Adoption

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All Intercountry Adoption Visas are processed by the Adoption Visa Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

Vietnam is party to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). Therefore all adoptions between Vietnam and the United States must meet the requirements of the convention and U.S. law implementing the Convention.

For all information about the intercountry adoption process between the United States and Vietnam, please click here to visit the State Department Adoption website.

Important Announcements

Adoption Law Changes

The Government of Vietnam recently approved changes to Vietnam’s 2010 Law on Adoptions, known as Decree 24/2019/ND-CP, revising the legal framework guiding implementation of the law under Decree 19/2011/ND-CP. The new decree went into effect on April 25, 2019.

The decree reinforces the Convention’s requirement that domestic adoption is the first option. It eliminates the categorization of children but specifies a list of medical conditions qualified as special needs and broadens the potential opportunities of children in all orphanages for intercountry adoptions. The decree requires better preparation of cases by provincial authorities and increases their responsibility before and during the matching process with adoptive parents. Decree 24 also tightens regulations and enhances the reporting mechanism on humanitarian donations in return for adopting a child. Under the new changes, prospective adoptive parents can expect longer processing time for adoptions involving healthy children over five years old and biological sibling groups. The procedures for adopting children with special needs remain unchanged.

eMedical Release

The U.S. Department of States began the deployment of eMedical on July 15, 2019, which implements the use of electronic medical forms for all immigrant visa applicants. Currently, eMedical is active for intercountry adoption cases being adjudicated by the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam. All applicants need to bring the printout of the DS-260 confirmation page, along with other paperwork required by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to the medical examination.

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