US citizenship for an adopted child under Section 322 (N-600K) living abroad

[RVULKER]

Hello,

If you have had a similar experience, I would appreciate your input.

I am a US citizen living permanently in the Netherlands. With my wife, we have gone through the intercountry adoption procedure through the Dutch authorities and have just adopted a child from Haiti. The whole process was done in compliance with The Hague convention on adoption.

We are now back home (the Netherlands) and I was looking into applying for the US citizenship for our son. Most of the N-600K application online is straightforward, but there are a couple of points that I can't get clarity on (I tried calling USCIS and got nothing from them). Mainly, there are 2 requirements that are impossible for me to fulfill given that we live abroad and the whole adoption process what done between the Netherlands and Haiti, not involving the US.
1. Child's proof of lawful admission and maintenance of lawful status. As he hasn't been to the US yet, I have nothing to present on this point. I see that there are filed offices of the USCIS in Europe (Frankfurt) and assume that we could do the interview there.
2. Child's notice of approval and supporting documentation. This is the main point that I need clarity on. This bit seems to say that there is a requirement to file a I-800 (approval to adopt from the US authorities). This we obviously do not have as we went through the adoption process via the Dutch authorities. We have all the paperwork to show that the process was done according to the Hague convention. The N-600K instruction is also a bit ambiguous on this point as one the one hand it makes a difference between the Hague adoptions and all others, and on the other requires this I-800 approval.
3. Finally, if you have any experience with translation of the documents into English. I did my own translations as I speak French. Is having a certified translation a requirement or are self-translations good enough? If required, any suggestions for a translator with good quality and fair price?

I have the form completed and the only thing to do is to pay. For the points above I provided the best explanations I could, including documents related to adoption and conformity to the Hague convention.

Has anyone been in my situation and has experience with this? I really don't want to lose 1170USD, so it would be good to know if my application will be rejected.

Thank in advance.

[N400questions]

I can only help a little on the translation of documents.
Basically I just did a google search for "USCIS translation requirements".
You will find two types of hits.... Rules describing what the Federal Laws & USCIS policy manual say... and other hits from translation companies selling their services.

Whenever you search for rules, pay special attention to the ones coming from the USCIS policy manual website or any that come from sites that publish the verbatim US Federal Laws.

You can get inventive with your search... maybe something like.... "USCIS Translation requirements French to English in Nederland" etc
Also, using google.com may give better or different results than the local google.co.xx site because it will emphasize US sites.

[newacct]

1. The child entering the US is at a later stage. First you file N-600K, then later the child will get a visitor visa and enter the US as a visitor in order to attend the interview and oath in the US. Evidence of the child's legal nonimmigrant status will be needed at the interview. The child is not expected to have been to the US when filing the N-600K.
2. For an adopted child to count as a child for US immigration purposes, they must be adopted under age 16, and be an "orphan", a Hague convention adoptee, or they must have lived in the legal and physical custody of the adoptive parents for 2 years. I am not whether a child adopted through a Hague convention adoption to another country outside the US first can be classified as a Hague convention adoptee for US immigration purposes. In any case, if the child has lived in your legal and physical custody for at least 2 years, then you don't need to worry about this.

[RVULKER]

Thank you @N400questions and @newacct for your advice. I ordered certified translations for the documents.
We haven't had the child with us for 2 years, he just arrived this month.

I see that the sticking point remains whether USCIS will recognise the adoption process we have gone through via the Netherlands or not.

If anyone has had any such experience, would be very helpful to hear your experiences.