4. WHEN IS A “READOPTION” REQUIRED?

Whether or not a readoption is required can be a matter of U.S. state law or U.S. immigration law. Readoption may be
required in some states where the state does not give the same recognition and effect to a final decree of adoption issued
by a foreign country as to a decree of adoption issued in that state.2 Even if the state recognizes the foreign adoption
and the adoption is final abroad under the law of the applicable foreign country, your child may still have to satisfy the
readoption requirement of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) (previously the INS) (hereinafter
referred to as INS/BCIS for purposes of these comments), 3 for your child to be acquire U.S. citizenship.4 This is the case
if your child was issued an IR4 visa because you as a sole parent or you and your husband, as applicable, did not see
your child before or during the adoption abroad. An IR4 visa is issued in this situation because the INS/BCIS has
interpreted the Immigration Act (INA) as requiring that both parents, or the sole parent, as applicable, see the child before
or during the adoption abroad in order for the adoption to be “final” under the INA.5
However, according to the INS/BCIS interim regulations, the readoption requirement in this situation may be waived by
the INS/BCIS if sufficient proof of the state’s recognition of the foreign adoption is provided to the INS/BCIS.6
Unfortunately, the INS/BCIS has been ambiguous about what type of “proof” or “evidence” of recognition will be sufficient
for the waiver.
Whether, based on the regulations, the INS/BCIS will still require a readoption in a state, which generally recognizes
foreign adoptions, is not certain at this point. Until more information is available about what kind of proof of recognition
that the INS/BCIS will require for a waiver and how the INS/BCIS will be implementing the regulations in practice, most
professionals still recommend a readoption in this IR4 situation rather than risk any uncertainty regarding a child’s
citizenship, and I agree. If you live in a state that specifically provides for recognition of a foreign decree by a written law
or your state court will issue a court order recognizing your child’s adoption, and you decide not to readopt, you should
submit a copy of the law or the order to the INS/BCIS along with the new revised N-600 form requesting a Certificate of
Citizenship7 and request a waiver. However, until you actually receive the Certificate of Citizenship, confirming that the
INS/BCIS has accepted the proof of state recognition that you have submitted and waived the readoption requirement, do
not assume that your child is a citizen. Only then (and it may take more than a year to receive the Certificate) will you be
certain that your child has acquired U.S. citizenship.

The Legal-eaze website provides excellent information concering readoption. This article can be found here