Immigration Part 2
*Start the immigration series here. No, it's not that kind of immigration... I'm unlikely to get political on here.
Picking up where we left off...
3 weeks before the move: No immigration approval letter in the mail. Hmmm. I hate to be a pest, but not that much. I email our immigration agent who tells me, "Be patient. It's in the mail." Not helpful.
Let me give a little background here... We have to redo our home study when we move. As in, get a new agency (because AWAA isn't licensed in RI) and redo all of it... The interviews, the home visits, the medicals, the fingerprints. That's fine. It's expensive and irritating but it doesn't impact our adoption, so long as we can get on the waiting list in Bulgaria. We can't get on said list without immigration approval. We really need this letter before we move so that we can finalize our dossier. Our immigration officer does not know that we are moving, so he's not in as much of a hurry as we are to get this letter.
2 weeks before the move: No immigration letter. I call our agency. I ask in online support groups. I pack for the move. I google "how long does mail take from TX to VA?" I get rid of things we don't need anymore. I obsessively check the mail. I have goodbye dinners.
1 week before the move: We have our quarterly call with our adoption agency. Our sweet program director, Soojin, says absolutely contact the immigration officer again. It's been way too long and he needs to resend it. She says moving and redoing the home study is no problem at all, just a hassle for us. She says, looking at our parameters, that she expects up to a 2 year wait for a referral.
Record scratch.
Up to 2 years? Remember, when we started this whole adventure we thought it was going to be 3-4 years. Up to 2 years. Is. Awesome.
As soon as I end the phone call with Soojin, I email Officer Be Patient again to request that he resend our letter. Blah, blah, blah. Yadda, yadda, yadda. He does some checking.
He apologizes.
He never mailed it.
He'll get that in the mail today.
He apologizes again.
1 week before the move...
Picking up where we left off...
3 weeks before the move: No immigration approval letter in the mail. Hmmm. I hate to be a pest, but not that much. I email our immigration agent who tells me, "Be patient. It's in the mail." Not helpful.
Let me give a little background here... We have to redo our home study when we move. As in, get a new agency (because AWAA isn't licensed in RI) and redo all of it... The interviews, the home visits, the medicals, the fingerprints. That's fine. It's expensive and irritating but it doesn't impact our adoption, so long as we can get on the waiting list in Bulgaria. We can't get on said list without immigration approval. We really need this letter before we move so that we can finalize our dossier. Our immigration officer does not know that we are moving, so he's not in as much of a hurry as we are to get this letter.
2 weeks before the move: No immigration letter. I call our agency. I ask in online support groups. I pack for the move. I google "how long does mail take from TX to VA?" I get rid of things we don't need anymore. I obsessively check the mail. I have goodbye dinners.
1 week before the move: We have our quarterly call with our adoption agency. Our sweet program director, Soojin, says absolutely contact the immigration officer again. It's been way too long and he needs to resend it. She says moving and redoing the home study is no problem at all, just a hassle for us. She says, looking at our parameters, that she expects up to a 2 year wait for a referral.
Record scratch.
Up to 2 years? Remember, when we started this whole adventure we thought it was going to be 3-4 years. Up to 2 years. Is. Awesome.
As soon as I end the phone call with Soojin, I email Officer Be Patient again to request that he resend our letter. Blah, blah, blah. Yadda, yadda, yadda. He does some checking.
He apologizes.
He never mailed it.
He'll get that in the mail today.
He apologizes again.
1 week before the move...
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