Chinadopt: Adopting Children From China Our Government
(a note from a correspondent):
. . . in Guangzhou at the American consulate (of course it’s the only consular office which has the capacity to issue exit visas in all of China) we met some of the most unpleasant people of the whole adoption process. Of the nine couples in our group, only three of us made is through the exit visa interview process without being turned away empty handed on the first go round. Everyone else in the group was calling home (at 3 or 4 AM) waking parents, friends, whoever to run to their offices and retrieve copies of pertinent tax documents and other miscellaneous items (all of which had of course been reviewed and approved well before you are sitting in front of a consular officer in Guangzhou with your baby) and faxing them to the White Swan. At the heart of most of the problems is the newly required INS document, the I-864. Our adoption agency had not previously known (this document has only been required since December, 1997) how much weight is placed on this form and its supporting attachments. It is a bad form in its proper application and a terrible form for the adoption process. This form is required whenever anyone in the U.S. sponsers an alien. It requires proof of income (including but not limited to notarized copies of the last three years tax returns, IN THEIR ENTIRETY, including all schedules and attachments). In this form you promise to reimburse the U.S. government for any funds they may end up paying the alien you sponsor. It is intended for a brother who may be here from Mexico for instance, to sponsor another family member for admission to the U.S. It is not intended for adoption. We have all already proven our financial, moral and spiritual ability to take on the task of parenting. Several members of our group suffered immensely when first told they may not be able to leave China with their new daughters. The consulate employees went to great trouble to go through everyone’s paperwork with a fine tooth comb to find a reason not to issue an exit visa. After the kindly and efficient treatment we had received from the Chinese officials, it was a real shock to have so much trouble and travail in a building in Guangzhou where the American flag flies. The only advice I can offer is make SURE you read and re-read the I-864 instructions and follow them to the letter. If you are self employed, make extra sure you have adequate and acceptable proof of your income. Finally, even though you will not want to, try to be pleasant with the people at the Consulate. They do not deserve it, but it will expedite you leaving that building with your baby and your exit visa and that is why you are there. [Ed's note: see also a note from the INS officer in charge at Gunagzhou.]
------------------------------------------------------
And a response (4/20/98) from the chief of the Adoption Unit
at Guangzhou (a branch of our State Dept.):
I am responding to a recent posting
(http://www.pshrink.com/chinadopt/ourgovernment.html), which was
passed along to me by a friend. Please feel free to post this
message on-line.
When the Adoption Unit at the Consulate in Guangzhou recently
processed a group of 9 families, we found that many of the
families’ documents were not in order. Specifically,
the families were missing supporting documents for Form I-864
(Affidavit of Support) which is a REQUIRED document and which is
not “waiverable”.
As the law was written by Congress, and the regulations
promulgated by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, all
applicants for immigrant visas who are sponsored by an immediate
relative—INCLUDING ORPHANS—are required to submit Form
I-864. If you read the instructions provided with Form
I-864, this is very clear (see “Who Needs an Affidavit of
Support under Section 213A?”, page 1 of the Form).
Although we might like to, Consular officers have NO discretion
to waive this requirement.
Since the I-864 took effect on December 19, 1997, this
adoption agency has sent 3 other groups to the Consulate to apply
for their adopted children’s immigrant visas. There is
no reason for them not to have known about this requirement and
not to have prepared this group of 9. The instructions with
Form I-864 make it clear what documentation must be presented
with the Affidavit of Support: proof of CURRENT employment
or self employment, and individual FEDERAL income tax returns for
the MOST RECENT 3 TAX YEARS (see page 3 of the
instructions). Additionally, when parents sign the
affidavit, they are certifying, among other things that
“income tax returns submitted in support of this affidavit
are true copies of the returns filed with the IRS”.
This means that parent must submit COMPLETE copies of their
income tax returns, including ALL schedules.
To state that the affidavit of support “is not intended
for adoption” is incorrect. It IS intended for adopted
children, as well as nearly all other family-sponsored
immigrants. Implementation of the Affidavit of Support
requirements has added a great deal of processing time to the
Adoption Unit’s cases, even when families have all their
documents in order. Of course we would like to see less
paperwork, rather than more. However, we have no choice but
to implement the requirements. When we see a problem, we go
to great lengths to reassure families that the problem can be
overcome and that, in the vast majority of cases, families can
obtain the paperwork overnight and leave Guangzhou on
schedule. We do NOT “go through paperwork with a fine
tooth comb to find a reason not to issue an exit
visa”. (By the way, we do not issue “exit
visas”—those are issued only by the Chinese.) It
is ALWAYS easier to issue a visa than to deny one. We do
not want to create more work for ourselves than is absolutely
necessary, but we also want adopted children to leave here with
all their visa paperwork in order so that they have no
difficulties with INS either at the port of entry or during the
certificate of citizenship application. If we issued
immigrant visas based on incomplete paperwork then INS would be
correct to bar that child from entering the U.S. It would
be irresponsible on our part, therefore, to issue an immigrant
visa without all the necessary documentation.
We have tried very hard to keep agencies and families informed
of new visa processing requirements. If anyone has ANY
question regarding ANY aspect of this process, please contact me
by phone at 011-86-20-8188-8911, extension 335 or by fax at
011-86-20-8186-2341. I am more than happy to answer
questions, provide guidance, etc. particularly if it means that
potential problems can be corrected before families travel to
China.
Sincerely,
Sarah W. Metzger
Chief, Adoption Unit
U.S. Consulate Guangzhou
[Thank you VERY much, Ms. Metzger.]
[Another Ed note: Ms. Metzger is right, you know. This law was aimed at adoptions as well as at family immigration. It is not clear whether our Congress had orphans in mind when they wrote this law, but it does apply to our children now being adopted. I think that some of the problem comes with the requirement that all this paperwork be filed in Guangzhou. Why not at home? Why not pre-clear couples before they go?
The answer is that the regulations are not written that way. Will the INS change them? Another project for those who know about such things. In the mean time, when we adopting parents go to Guangzhou we are EXTREMELY anxious. It is clear that some of these anxious parents are reading hostility or malevolence into the actions of US government personnel at the consulate. People are not at their best when they are anxious (see Ms. Chu's note). On the other hand, I hope that consular personnel will understand that these parents are downright scared (I was), and need a little friendliness in the faces of those who process the papers, as well as a bit of TLC.
Finally, as Ms. Metzger points out, the original correspondent's story is as much about agency ball-dropping as it was about our consulate.]