For expatriates who adopted a child while living in the United Arab Emirates, getting a residency for a visa for their child poses a lot of problems. Reports say that several families expressed their struggles during the visa process, either to wait for many months or having their request rejected.
According to Al Jazeera, the adoption program in the UAE has a strict eligibility criterion. Parents who adopt a child must be Emirati nationals. Single women should be at least 30 and married couples must be at least 25 years old. Single men are not eligible for adoption.
The director of the CDA family development department, which manages the Embrace adoption program, said 55 families are on the adoption waiting list and about 20 percent are single women over the age of 40.
Dr. Andrea Tosatto, a psychologist in Dubai who runs the international home study program at the Synergy Integrated Medical Center, said adopting a child in the UAE can be unpredictable. If a married couple returns from the adopted child's country with his or her passport, the adopted child can immediately obtain a visa. However, some countries do not immediately issue a passport.
Anglo Info states that Dubai has no formal agencies that cater child adoption, but advice can be given at the Synergy Medical Center, the Human Relations Institute, and the Synergy Medical Center.
Dr. Tosatto added that the overall procedures should go smoothly, but for the biggest challenge that the parents faced in adopting a child in the UAE is the "feeling of unpredictability" about the process. The process starts by conducting a psychology test to couples to verify that both of them are mentally healthy, reports The National. Then the couple must go to a court in that country to certify the adoption and to their own nation's embassy to legalize the process.
Fostering a child or raising an orphan is permissible and encouraged in Islam, but adoption is not recognized. Lawyer Huda Rostom Alfalamarzy said that in Sharia, fostering is allowed but not adoption. Alafalamarzy added that it is fine if someone adopts in another country.
