How to Adopt a Child in India: CARINGS, Hague Visa, and Costs

Adopting a child from India runs through the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the statutory body under India’s Ministry of Women and Child Development that regulates every domestic and intercountry adoption under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. If you’re a U.S. citizen, India’s status as a Hague Adoption Convention country means you also complete a series of USCIS filings in a specific order alongside the Indian process. Doing the two tracks out of sequence can cost you the child’s U.S. visa.

Who Can Adopt Under Indian Law

CARA’s eligibility rules apply whether you live in India or abroad. You must be physically, mentally, and emotionally stable, financially capable, and free of life-threatening medical conditions. Married couples need both spouses’ consent and at least two years of stable marriage, unless the adoption is by a relative or step-parent.¹

A single woman can adopt a child of any gender. A single man cannot adopt a girl child. The 2022 Adoption Regulations removed the earlier restriction on parents who already have biological children.¹

Age limits scale with the age of the child. As of your registration date:

Child up to 2 years: combined age of 85 for couples, or 40 for a single parent
Above 2 and up to 4 years: combined 90, single 45
Above 4 and up to 8 years: combined 100, single 50
Above 8 and up to 18 years: combined 110, single 55

Either parent must be at least 25 years older than the child. Relative and step-parent adoptions are exempt from these age criteria.¹

The Indian Process, Step by Step

Register on the CARINGS Portal

Every prospective adoptive parent begins on CARINGS (Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System), CARA’s centralized online platform. You build a profile with your residential status, income, health information, and marital status, and you specify preferences for the child’s age, gender, and openness to a child with special needs.²

You upload identity, address, income, medical, and marital-status documents at registration. Move quickly, because your registration date fixes your place on the waiting list.

Complete the Home Study Report

Next, a social worker from a Specialized Adoption Agency (SAA) near your home conducts a Home Study Report through home visits, interviews, and document verification, evaluating your finances, emotional readiness, and living conditions. The SAA has 60 days from your registration and document submission to complete the report. A finished report is valid for three years; if your adoption takes longer, it has to be revalidated.³

Wait for a Referral and Match

A child in institutional care is not automatically available. District Child Welfare Committees must first declare an orphaned, abandoned, or surrendered child legally eligible for adoption, at which point the child enters CARINGS for matching.⁴

Once your Home Study Report is approved, CARINGS matches you with children who fit your preferences and your position on the waiting list. When a referral comes, you receive the child’s profile, medical reports, and photographs, and you have 48 hours to reserve the child. Miss that window and the referral moves down the list.⁵

Wait times are long. The average wait for infants and young children has climbed to roughly three and a half years. Families open to older children or children with special needs often receive referrals significantly faster.

Pre-Adoption Foster Care and the Court Order

After accepting a referral, you sign a foster care undertaking and take the child into pre-adoption foster care within ten days of matching. The SAA then files a petition in a District Court or Family Court. Indian law gives the court two months to issue the adoption order, though in practice it often takes longer. Parents and the child may need to appear.⁴

Once the court grants the order, parental rights transfer to you and you can apply for a new birth certificate listing you as the child’s legal parents.

The U.S. Hague Sequence That Runs Alongside

Because India ratified the Hague Adoption Convention, U.S. citizens must satisfy both Indian law and the U.S. Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000. The order is not optional. The State Department warns that if you accept custody or finalize before the U.S. steps are complete, the child can be denied a visa entirely.⁴

Choose an adoption service provider that is both U.S.-accredited and authorized by CARA to work in India. Not every U.S. agency qualifies.
File Form I-800A with USCIS to establish that you’re suitable and eligible to adopt from a Hague country. Do not accept a placement or contact a child’s caretakers before this form is approved.
Apply to CARA and enter matching only after I-800A approval.
File Form I-800 with USCIS after you’re matched, so USCIS can provisionally classify the child as a Convention adoptee.
Receive the Article 5/17 letter from a U.S. consular officer, confirming that you’re eligible, the child appears eligible for U.S. permanent residence, and the adoption may proceed.
Finalize the adoption in the Indian court.
Apply for the child’s immigrant visa at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.
Secure U.S. citizenship for the child.

