Once Your Dossier is Complete

The Adoption Process in Nepal is evolving, but this appears to be the process so far.

Once your dossier is complete, and your embassy has issued a Guarantee Letter for you, your agency's Nepal representative submits your completed dossier including the guarantee letter to the Ministry. It is given a 4 digit registration number. This number is not important.

Next your dossier goes to the Legal Department. Here it is given a file number or legal number (based on the order of submission - this is the number that is important, but starting about 5/17/09 the Ministry stopped letting people know what their legal number is). In the Legal Department your dossier is reviewed to make certain all of the necessary documents are present, signed, and notarized properly (every page). If something is missing or incorrectly signed/notarized, your agency rep will be contacted.

Next your dossier goes to the Investigation, Recommendation & Monitoring Committee which evaluates the content of the documents in your dossier. This committee submits your dossier to one of the two matching committees (Central Children's Welfare Board or Bal Mandir).

The Matching Committee matches a child to you based on your request (age, sex, special needs or not). The Matching Committee will not know your name, or any identifying information about you. Likewise, they will not know details about the child other than age, sex, and health status. (Blind matching) When a match has been made your agency will be informed and you will be sent basic information on the child (age, very basic health and development information, vaccinations, and one small photo). You will not be told what orphanage the child is in until after you accept the referral and the match has been given final approval by the Ministry.

You are given 15 days to either accept or reject the referral. If you accept the child referred, you submit a letter of acceptance to the Ministry.

The Ministry must now give it's final approval of the match. First, the Matching Committee recommends the match to the Investigation, Recommendation & Monitoring Committee who then recommends the match to the Ministry . The Ministry issues a final decision to approve the match.

You prepare to travel to Nepal. (Time from referral acceptance to travel is anticipated to be 1-2 months).

Once in Nepal you must pick up the approval documents at the Ministry, then you go to the orphanage to meet the child. You spend approximately 7 days visiting the child in his or her orphanage. After you have completed the visitation period, you meet for an interview at the ministry. If all goes well, the UnderSecretary signs your child's adoption decree and child then becomes legally yours under Nepali law. You now have full custody of the child.

You must now get permission to bring the child to the US.
1. You must take your child to have passport-style photos taken of the child for various documents
2. The child's Nepali travel documents must be requested from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is estimated that this will take 1-4 days to receive this paperwork
3. The child must pass a health exam by an U.S. embassy approved doctor.
4. You submit all of your translated paperwork including Nepal travel documents to the US Embassy and request an interview appointment.
5. You have your embassy interview, and if there are no further questions, 2-3 days later you receive the child's visa and you may travel back to the US.
(Total time in Nepal is expected to be about 3 weeks)

If all adopting parents (ie. 2 if married, 1 if single) meet the child before the child was legally your child under Nepali law, the child becomes a US citizen as soon as you land in the US (IR3 Visa) If not the child enters as a Permanent resident (IR4 Visa) and you must readopt the child once you are in the US in order to have the child become a US citizen -----(actually it is a good idea to readopt the child in the US even if he/she entered the US on a IR3 Visa)