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Throughout
the adoption process, you will need to contact government agencies and
officials at the local, state, and national levels. Fortunately,
many government offices are now on the web and you can download the
different forms you need from their sites.
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USCIS
Homepage |
By
act of the U.S. Congress, effective March 1, 2003 the
federal Immigration Service (INS) ceased to exist.
INS' old adoption-related functions are now part of the
Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS).
On
the USCIS Homepage, you can download copies of all the forms
you will need (at least for now, the form numbers remain the
same as under the old INS), find out the location of your district
office, and a wealth of other useful information. |
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U.
S. State Dept. - China Information
U.S.
State Dept. - Main Website
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The
State Department maintains a website that contains
specific information on China Adoptions.
From
the main U.S. State Dept. website, you can also access
information for people traveling to foreign countries -
including China. |
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U.S.
Passport Office |
Need
to get your passport for the first time or need to renew an
existing passport? Here's the link to the U.S.
Passport Office. Online at their site you will find
instructions for all kinds of different passport situations,
downloadable application forms, FAQs, and links to related
information.
Want to learn
more about how the passport system works? The folks at
How Stuff Works have a basic "Passport
101" tutorial that will give you the answers. |
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U.S. Passport Name Change |
NEW -
Effective Sept. 26, 2005, the U.S. State Department will no
longer issue passport amendments. If you need to make
a change in your passport, you will have to apply for a
replacement. Your old passport will be cancelled and
new passport issued. For details, click the link. |
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U.
S. Consulate - Guangzhou, China |
The
United States Consulate office in Guangzhou, Guangdong
Province, China is familiar to all adoptive China families
that are American citizens. Each family comes to
Guangzhou for a Consulate appointment to have our new
child's visa application processed at the Adopted Children
Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVA). You can find current
information on ACIVA on the Consulate's website. |
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China
Center of Adoption Affairs |
The
China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in Beijing manages
the adoption process in China. CCAA matches
prospective adoptive parents with available children in
China. |
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Texas
Secretary of State |
Dossier
documents originating in Texas need to be certified by the
Texas Secretary of State before they can be submitted to the
Chinese Consulate. This link will take you to the
Texas Secretary of State's website information page on
document certification. Look for paragraph
number 3 on Notaries Public Unit. You can download the
application form from their link. |
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