US embassy cable - 05GUATEMALA2623

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 002623 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR CA/OCS/CI AND WHA/CEN 
ALSO FOR CA/P AND CA/VO/F/P 
 
MEXICO FOR DHS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS, CASC, CMGT, GT 
SUBJECT: Adoption Visas Processed in Guatemala City 
Reach New High 
 
 
1. Guatemala City's Immigrant Visa Unit issued 3,783 
immigrant visas to adopted Guatemalan orphans in FY 
2005.  This is a new record for Guatemala City, and is 
a 15.9 percent increase in orphan visa workload over FY 
2004.  It also represents nearly 53 percent of our 
total IV workload for the year.  The increase in 
adoption cases is testament to the easy availability of 
infants relinquished by their birth mothers, the 
relatively short amount of time that it takes to 
complete a Guatemalan adoption, and the relative 
reliability of the process. 
 
2.  The following table illustrates the growth in 
orphan visas in Guatemala since FY 2001.  The IV unit 
has managed the most recent increases with one officer 
and four locally engaged staff as the mainstays of our 
immigrant visa unit, at a time when continued growth in 
the number of orphan visa cases coincides with an 
increase in the volume of other IV cases due to USCIS 
approval of an unusually large number of petitions in 
FY 2005.  To help manage the increased IV workload, the 
IV unit implemented a new appointment system for 
adoption immigrant visa interviews in October 2005. 
Prior to that, adopting families could come in without 
an appointment for their immigrant visa interview. 
Rather than seeing up to 70 families on Mondays, the 
appointment system distributes adoption cases evenly 
across the week without creating a backlog. 
 
     YEAR      Visas Issued        Percentage of Change 
 
     FY 2001        1609                 5.9 
     FY 2002        2419                50.3 
     FY 2003        2326                -3.85 
     FY 2004        3262                40.2 
     FY 2005        3783                15.9 
 
Note that the number of orphan visas issued in FY 2003 
was suppressed reduced by Guatemala's failed March 2003 
attempt to implement the Hague Convention on 
Intercountry Adoption, which slowed the processing of 
adoption cases by Guatemalan authorities and may have 
caused some prospective adopting parents to adopt 
elsewhere because of the uncertainty.  A second attempt 
to implement an adoption process consistent with Hague 
requirements is currently under consideration by the 
Guatemalan Congress.  Attempts by adoption agencies and 
parents to complete action prior to its possible 
approval also appear to be one factor pushing high 
numbers of adoption cases through the system. 
 
DERHAM