IH-3 or IH-4 Visa

If both spouses (or the single adopting parent) complete the final adoption in India before the child enters the United States, the embassy issues an IH-3 immigrant visa. If only one spouse completed the adoption abroad, or the adoption isn’t finalized before entry, the child receives an IH-4 instead. The visa category affects whether you’ll need to finalize or re-adopt in your home state.⁶

Automatic U.S. Citizenship

Under the Child Citizenship Act, an adopted child acquires U.S. citizenship automatically if, before turning 18, the child has at least one U.S. citizen parent, becomes a lawful permanent resident, and resides in that parent’s legal and physical custody in the United States. Once those conditions are met, you can apply for a Certificate of Citizenship and a U.S. passport.⁷

Travel, Passport, and the Embassy Interview

Plan for a trip of several weeks. Some SAAs ask adoptive parents to live with the child for at least seven days before departing India, to begin bonding. After the court grants the adoption order, you’ll need a new Indian birth certificate and an Indian passport for the child. The passport alone often takes two weeks and can stretch past a month.⁴

For the immigrant visa interview at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, bring the child’s Indian passport, the original adoption order, CARA’s No Objection Certificate, CARA’s Article 23 certificate, the child’s medical exam from an approved panel physician, updated USCIS approval with current fingerprint results, two passport-sized photographs, and the DS-260 confirmation page. The visa fee is $325, payable in cash (U.S. dollars or Indian rupees) or by money order. The visa is typically issued within 24 hours of the interview.⁴

Re-Adoption in Your Home State

The Indian adoption order is legally valid, but most adoption attorneys still recommend re-adopting or validating the adoption in your U.S. home state court. Re-adoption protects against future legal challenges, secures your child’s inheritance rights, and lets you obtain a U.S. birth certificate from your state. Only a handful of states strictly require it, but the practical benefits apply almost everywhere.⁸

Post-Adoption Reporting Doesn’t End at the Border

CARA’s oversight continues after the court order and after you’re home. For intercountry adoptions, Specialized Adoption Agencies submit post-placement reports quarterly during the first year after the child arrives in the receiving country and every six months during the second year. Your U.S. adoption service provider uploads these reports to CARINGS on your behalf. Reporting continues for two years after the child acquires U.S. citizenship. Some Indian courts also order additional follow-up visits and counseling by a licensed social worker, typically for about a year.⁹

What Adopting From India Costs

U.S. families adopting from India can expect total costs of roughly $39,000 to $51,000 or more. That typically covers U.S. agency fees, a Hague-compliant home study (generally $900 to $3,500), document translation and authentication, CARA’s foreign program fees, travel and accommodation in India, and post-placement reporting. USCIS filing fees for the I-800A and I-800 add to the total. Post-placement visits, required for two years, typically run $150 to $475 per visit.

Federal Adoption Tax Credit

The federal adoption tax credit offsets much of the cost. For the 2025 tax year, the maximum credit is $17,280 per eligible child and covers qualified adoption expenses including agency fees, court costs, travel, and attorney fees. The credit phases out for families with modified adjusted gross income above $259,190 and disappears at $299,190. Up to $5,000 of the credit is refundable for 2025 and later tax years. The maximum amount adjusts annually for inflation.¹⁰

You generally claim the credit in the tax year the adoption becomes final, which for intercountry adoptions is the year the Indian court issues the order. Keep receipts for every qualified expense from the start of the process, even if the adoption spans multiple tax years.

1
Central Adoption Resource Authority. Adoption Regulations 2022
2
Central Adoption Resource Authority. Central Adoption Resource Authority – Procedure for Adoption
3
Press Information Bureau. Adoption in India
4
U.S. Department of State. India Intercountry Adoption Information
5
Central Adoption Resource Authority. Adoption Procedure for Resident Indians
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Your New Child’s Immigrant Visa
7
U.S. Department of State. U.S. Citizenship Under the Child Citizenship Act
8
Child Welfare Information Gateway. State Recognition of Intercountry Adoptions Finalized Abroad
9
Travel.State.Gov. Post-Adoption Reporting Overview
10
Internal Revenue Service. Adoption Credit