There continues to be a delay in all areas of the adoption work--but in particular with the issuance of passports for the children. The expected time frame for a passport is about 3 months from the time of application, and this is if all that is needed is supplied when the application is made. If documentation is missing or more is wanted, then there is a potential for more delays.

Canadian Immigration officers in Port Au Prince are now telling orphanage directors that they can no longer issue child visas in 24 hours, but need 5 working days to complete it.

Here is a listing of the process for adoption in Haiti with current estimated time frames:

1) The dossier is sent to Haitian Foreign Affairs to be authenticated by their office (2 weeks).

2) The paperwork for the child and your authenticated documents are presented to IBESR for approval of your adopting that particular child. The documents must be reviewed and signed by 4 different directors within IBESR: the IBESR Director, the IBESR lawyer, the IBESR Head of Adoption Services, and the IBESR social worker. If any of them are away, or unable to review and sign your papers, then the process is delayed (4-24 weeks).

3) Once IBESR directors have all signed off, the lawyer picks up the documents and submits to the courts to finalize the adoption (3-8 weeks).

4) Once the adoption is completed, the child's passport must be applied for. All the papers for the child's passport must be given to an agent (usually the orphanage lawyer) to submit to Haitian Immigration. Haitian Immigration reviews the application and forwards it to the Minister of Interior Office for review. This office must approve the child's application. If anything is missing, the Ministry of Interior will send it back to Haitian Immigration to notify the agent that a specific form is needed. The agent must contact the family lawyer to get the documentation. Then it is sent back through the channels again. If there were many documents missing, the Ministry of Interior will only ask for one at a time, so this process can and may be repeated many times to finally get the approval of that officer. Once the Ministry of Interior is satisfied, then the paperwork is handed back to Haitian Immigration. Haitian Immigration notifies the agent to contact the family lawyer to come in and sign for the passport process to continue. It is issued sometime later (12- 24 weeks).

5) After the child's passport is issued, the documents from the child's adoption, passport, and family's province are all put into the Canadian Immigration file in Port au Prince to apply for the child's visa. The child's entry visa is a seal-type document that is stuck into a back page of the child's passport -- (1 week).