Child adoption from Pakistan if you live in the United States.
For US citizens, green-card holders and dual nationals who need a Pakistani Family Court order while they remain in the United States.
Pakistan-side court work, from Lahore. You stay where you live.
KBL & Associates files and argues the guardianship petition in the Family Court that has jurisdiction over the child. The legal label in Pakistan is guardianship under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 — not Western adoption. That is explained on the first WhatsApp, not after the certificate.
The order has to say the child may emigrate
US State Department guidance for Pakistan is specific: for the child to be eligible for an immigrant visa, the guardianship order must give permission for the child to emigrate and be adopted in another country. That is a drafting decision made at filing. Amending an order afterwards is slower and less certain than asking for the right relief the first time.
Pakistan is a non-Hague country
Pakistan is not a party to the 1993 Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention, so US families run the orphan process — Form I-600A and Form I-600 — rather than the I-800A/I-800 Convention track, and the child must meet the “orphan” definition in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Religion is a live issue the court will weigh
Published US government guidance on Pakistan records the rule plainly: non-Muslim applicants may not be appointed guardians of a Muslim child, and non-Christians may not be appointed guardians of a Christian child. A child abandoned at an Islamic orphanage is treated as Muslim absent evidence otherwise. We tell families this on the first call, not after the retainer.
How a US file runs from Lahore.
The sequencing matters more here than in any other corridor we work.
Talk to your US adoption attorney or agency first
The US side sets the definition the child must fit. We can tell you what a Pakistani court can and cannot grant; only your US adviser can tell you whether the child is likely to meet the INA orphan definition. If those two do not line up, a Pakistani order will not fix it.
Draft the prayer around the immigrant-visa requirement
We plead for guardianship and, expressly, for permission for the child to travel, emigrate and be adopted abroad, so the certificate reads the way a consular officer expects it to read.
Apostille, not consular legalisation
US public documents are apostilled by the Secretary of State of the issuing state, or by the US Department of State for federal documents. Since 9 March 2023 Pakistan accepts those apostilles directly. The US Mission in Pakistan publishes the same position.
The in-person requirement
The orphan route has a personal-observation requirement for at least one petitioning parent. Plan the trip around the Pakistani hearing calendar rather than the other way round, and confirm the exact requirement with your US counsel.
What the US side does with a Pakistani order.
This is a plain description of published US guidance, not our advice on US immigration law. We are Pakistani counsel. Take US advice from a US attorney or an accredited agency.
Guardianship is the vehicle, adoption happens in the United States
US guidance for Pakistan tells prospective adoptive parents to obtain guardianship, for emigration and adoption in the United States, from the Family Court that has jurisdiction over where the child lives. The adoption itself is completed in a US state court after arrival.
Guardianship on its own is not an immigration status
A guardianship certificate does not create a green card, an immigrant visa or citizenship. Families who bring a child to the US on the strength of a guardianship order alone, without the orphan petition, run into serious problems later.
There are no accredited placement agencies operating in Pakistan
US guidance notes that placements in Pakistan are arranged privately, with no licensed or accredited foreign or domestic placement agencies in the country. That raises the evidential bar on documenting how the child came into the family’s care, and it is the part of the file we spend the most time on.
Nine to twelve hours, and it works in your favour.
- Lahore is UTC+5 year-round. That is nine hours ahead of New York in EDT (ten in EST) and twelve ahead of Los Angeles in PDT (thirteen in PST).
- Pakistani hearings run in our morning, which is your late evening the day before. A hearing update is usually waiting on your phone when you wake up.
- For live calls, 6:00 PM in Lahore is 9:00 AM in New York and 6:00 AM in California. We keep US calls to the end of our day.
Straight answers.
No. Pakistan is not a party to the 1993 Hague Intercountry Adoption Convention. US families therefore use the non-Hague orphan process — Form I-600A and Form I-600 — and the child must meet the definition of orphan in the Immigration and Nationality Act, rather than the Convention adoptee definition.
US State Department guidance for Pakistan states that, for the child to be eligible for an immigrant visa, the guardianship order must specifically give permission for the child to emigrate and be adopted in another country. KBL & Associates pleads for that relief at filing rather than seeking to amend an order afterwards.
Yes. Published guidance records that non-Muslim prospective guardians may not be appointed guardians of a Muslim child, and non-Christians may not be appointed guardians of a Christian child. A child abandoned at an Islamic orphanage is treated as Muslim unless there is evidence to the contrary. This is not a formality; it shapes which cases can proceed.
No. Guardianship is a Pakistani family-law status, not a US immigration status. The immigrant visa comes from the orphan petition process handled on the US side; the Pakistani order is one piece of evidence in that process, not a substitute for it.
The Family Court file can usually be run under an attested power of attorney without you attending hearings. Separately, the US orphan route includes a requirement that at least one petitioning parent has personally seen and observed the child. Confirm the current requirement with your US attorney and plan the trip around the hearing calendar.