We received our Letter Seeking Confirmation (sometimes called Letter of Approval or LOA) on April 17, 2015. Our I-800 petition to claim Min as our relative was sent to USCIS on April 20, 2015. The average time between the I-800 and the Travel date is 6 to 10 weeks! This puts our travel possibly as soon as July!
We are so excited but now reality is sinking in at how much time we have left before travel and all the things still needed to be done. We have already starting making plans for travel with our travel agent and working on the needed documents for us to travel.
Min will be home before we know it!
Madilynn Min McClurg
Log in Date
We received our log in date on Saturday February 28! The average time from log in date to travel is 4 to 5 months putting our time to travel to bring Min home in July or August!
Dossier on the way!
On February 12 we sent our dossier documents to China (through WACAP). We received notice a few days later that CCCWA had accepted the scanned documents sent to them by WACAP. Now we wait for our log in date. This usually takes 2 to 4 weeks.
Authenticated documents!
We received our first set of documents from the Chinese Consulate today. We had to send them out in two packages because our medicals were approaching their expiration date. We were not sure when our I 800 approval would be in (we were thinking the middle of Feb but it came in shortly after sending out our documents) and did not want them to expire. They were the hardest document to have completed properly. Unfortunately it took our doctor's office several tries.
Let us review:
10 documents collected: Financial Statement, 2 general physical examinations, 2 police clearances, 2 letters of employment, I-797 Notice of Action, Homestudy, and our Adoption Application Letter. (We did not need copies of birth or marriage certificates because this was our second adoption from China. We are allowed to use the prior ones) These documents all were taken to the Office of the Great Seal and Certified.
These documents are now added to the others that did not need Certification and Authentication. Our China Program Agreement, 3 notarized reference letters, copies of our passports, 2 passport photos, and 6 family photos.
This brings our Dossier to the grand total of 26 needed items completed and ready to ship to WACAP for translation.
The next step is shipment to the CCCWA in China for the adoption of Min!
Let us review:
10 documents collected: Financial Statement, 2 general physical examinations, 2 police clearances, 2 letters of employment, I-797 Notice of Action, Homestudy, and our Adoption Application Letter. (We did not need copies of birth or marriage certificates because this was our second adoption from China. We are allowed to use the prior ones) These documents all were taken to the Office of the Great Seal and Certified.
Then we took all of the certified documents and sent them to the Chinese Consulate via There's Always Hope for Authentication.
These documents are now added to the others that did not need Certification and Authentication. Our China Program Agreement, 3 notarized reference letters, copies of our passports, 2 passport photos, and 6 family photos.
This brings our Dossier to the grand total of 26 needed items completed and ready to ship to WACAP for translation.
The next step is shipment to the CCCWA in China for the adoption of Min!
USCIS Approval
We received our USCIS I 800 A approval in the mail today! This is the I-797 Notice of Action needed for our last Dossier document. We are on our way to the notary first thing in the morning and then off to Lansing for Certification. If we have time everything will go in the mail the same day to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for our last Authentication. This should take about 10 days to return to us. We can then send our Dossier to WACAP for translation. Before we know it our dossier will be in China!
USCIS Biometrics Appointment
Our appointment was in Detroit at 8:00 am. That means that I had to get all of us up at 5:00 am and start getting ready and out the door by 6:00 am for the 2 hour drive. The good news is that we have been there before so at least we knew where we were going. The little ones did very good and got up and ready quickly. The oldest were less than happy because it is Winter Break for them and they would much rather be sleeping in. All goes well and we are off on time and on the way to my husband's work to pick him up. Traffic is good and we arrive EARLY. Not often that happens for us. We are able to go through the security check before they are "officially" open and wait inside so the children can play to pass the time. Check in is quick; check our ID,give us a short form, return it, and wait in line for finger printing. The line moves fast and we are out of the USCIS in less than an hour! Drop the husband back off at work and stop in to the bakery for a special treat for the great children that worked so hard to be patient and well behaved. We hope to get our approval is less than 2 months. This will be our last document needed for our Dossier.
We took our other documents to the Office of the Great Seal for Certification of the notarizations. Our medical documents will be 6 months old in February and the Chinese Consulate will not accept them after that time so we have to get them Authenticated now. We are using There is Always Hope for our Authentication process through the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. We used Denise Hope for this process with our last adoption, she is great!
We hope to finally have all of our documents (we have to certify and authenticate the I-800 approval that will come in approximately 2 months before we can send in our doss) in to CCCWA by March.
Our timeline keeps slowing down. I am estimating travel at this time in the middle of September.
We took our other documents to the Office of the Great Seal for Certification of the notarizations. Our medical documents will be 6 months old in February and the Chinese Consulate will not accept them after that time so we have to get them Authenticated now. We are using There is Always Hope for our Authentication process through the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. We used Denise Hope for this process with our last adoption, she is great!
We hope to finally have all of our documents (we have to certify and authenticate the I-800 approval that will come in approximately 2 months before we can send in our doss) in to CCCWA by March.
Our timeline keeps slowing down. I am estimating travel at this time in the middle of September.
Merry Christmas
Missing you at Christmas. We all wish you were at home celebrating your first Christmas. We love watching the excitement on our children's faces as they get to celebrate so many things on this great day. It is making us miss you even more.
Some things everyone wants to share with you about Christmas:
Sasha can't wait for you to see the new baby goats.
Max can't wait to see your face on your first Christmas day home.
Baba says he will have his Christmas present when you come home.
Rey and Shawnie just hope you and Cora have a great time playing together.
Cora wants to get you lots of surprises so you can have fun playing.
Mama's Christmas wish is for you to be safe, healthy, and content. I hope your transition to home is easy as it can be.
We love you so much already, We cannot wait to get to hold you safely in my arms.
Some things everyone wants to share with you about Christmas:
Sasha can't wait for you to see the new baby goats.
Max can't wait to see your face on your first Christmas day home.
Baba says he will have his Christmas present when you come home.
Rey and Shawnie just hope you and Cora have a great time playing together.
Cora wants to get you lots of surprises so you can have fun playing.
Mama's Christmas wish is for you to be safe, healthy, and content. I hope your transition to home is easy as it can be.
We love you so much already, We cannot wait to get to hold you safely in my arms.
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