Honestly, this back story compulsion of mine has become a monkey on
my back. I think I have OCD, which makes me want to go back and document
all of this. Well, part of it is that following other people's timeline
during their journey helped me hang in tight as we went through the
difficult stages of waiting these past few years. So I want to do the same for others that
are reading my blog and are waiting for their babies to come home.
Here are some of the basic forms on the US end that are required:
i-800a: USCIS determines if the family is suitable to adopt a child within the parameters indicated by the home study.
Supplement 3 to i-800A: Requesting to make changes/adjustment to the existing i-800a, including age of child, special needs, etc.
i-800: Based on the i-800a approval/adjustment, the family is given provisional approval for visa for a specific child. National Visa Center (NVC) will send this approval to New Delhi embassy so they can issue the article 5 to C*RA
i-864: Affidavit of support that shows that we (sponsor) can financially support our child. I think this is routine for most general immigrant visa applications. This is sent along with the i-800 application.
When we received the referral for our sweet baby girl, our home study and i-800a were not approved for "special needs". The worrier that I was/am, I went into anxiety overdrive. I did not know then, that sometimes families may not even have their home study (HS) ready when they find their baby on the waiting children's list. Thankfully, our HS agency and our international adoption agency had a conference call and helped chalk out a plan.
#1. We needed to update my home study
#2. Submit my supplement 3 for my previously approved i-800a so it could be updated to include special needs.
We got to work quickly on getting our home study updated and also send off our supplement 3 that would make changes to our existing i-800a. Even though our i-800a was just approved few weeks ago, the supplement 3 was required and the fee for it was $360. At this point, none of it mattered, I just wanted to get things moving so we could bring home our daughter!
We looked into the possibility of sending in the supplement 3 and the i-800 application at the same time, but then decided to err on the side of caution and do things in the correct order so as to not disrupt any particular flow that USCIS may have. USCIS officer also recommended the same.
#3. As we waited for the newly approved i-800a to arrive, I worked on the rest of the dossier, i-800 and i-864 application and sent it out to the agency. Once the i-800a changes were approved, the agency mailed out the i-800 and the i-864 forms to USCIS.
Between the HS update and approval, the i-800a supplement 3 approval and the i-800 approval, it took about 2 months time. I know that this is a long tie to wait, but somehow the time flew by so fast, probably because of all the paperwork that needed to be completed. I really had to trust that this will all take the customary time frame. I had already waited for so long, since June 2009. I had to remind myself that we were nearing the end of this chapter soon.
Continued....
Here are some of the basic forms on the US end that are required:
i-800a: USCIS determines if the family is suitable to adopt a child within the parameters indicated by the home study.
Supplement 3 to i-800A: Requesting to make changes/adjustment to the existing i-800a, including age of child, special needs, etc.
i-800: Based on the i-800a approval/adjustment, the family is given provisional approval for visa for a specific child. National Visa Center (NVC) will send this approval to New Delhi embassy so they can issue the article 5 to C*RA
i-864: Affidavit of support that shows that we (sponsor) can financially support our child. I think this is routine for most general immigrant visa applications. This is sent along with the i-800 application.
When we received the referral for our sweet baby girl, our home study and i-800a were not approved for "special needs". The worrier that I was/am, I went into anxiety overdrive. I did not know then, that sometimes families may not even have their home study (HS) ready when they find their baby on the waiting children's list. Thankfully, our HS agency and our international adoption agency had a conference call and helped chalk out a plan.
#1. We needed to update my home study
#2. Submit my supplement 3 for my previously approved i-800a so it could be updated to include special needs.
We got to work quickly on getting our home study updated and also send off our supplement 3 that would make changes to our existing i-800a. Even though our i-800a was just approved few weeks ago, the supplement 3 was required and the fee for it was $360. At this point, none of it mattered, I just wanted to get things moving so we could bring home our daughter!
We looked into the possibility of sending in the supplement 3 and the i-800 application at the same time, but then decided to err on the side of caution and do things in the correct order so as to not disrupt any particular flow that USCIS may have. USCIS officer also recommended the same.
#3. As we waited for the newly approved i-800a to arrive, I worked on the rest of the dossier, i-800 and i-864 application and sent it out to the agency. Once the i-800a changes were approved, the agency mailed out the i-800 and the i-864 forms to USCIS.
Between the HS update and approval, the i-800a supplement 3 approval and the i-800 approval, it took about 2 months time. I know that this is a long tie to wait, but somehow the time flew by so fast, probably because of all the paperwork that needed to be completed. I really had to trust that this will all take the customary time frame. I had already waited for so long, since June 2009. I had to remind myself that we were nearing the end of this chapter soon.
Continued....
Oh, those paperwork surprises! It's not fun to suddenly discover you have to file more forms . . . but it is so, so worth it because it brought your child home!
ReplyDeleteNancy