A joint US Department of State and USCIS team, visited Taiwan, to discuss about the Pre-Adoption Immigration Review process (PAIR Process), with the Taiwan authorities. Before the US citizen parents could adopt a child, complete information about the child will be provided to the Taiwan courts, through this process. After reviewing the information that is provided and after ensuring that the child is eligible to immigrate to the United States, Taiwan courts will allow the US citizen parents to adopt the child lawfully and will establish a permanent relationship between the parents and the child. After the discussion, Taiwan authorities expressed their intention to implement this intercountry adoption process in Taiwan. This PAIR process will protect the adoptive parents and the children.
According to this process, USCIS will first determine the eligibility of the child to immigrate to the United States, before issuing a final adoption order. Only after determining the eligibility of the child, USCIS will transfer the rights to the US citizen parents. This can prevent the separation of the child from its adoptive parents as in certain circumstances US citizens may not be allowed to bring the adopted child to the United States, if the USCIS determines that the child is ineligible to immigrate to the United States, after adoption. Generally, US citizens must wait until the US immigration authorities verify the eligibility of the child to get into the United States and that process will take a long time and during that period the adopted child will be separated from the parents but the PAIR process is likely to reduce the waiting time. The eligibility of the child to immigrate to the United States will be determined at the time of adjudicating the adoption case.
Moreover, authorized adoption service providers in Taiwan will have to present the required documents to prove that a PAIR review has been conducted by the USCIS. After these changes are made by the Taiwan authorities, USCIS will implement a process that will allow the US citizen parents to receive a determination before they file their adoption cases. Similarly, US parents who are looking forward to adopt a child from Taiwan, will be allowed to file Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative, along with the required supporting documents. They need to do this before submitting their adoption cases in the courts in Taiwan. Once the USCIS verifies the child’s immigration eligibility, USCIS will provide information about the eligibility of the child to immigrate to the United States.
