The requirements below are additional to the rules for all children wishing to join their parent(s) in the UK (see above).

You can bring your adopted child to the UK if you can show that they:

• were adopted when both parents lived together abroad or when either parent was settled in the UK; and
• have the same rights as any of your other children; and
• were adopted because their original parents could not care for them, and there has been a genuine transfer of parental responsibility;
• have broken all ties with their original family; and
• were not adopted just to make it easier to enter the UK.

Your child must obtain a visa before they travel to the UK.

A foreign adoption order will only be recognised in the UK if it was made in a country on the 'designated list' - this means a country that is included in the Adoption (Designation of Overseas Adoptions) Order 1973. You can find the current designated list on the Department for Children, Schools and Families website.

A child who was adopted in a country on the designated list will normally be given permission to stay in the UK permanently if:

• both you and the child's other parent are settled here; or
• both you and the child's other parent have permission to settle here permanently and you both are entering the country together with the child; or
• you have permission to settle here permanently and are entering the country with the child, and the other parent is already settled here; or
• you have sole responsibility for the child.

If your child was adopted in a country on the designated list and is coming to the UK with a parent who has temporary permission to stay here (also known as 'limited leave to remain'), they will be allowed to stay for up to 12 months.

If the adoption order was made in a country that is not on the designated list, the child can apply to come to the UK to be adopted through the courts here. In this case, they will initially be allowed to stay here for up to 2 years.

Your child will not automatically become a British citizen, unless you adopted them through the UK courts and at least one of the adoptive parents was a British citizen when the adoption order was made.

Intercountry adoption

If your child is coming to the UK so that they can be adopted by you here under the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption, they must:

• be joining one or two prospective parents who are both habitually resident in the UK and who are the sole occupiers of accommodation where they can can support and house the child without help from public funds;
• be the subject of an agreement made under the Hague Convention; and
• have been entrusted to the prospective parents by the authorities of the country from which they are coming; and
• be under the age of 18.

This is just a brief guide to the immigration rules on intercountry adoption. You must also meet other requirements before you will be allowed to adopt a child from another country. You can find more information on adoption laws and procedures on the Department for Children, Schools and Families website. You should also read our more detailed guidance about intercountry adoption and the Immigration Rules, which you can download from the right side of this page.