Want to adopt a foreign child? It seems like everyone is doing it. Angelina, Madonna, Rosie. But foreign adoption is more than just a trend. For many, it is the only opportunity they will have to be a parent. And for the children, a future in the U.S. is often far more promising than the one they would face at home. Before jumping in to foreign adoption though, there are some basic facts you need to understand about the immigration process for these children. Here are the steps you need to take, if you are interested in adopting a child from abroad.
See also:
Child Citizenship Act Helps Adopted Children
Born Abroad's Adoption site

All you need is Internet access and a dream!

Then again, instructions might help. And with a few great tips from your editors, you're all set to enter. Go ahead, we've got you covered in our DV-2009 Lottery Center. Good luck!

(Entering the green card lottery is free, and must be done online between noon Eastern Daylight time, Oct. 3 and noon EDT, December 2.)

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani began this week's campaign trail at a now-infamous cheesesteak stand in South Philadelphia. The stand garnered considerable press coverage in June 2006, after posting signs asking that customers speak English.

The two small signs at Geno's Steaks read "This is America: When ordering please speak English.''

Giuliani has long believed that all immigrants wanting to live in the U.S. permanently should learn English. In 2006, he also vehemently opposed President Bush's desire to offer temporary work visas to illegal immigrants. More recently, however, Giuliani and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney have both spoken favorably about that same visa legislation.

Then too, during his stint as New York mayor, Giuliani often cited the local contributions of illegal aliens. In 1994, he told the New York Times, "If you come here, and you work hard, and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city."

Monday, Giuliani said "Immigration is the best thing we have going for us. We need new people. We need people who are going to inform us, give us new ideas, but it has to be legal."

Despite these somewhat conflicting statements, Giuliani insists his stance on immigration has never changed during his political career. Although he's more consistent than some politicians have been, we have a sneaking suspicion that he tends to bend a little, in whichever direction will garner more votes from the audience of the moment. He can't open his arms to hardworking illegals and at the same time tell us that only legal immigration is acceptable. Can he? Maybe we're missing something here. Read more...

Questions to the new naturalization test are about to be released, giving citizenship applicants one year to study before the exam is revised in October 2008.

The 100 questions and answers for the civics component of the new naturalization test have been reworked after more than 6,000 citizenship applicants from around the nation took a pilot version of the exam. The 100 questions on the new naturalization test are the end result, after the USCIS, a panel of history and government scholars, and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers reviewed responses to the pilot. Read more...

Yesterday, immigration law professors from all over the U.S. posed questions to Senator Barack Obama (D-Il). Obama, who hopes to become the Democratic candidate for U.S. President, is very sympathetic to immigrants, yet realistic as well. His own father immigrated to the U.S. from a small African village. Stay tuned for a review and analysis of his replies soon. In the meantime, if you're brave, you can read the lengthy transcript of Immigration questions and answers with Barack Obama.

Governors of 13 states have sent a joint letter to both the Senate and the House, imploring them to let Congress increase quotas on H-1B work visas and employment-based green cards. In the letter, they cite the worrisome U.S. "shortage of highly skilled professionals in math and science," pointing out "that foreign talent has a role to play in our ability to keep companies located in our state and country." The letter calls for swift legislation to address the visa shortages. Read more...

The USCIS Ombudsman is a critically important immigration problem solving tool that everyone should know about but few people do.

Read more...

The State Department's October's Visa Bulletin has been released. What do these numbers mean to you? Read more...

Update: 9/19: About 1,000 people showed up for the 9/18 immigrant rally to protest green card backlogs for highly skilled workers; Some of them traveling long distances to get there, most of them taking a day off work. They marched in silence from the Washington Monument to the Capitol, where one of them sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and another sang a new song, "We're your Microsoft, your eBay, your Google." What did he mean by that? Here's a Quick Background: Read more...

Many visitors traveling to the United States for either business or pleasure need a visa. If your country is part of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), you're off the hook. For everyone else, here are 10 Steps to Getting a U.S. Visitor Visa.