tonydbaker

Which paperwork?

Hi everyone! This is my first post after a brief amount of looking around this site, so I hope I have the right forum. I'm a U.S. Citizen. I met the love of my life in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, and we eventually married about 3 years ago. It was filed and accepted by the Philippines embassy. We also married again in the United States. We are perpetual tourists / digital nomads, but i have residency in Oklahoma. I would like to adopt my wife's daughter in the US so that she can gain citizenship and have all the benefits accordingly. My wife's daughter is 14 years old as of April. Do we have time? Everything I've seen online says to use adoption agencies, and for some reason they want tens of thousands of dollars. Isn't it just paperwork? What can we do to get the process started? The good news is that both my wife and daughter have 10-year multiple entry tourist visas to the U.S., so we can come and go as we need. Also, my wife has never married and the biological father was never around financially or otherwise, and is willing to sign anything necessary for the adoption. Thank you for your insight!