Vietnam and the Bilateral agreement

Bilateral agreement
The current agreement was NOT re-signed before March 1st. Although negotiations between the Department of State and the Department of Intercountry Adoption in Hanoi have continued, they were not able to come to an agreement. This means that the current bilateral agreement will expire as of September 1st.
What does this mean for adoptions and for families?
First, it means that the DOS and DIA are going to have to negotiate a new bilateral agreement. To be honest, we don’t know how long this will take. It’s possible that a new agreement could be negotiated before the current one expires. However, it’s also possible that negotiations will extend far beyond September 1st.

Second, because the agreement was not re-signed there WILL be an interruption in adoptions from Vietnam beginning on September 1st, although we don’t know yet what that will look like. The only possible exception to this would be if the two sides sign a new agreement between now and September 1st that goes into effect on September 1st. We have confirmed that the Department of State has already urged DIA to make a determination as quickly as possible regarding the status of families whose dossiers are in Vietnam or who have accepted a referral and are awaiting a Giving & Receiving date (the official adoption ceremony). In addition, they are advocating that families currently in process be allowed to continue their adoptions after September 1st. We will continue to monitor the process and to advocate with DIA to issue their decision as quickly as possible. We anticipate that it may be several months before we have their final decision but we hope that it will happen sooner. Because we have been hearing conflicting information about what their decision will be, we are not comfortable making a prediction.

Finally, this means that many of you are in the very difficult decision of deciding if/how you want to move forward with the adoption of a child from Vietnam. As you are discussing your decision, please don’t hesitate to contact your Adoption Coordinator with any questions you have. If she doesn’t have the answer for you right away she’ll check with me and then back to you as quickly as possible.

I know that, especially in light of the bilateral agreement, this is a very, very difficult time to be in the process of adoption from Vietnam. I encourage you to reach out to your social worker, trusted people in your life, and each other for support. Building a family through adoption is an emotional process already. When the stress of these uncertainties is added to it, it only becomes more difficult and stressful, as you all are well aware.


is it my understanding as of Sept 1st the Vietnam borders will be closed for US citizens to adopt?

There is not an easy answer to that question. At this point, the current bilateral agreement between the two countries will expire on September 1st. This means that the governments must negotiate a new one. They could (a) get a new one in place by September 1st so adoptions continue uninterrupted or (b) take longer to negotiate the agreement. If B happened then there would be an interruption in adoptions from Vietnam until they could get a new agreement in place. The other unknown in the process is whether or not DIA will allow families whose dossiers are in VN or who are matched with a child to continue the adoption process. So I guess the answer to your question is that, yes, Vietnam may stop accepting new dossiers as of September 1st but that is not certain yet.