Law Library of Congress Report on Acquisition of Citizenship through International Adoption

The Law Library of Congress has published a comparative law report on the Acquisition of Citizenship through International Adoption:

"This report surveys acquisition of citizenship through international adoption in 18 countries around the globe. It provides a general overview about the main legislative instruments governing international adoption and acquisition of citizenship in each of the surveyed countries. The report shows that, in most of the surveyed countries, citizenship laws are the main piece of legislation governing the acquisition of citizenship through intercountry adoption. However, adoption laws in Italy regulate the acquisition of citizenship of adopted foreign children."

"The report sheds light on the required process and procedures of adoption in the surveyed countries. In Brazil, Canada, Israel, Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK), Turkey, China, France, and Russia, the adoption process entails the release of the health and criminal records of the adoptive parents as well as their income to determine their eligibility to adopt children."

"Some of the surveyed countries obligate the adoptive parents to attain a certain age before they submit their adoption application. For instance, in Germany, Japan, and Israel, the adoptive parents must not be under the age of 25 years old. Canada and Sweden require a person not to be less than 18 years of age to adopt a child. While the prospective adopters in the UK must be over the age of 21, China requires the age of the adoptive parents not to be younger than 30 years old. In Turkey, adoptive parents must not be younger than 30 years old or be married for at least five years. In France, adoptive parents’ must not be younger than 28 years of age."

"In addition to the age requirement, countries impose other requirements. For example, Israel requires that the adopted child be of the same religion as the adoptive parents. The court will waive this requirement if it is satisfied that the adoption will not have an adverse effect on the child’s welfare. Brazil, Israel, and Sweden mandate a social and psychological assessment report of the adoptive parents. Sweden also requires an adoptive parent to register the adoption with the Tax Authority. Turkey stipulates that married couples may adopt if they have been married for at least five years. Russia prohibits adoption by unmarried or same-sex couples."

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2 and a half million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.

Over the years, it has published dozens of comparative law reports which are a treasure trove for legal research on a huge variety of issues.