I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative
ALERT: On Jan. 30, 2024, USCIS announced a final rule, published in the Federal Register, that adjusts the fees required for most immigration applications and petitions. The new fees will be effective April 1, 2024.
Applications and petitions postmarked on or after April 1, 2024, must include the new fees or USCIS will not accept them.
What to Know About Sending Us Your Form
The new filing fee is effective for filings postmarked April 1, 2024, and later. If you are filing an acceptable prior form edition on or after April 1, 2024, you must include the new filing fee.
To determine the child’s eligibility for classification as a Convention adoptee. The U.S. citizen prospective adoptive parent files the petition to finalize the immigration process of a child who habitually resides in a Convention country. The petitioner must have an approved, valid Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country, to file Form I-800.
Form Details
Dates are listed in mm/dd/yy format.
If you complete and print this form to mail it, make sure that the form edition date and page numbers are visible at the bottom of all pages and that all pages are from the same form edition. If any of the form’s pages are missing or are from a different form edition, we may reject your form.
If you need help downloading and printing forms, read our instructions.
U.S. Postal Service (USPS):
USCIS
Attn: Adoption I-800
P.O. Box 660087
Dallas, TX 75266-0087
FedEx, UPS and DHL deliveries:
USCIS
Attn: Adoption I-800 (Box 660087)
2501 S. State Hwy. 121 Business
Suite 400
Lewisville, TX 75067-8003
No fee is required for the first Form I-800 filed for a child on the basis of an approved Form I-800A. If more than one Form I-800 is filed during the approval period for different children, the fee is $775 for the second and each subsequent Form I-800. However, if the children are siblings before the proposed adoption, no additional filing fee is required.
You may pay the fee with a money order, personal check, cashier’s check, or by credit card using Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions. If you pay by check, you must make your check payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
When you send a payment, you agree to pay for a government service. Filing and biometric service fees are final and non-refundable, regardless of any action we take on your application, petition, or request, or if you withdraw your request.
Pay each filing fee separately. We are transitioning to electronically processing immigration benefit requests, which requires us to use multiple systems to process your package. Because of this, you must pay each filing fee separately for any form you submit. We may reject your entire package if you submit a single, combined payment for multiple forms.
Please do not submit this checklist with your Form I-800. It is an optional tool to use as you prepare your form, but does not replace statutory, regulatory, and form instruction requirements. We recommend that you review these requirements before completing and submitting your form. Do not send original documents unless specifically requested in the form instructions or applicable regulations.
If you submit any documents (copies or original documents, if requested) in a foreign language, you must include a full English translation along with a certification from the translator verifying that the translation is complete and accurate, and that they are competent to translate from the foreign language to English.
Did you provide the following?
- Your Form I-800A approval notice and, if applicable, proof we extended the approval period
- Your Article 16 report which includes all the information specified in 8 CFR Part 204.313(d)(3) and (4)
- A statement from your primary adoption service provider verifying that you have completed all pre-placement preparation and training
- A post-placement plan (if applicable)
- Evidence you have complied with pre-adoption requirements in the state of the child’s proposed residence (if applicable)
- Form I-864, Form I-864EZ, or Form I-864W
- Form I-601 (if applicable)
Filing Tips for Form I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative
Complete all sections of the form. We will reject the form if these fields are missing:
- Part 1 – Information About You
- Family Name
- Home Address
Filing Tips: Go to our Tips for Filing Forms by Mail page for information on how to help ensure we will accept your application.
Don’t forget to sign your form. We will reject any unsigned form.
You may submit Form I-800, Supplement 1, Consent to Disclose Information, if you want to allow us to disclose information about your case to your adoption service provider, home study preparer, or any other individual or entity (other than your attorney or accredited representative). We generally may not disclose information to other people, such as your adoption service provider, without your consent.
Instructions for a Hague Convention Birth Siblings Between Age 16 and 18
The International Adoption Simplification Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-287, amended section 101(b)(1)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow the birth sibling of an adopted child to qualify as a Hague Convention adoptee after the birth sibling’s 16th birthday, but before the birth sibling’s 18th birthday. After Nov. 30, 2010, you may file Form I-800 if the child is:
- From a country party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation with Respect to Intercountry Adoption; and
- The birth sibling of another noncitizen child who has immigrated or will immigrate based on adoption by the same adoptive parents.
You must file your Form I-800 before the notice of approval or Form I-800A extension expires, and before the child’s 18th birthday.
You must have an approved, valid Form I-800A before filing Form I-800. If the approval of the Form I-800A (including any extensions) has expired or you never filed a Form I-800A, you must file Form I-800A, with fee.
Special Instructions for a Sibling Child who Turned 18 on or after April 1, 2008
The International Adoption Simplification Act of 2010, (section 4(b)) allows a U.S. citizen to file a visa petition for a child who meets the following requirements:
- The child is from a country that is a party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation with Respect to Intercountry Adoption;
- The child turned 18 on or after April 1, 2008;
- The petitioner has adopted or will adopt the child;
- The child is the birth sibling of another alien child who has immigrated or will immigrate to the U.S. based on adoption by the same adoptive parents; and
- The petitioner properly filed their Form I-800 on or before Nov. 30, 2012.
You must have an approved, valid Form I-800A before filing Form I-800. If the approval of the Form I-800A (including any extensions) has expired or you never filed a Form I-800A, you must file Form I-800A, with fee.
When completing Form I-800 under these special instructions for an older birth sibling, you should write “N/A” in response to questions 9 through 17, in Part 3. You do not need to pay an additional Form I-800 filing fee for children who are birth siblings. You must submit the following supporting documents with your Form I-800:
- Birth certificates for each sibling or other evidence that they are birth siblings;
- Evidence that the younger birth sibling either already has immigrated or will immigrate to the United States as your adopted child, orphan or Convention adoptee; and
- A copy of the adoption decree for the older birth sibling you are filing for, if you have already adopted them. If you have not already adopted the older birth sibling, submit information about the pre-adoption requirements under the law of the state where you will adopt to show you will be able to adopt the older birth sibling in that state despite the fact that they are already over 18.
E-Notification: If you want to receive an e-mail and/or text message that your Form I-800 has been accepted at a lockbox facility, complete Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance and clip it to the first page of your application.
