Adoption Acronyms & Approvals

Okay, I do apologize for not updating our blog like I said I was going to during all the little approvals that had to take place.  I kept saying that I’d wait until we got to the next step before I updated so I didn’t confuse anyone, and I kept procrastinating.  Anyway, we are at a good point now to update everyone on what has been happening over the last 2 weeks.  I’ll try to break it down for those who are interested in all the nitty gritty steps involved (sorry if I bore you).  A lot has happened, and a lot of approvals were needed on the US side in a very short period of time.  

As posted earlier, we received our LOA on 8/19.  We received it via FedEx on 8/20, signed it, and sent it back to our agency on 8/20.  It arrived back at their office on 8/21, and they sent the original back to Ch.  They made a copy of it, and submitted the copy along with our i800 to USCIS.  The i800 is paperwork that is processed by US immigration that will make him an immediate relative of ours upon adoption, as well as an immediate US citizen upon the plane’s wheels touching US soil on our return home.  Our i800 was received in the lockbox on 8/22 (it is originally sent to a lockbox in Texas where it gets logged in—from there it is sent via snail mail to the officers who process it in Lee’s Summit, MO).  I received a text and email a few days later letting me know it was at the lockbox, and received an official receipt letter via mail while we were in Disney. 

I started calling USCIS in MO on Thurs 9/5/13 to see if the hard copy had made it to that building yet, and to find out which officer we had been assigned, as well as to see if it was on her desk yet.  I called and emailed our officer on Fri 9/6, but did not hear back.  She emailed me first thing Monday morning, 9/9, and said she was working on it.  She emailed me back a couple of hours later and said it was approved, and she was mailing us a hard copy as well as a hard copy via 2 day mail to the National Visa Center (NVC).  That gave me an idea as to when to start emailing and calling the NVC for the next step.  I received the hard copy of our i800 approval in the mail on Fri 9/13.

The NVC is the agency that will approve and issue a visa for Evan to enter the US.  Even though he will become a US citizen upon landing in the US, he will still need a visa to enter the US.  I started emailing the NVC on Thursday 9/12, and I called them that day as well.  Our i800 approval had still not been received by them.  On Friday morning I emailed them back, and Friday afternoon I received an email with our GUZ# (that means they have received our i800 and logged it in to their system).  The goal once you receive your GUZ # is to get a PDF copy of the letter that states they have forwarded your visa petition on to the US consulate in Ch.  I called back Friday afternoon, and late Fri night (they are open until 12 midnight EST), but they had not yet forwarded our petition on to Ch.  At 7:30am this morning (9/16/13), I received an email with our PDF attached.  I will say this--the NVC will process all of this without having to call.  They will send a hard copy of the letter (PDF) via snail mail.  By calling and using email, I shaved about 7-10 days off this process.  This allows for the next steps to occur faster, and could get us to Ch (and to Evan) faster.

When I received our i800 Fri afternoon, I scanned it and emailed it, along with our GUZ # over to our agency.  When I received our PDF this morning, I sent that over to agency as well.  Those 3 pieces, along with other previously completed forms make up our Article 5.  Our article 5 will be dropped off at the US consulate in Ch this week—most likely Wednesday—for them to process.  It takes 10 business days for this to be processed.  Unfortunately there are some holidays coming up in Ch at the beginning of Oct, so the consulate will be closed for a few of those days.  These closures will delay us by 4 days.  Once our article 5 is picked up in October, it will be sent to the Ch governmental adoption group, and we will begin our wait for travel approval. 

Now, I did learn over the weekend that the US consulates are changing one of their forms (from the ds230 to the ds260).  This change is going to happen very soon.  The US consulate in Ch is closed today and tomorrow, so I’m hoping that we’ll squeeze by in using our ds 230 (that I completed months ago) as hopefully they won’t have made any firm decisions by the time they open on Wed.  But if they do, the new ds 260 is a form that is completed and submitted online, so I should be able to do this quickly if needed.  We’ll just have to see.

So, that’s all the nitty gritty that has taken place over the last 2 weeks.  We’re now in another waiting phase as our article 5 is processed.  After that we’ll wait for travel approval, and once we get TA, then life will get to a crazy insane level.

8:25pm--quick update:  Our adoption agency notified us this afternoon that our Article 5 will be dropped off tonight (which is Tues AM in Ch)!