt a child. You may need to request action on a pending or approved suitability application or a pending or approved concurrent (or combination) filing.
After you file for a suitability determination, changes in your case may require you to take additional actions. See the following links for more information:
Additional Information
For more information on the next steps of the Hague and orphan adoption processes, visit the Hague Process and Orphan Process webpages