FAMILY ISSUES

Emergencies

If your family needs to contact you because of an emergency at home, they may call the Office of American Citizens Services at (202) 647-5225/5226.  The State Department will relay any message to us and we will attempt to contact you.  If you are registered, and if you have signed a Privacy Act waiver, we will be able to provide information about you to your family.  They may also call the State Department’s Overseas Citizens Services office at 1-888-407-4747 (or from overseas: 202 501-4444) for information on emergency services.  For more information on what the State Department can do in case of a welfare/whereabouts request, please see: 
http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1202.html.

For more information on what the State Department can do in case of an emergency abroad, please see:  http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1212.html.
For more information, please also see: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1187.html.

The Department of State can also help transfer money when a U.S. citizen encounters an emergency financial situation abroad.  For more information on sending money to U.S. citizens overseas, please see: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/brochures/brochures_1224.html.

Divorce

The validity of divorces obtained overseas will vary according to the requirements of an individual’s state of residence.  Consult the authorities of your state of residence in the United States for these requirements.
For more information, please see: http://travel.state.gov/family/family_issues/divorce/divorce_592.html.

 Adoption

At this time the Department of State urges all U.S. citizens thinking of adopting in Azerbaijan to consider very carefully the likely difficulties and continuing uncertainty.  Although adoptions are technically open, a number of U.S. adoption service providers have decided the situation is in too much a state of flux for them to operate comfortably.  There are no guarantees that adoptions will be achieved on a regular basis and in a transparent manner.

For the most current information on adopting in Azerbaijan, please see: http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_2798.html. 

For more information on international adoptions, please see: http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/adoption_485.html.  Please note that while the consular section of the Embassy processes the I 604 (Request for and Report on Overseas Orphan Investigation), the immigrant visa will be processed in Tbilisi.

Also, be aware that the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 allows for the automatic acquisition of U.S. citizenship for both biological and adopted children of U.S. citizens who are born abroad and who do not acquire U.S. citizenship at birth.

The following are the Act's requirements:

1. At least one parent of the child is a U.S. citizen, either by birth or naturalization.
2. The child is under the age of 18.
3. The child must be residing in the United States in the legal and physical custody of the U.S. citizen parent after having been lawfully admitted into this country as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence.
4. If the child has been adopted, the adoption must be final.

Two important notes: the child does not become a U.S. citizen until he or she enters the U.S., and the child must enter the U.S. with an immigrant visa in order to acquire citizenship under this act.  For full information, please see: http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/info/info_457.html.

Child Abduction

For more information, please see: http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/abduction_580.html.