Eight American couples to head home with adopted Vietnamese children

Statewire Nov. 01

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Eight American couples who have faced weeks of delays in getting visas for their adopted Vietnamese children were granted approval to return home with their new family members, a U.S. official said Thursday.

" There' s no more obstacles for them to be approved, " said a spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, who requested anonymity.

The decision to give the Vietnamese children visas was made by the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Wednesday, he said.

Altogether, the eight couples, hailing from U.S states including Alaska, Minnesota and Seattle, were in Vietnam to adopt 10 children, all from an orphanage in the north.

The U.S. official said that irregularities in their adoption paperwork had triggered a closer investigation by INS officials.

The spokesman said that " questionable practices" had been involved in the documentation although these were not cases of outright baby-selling.

On Thursday, a manager at the Evergreen Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, where all the families had been staying, said the Americans had checked out that morning and were headed for the airport.

So far this year, 731 Vietnamese children have been adopted by American parents. Last year, about 750 children were granted orphan visas by the U.S. Consulate.

Vietnam is the third-most popular Asian source of adoptees, after China and Korea -- in that order.