Petition for adopted child through I-130 (neither Hague nor non-Hague process)

[amethio]

I'm a US citizen and my Ethiopian fiancé lives in Ethiopia whom I will be petitioning for a green card. We'd like to adopt and petition for my deceased brother's children (14 and 12 years old). We are looking at two routes

1st route: Get married and adopt the children in Ethiopia before they turn 16 years old. Since I can't reside in Ethiopia for two years, my husband will accrue 2 years of legal and physical custody. Then I petition for him and the children as immediate relatives. In this situation, can I petition for them directly as my immediate relatives even though I, the petitioner, was not the one who established the 2 year legal and legal custody with our adopted children? Or should we wait until my husband becomes LPR and he petitions for them?

2nd route: My fiancé adopts the children on his own before they turn 16 years old. He accrues 2 year legal and physical custody. Afterwards, we get married before the children turn 18 years old. In the process, the children become my step children. I petition for my husband and my step children, which allows them to immigrate at the same time. Can I petition for my step children who were adopted by my spouse before we got married?

Please share your thoughts on the questions. I am pretty sure that both parents do not have be deceased for adoption and immigration purpose.

[newacct]

First, are you sure the child can't qualify to immigrate as an adopted "orphan"? To qualify, both of the parents must be deceased, or the sole surviving parent is incapable of providing proper care and has irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption. The advantage of qualifying as a "orphan" is that there is no need to have lived with the child for 2 years.

As for your questions, I believe the answer to both is yes, both of those routes work.

[amethio]

First, are you sure the child can't qualify to immigrate as an adopted "orphan"? To qualify, both of the parents must be deceased, or the sole surviving parent is incapable of providing proper care and has irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption. The advantage of qualifying as a "orphan" is that there is no need to have lived with the child for 2 years.

As for your questions, I believe the answer to both is yes, both of those routes work.

Thank you, newacct. Well the "orphan" route requires going through an adoption agency. They cost exorbitant amount of money per child (20-30k) and currently the Eth government has suspended the intercountry adoption.