Other types of overseas adoptions

There are other adoptions that don’t fall under Australia’s formal intercountry adoption arrangements. We can’t provide any advice or assistance with these types of adoptions.

Expatriate adoptions

If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident who has been living abroad for 12 months or more and adopt a child through an overseas agency or government, this type of adoption is called an ‘expatriate adoption’.

Expatriate adoptions fall outside of the safeguards of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention) and Australia’s regulated intercountry adoption program with our partner countries which complies with the Hague Convention.

This is because expatriate adoptions are usually overseen and approved by an overseas agency or authority without the involvement of Australian adoption authorities.

The Australian Government’s involvement in expatriate adoptions is limited to determining whether the child meets immigration requirements, for the child to enter and remain in Australia.

The Department of Home Affairs manages immigration and citizenship requirements for adoptions. More information can be found on the Department of Home Affairs Adoption visa page.

Australian embassy support to Australians wanting to adopt while overseas is limited to passport and consular support services. More information can be found on the Department of Foreign Affairs Smartraveller ‘Going overseas to adopt a child’ page.

Additional information is also provided in the Expatriate Adoption Factsheet.