According to the handy dandy tracking system on USPS site, our application was delivered yesterday morning at 10:49 a.m. According to the official paperwork, we should "allow 90 days for processing." Of course, who knows how accurate that time line is, I have heard of nightmarish long waits for approval.
Now, here is my stupid question of the day: Is it 90 days to get a fingerprint appointment, or it is 90 days for the total process?" I realize this is something I should allready know, but obviously I don't or I wouldn't be asking. ha.
Also, should I have R send away for his birth certificate now, or should we wait to do that? R was born in Mississippi, so its not as easy as going down to the county clerk's office and getting a copy- which is how I obtained copies of my birth certificate. I know that dossier paperwork needs to be no older than six months- I don't want to send away for his birth certificate only to have to go through the trouble again later because it is oudated. On the other hand, if we can do this now, I'd just as soon get it done.
And, since I am on a roll with questions, here is another one. What happens if someone changes jobs AFTER the homestudy and INS "stuff" is done? Do we have to start all over again? Do we need to do an adendum to the homestudy? I know that all the information in the homestudy has to match the dossier paperwork - and the dossier paperwork asks for employment letters- so obviously there is going to be a "mis match" if a job change takes place after homestudy and INS.
If anyone has any insights to any/all of this questions, do share. Inquiring Minds Want to Know :)
About Me
- Kelly
- U.P., Michigan, United States
- My husband and I live in the great northern woods of the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. We have been talking about adoption for several years, and had decided to adopt a baby boy from Vietnam. We kinda "fell into" foster care and had to give up our Vietnam adoption dream. I gave birth to a baby girl in Febuary and we are soo in love with her...and are hoping to bring home a brother or sister for her through adoption someday!
7 comments:
We received our fingerprint appointment letter about a week after sending in the application. The appointment was set for two weeks after the letter was mailed. OWuldn't you know it, we couldn;t go o n the appointed day but it was no problem to go at a later date. Hope that helps.
I600A Stuff - I can only tell you what our process was. We filed our I-600A when we started our home study process. We got our fingerprint letter in the mail a couple of weeks later, but held off until our home study report was done. Once the home study report was received by the USCIS, it took 3 months and 1 day to receive our I-171H (Chicago Office). Every USCIS can be different so you never know what your wait time really is unless you call or email the office.
Birth Cert - Talk to your agency. I was told Birth Certificates don't expire in 6 months like other documents do. The only documents that expire for us is medical letter/report, home study, employment letter, and local police clearance.
If you change jobs or move you will have to get an update done to your home study and an addendum added.
Hey...congrats on getting started. I have been told by three agencies that our dossier doesn't need birth certificates>>>what is a girl to think??
Heck, I have a 171 and haven't gotten one thing for my dossier yet...VN dossier is so much easier than China..it can be gathered in a week : )
Oh fun, CIS stuff! :) Some of this is just restating what the others said....
I believe that the 90 days is the processing of your APPROVAL once they receive everything...I600A, homestudy & fingerprints. Hopefully it is a MUCH shorter wait for you :) Ours took 2 weeks once they had all the needed info. It was through the St Paul, MN office.
Our agency (Dillon) wanted birth certs for their records, but they were not needed for the dossier. Dillon just wanted them on hand in case for some reason VN asked for them. If that's the case with your agency, then you could probably get them now.
If you change jobs you would need your homestudy updated and would need to take that update to VN with you, probably along with a new notarized employment letter to match.
We needed birth certificates for the homestudy but not the dossier. I don't remember exaclty the timeframes for the CIS stuff, but it didn't take too long -- a couple of months from sending in the application & $$$$ to getting the I-171H in the mail (with fingerprinting in between, obviously). Good luck with it all. For me, the paperchasing has been the worst part.
Yes, the comments are above correct. I changed jobs after my homestudy and you just have to have an update. That is basically one page added to your homestudy and a new letter from your employer stating how long you've been employed. The bad part is the update is about half the price for your home study. Good grief! For one page!
I hope that your homestudy paperwork is processed thru a much more efficient supervisor than the one I work for...90 days could potentially end up being 240 LOL (and NOOO!!! Don't panic anyone...I do not work for an adoption agency!!!)
Love you KJ!!!! Can't wait for the next step in your process!
Jennerz
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