Moving & Fun with USCIS (again)
Hi.
It's me again.
You don't hear from me much.
We're in that weird in-between waiting world that takes up so much time in adoption and no news is just, well, no news.
We have been officially waiting for 11 months now. 11 months. I kind of can't believe it. I can't believe it has been that long. I can't believe it has only been that long. I can't believe we are that much closer to our kids.
As far as the wait goes, we are lucky to have this crazy lifestyle. Moving does mean that we have to redo home studies, which costs more and is such a pain, but it also means that we don't feel the wait as sharply as we could. We have had a year's worth of adventures here in Rhode Island. We have had to focus on moving, settling, exploring, new jobs, new schools, new friends. Even redoing the home study gave us something tangible to do instead of just wait.
We are gearing up to move again and it is a hassle. Always. Even though we don't have to do the packing and the loading and the carrying of boxes. It is still a hassle. But that hassle is also a project. And projects keep us sane.
We are also beyond blessed to have two kids growing up right in front of us. They are thriving and having so much fun and are, generally, enjoyable to be around. They make us laugh and we are proud of their Navy brat flexibility and resilience so far. They are gearing up for the big move, too. Jack is excited for the lizards that are everywhere and Elliott is excited to never feel cold again. Girl after my own heart.
We are outta here in 2 weeks. You may remember our issues with immigration approval the last time we moved.
Not much has changed.
A little background. Stay with me here...
Our immigration approval expires in January. (We need this pre-approval from the US because it means we are allowed to adopt. Ultimately, it's because we will be creating new US citizens.) This approval must be kept up-to-date or the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria could pull our file and move us to the bottom of the list.
A couple of caveats...
This approval MUST be updated every time you have a significant family change (i.e. move to a new house) HOWEVER an extension (new expiration date) is only granted within 90 days of the original expiration date.
Make sense?
Yeah, not here either.
So...last October, right before we moved, we received immigration approval that expires January 2017. This May, when our Rhode Island home study was completed, we received an updated immigration approval letter that still had an expiration of January 2017 (because it wasn't within the 90 day window.)
Still with me?
That leaves us at this October when we submitted another application, this time to get a new expiration date so that we can stay current. Did I mention each time we submit this it cost several hundred dollars? Yaaaaaay.
Application submitted as early as possible. Receipt received. Waiting on a fingerprint appointment letter, which usually takes 1-2 weeks to arrive.
1 week. Nothing.
10 days. Nothing.
2 weeks. Curious.
17 days. Starting to stress.
3 weeks. Oh, hey appointment letter that has our Virginia address on it and has us scheduled for fingerprints next week at the Virginia Beach office...
uuuuugggggghhhhhhh
Y'all. I called USCIS. I CALLED them. You know that means I was gettin r done. Not a lot of phone calls are made up in here.
It ended up that we went to the Providence office last week and were fingerprinted there, ahead of our scheduled time. They were kind and efficient and there were no issues, praise God.
We are now waiting on the approval letter. We need to get it, notarize it, apostille it, and mail it before we leave. Easy-peasy. I have been praying about this timeline all month.
And then....we redo our home study in Florida and resubmit to USCIS again. For another approval letter that won't have a new date. Which means that if we don't have a referral by this time next year, we will be doing all of this again.
What a ride we are on!
So much to do, so much to plan, so much to figure out. But first, Halloween candy. I have a fox and Wonder Woman who are bouncing off the walls in anticipation of trick-or-treating.
Until next time...
xoxo
It's me again.
You don't hear from me much.
We're in that weird in-between waiting world that takes up so much time in adoption and no news is just, well, no news.
We have been officially waiting for 11 months now. 11 months. I kind of can't believe it. I can't believe it has been that long. I can't believe it has only been that long. I can't believe we are that much closer to our kids.
As far as the wait goes, we are lucky to have this crazy lifestyle. Moving does mean that we have to redo home studies, which costs more and is such a pain, but it also means that we don't feel the wait as sharply as we could. We have had a year's worth of adventures here in Rhode Island. We have had to focus on moving, settling, exploring, new jobs, new schools, new friends. Even redoing the home study gave us something tangible to do instead of just wait.
We are gearing up to move again and it is a hassle. Always. Even though we don't have to do the packing and the loading and the carrying of boxes. It is still a hassle. But that hassle is also a project. And projects keep us sane.
We are also beyond blessed to have two kids growing up right in front of us. They are thriving and having so much fun and are, generally, enjoyable to be around. They make us laugh and we are proud of their Navy brat flexibility and resilience so far. They are gearing up for the big move, too. Jack is excited for the lizards that are everywhere and Elliott is excited to never feel cold again. Girl after my own heart.
We are outta here in 2 weeks. You may remember our issues with immigration approval the last time we moved.
Not much has changed.
A little background. Stay with me here...
Our immigration approval expires in January. (We need this pre-approval from the US because it means we are allowed to adopt. Ultimately, it's because we will be creating new US citizens.) This approval must be kept up-to-date or the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria could pull our file and move us to the bottom of the list.
A couple of caveats...
This approval MUST be updated every time you have a significant family change (i.e. move to a new house) HOWEVER an extension (new expiration date) is only granted within 90 days of the original expiration date.
Make sense?
Yeah, not here either.
So...last October, right before we moved, we received immigration approval that expires January 2017. This May, when our Rhode Island home study was completed, we received an updated immigration approval letter that still had an expiration of January 2017 (because it wasn't within the 90 day window.)
Still with me?
That leaves us at this October when we submitted another application, this time to get a new expiration date so that we can stay current. Did I mention each time we submit this it cost several hundred dollars? Yaaaaaay.
Application submitted as early as possible. Receipt received. Waiting on a fingerprint appointment letter, which usually takes 1-2 weeks to arrive.
1 week. Nothing.
10 days. Nothing.
2 weeks. Curious.
17 days. Starting to stress.
3 weeks. Oh, hey appointment letter that has our Virginia address on it and has us scheduled for fingerprints next week at the Virginia Beach office...
uuuuugggggghhhhhhh
Y'all. I called USCIS. I CALLED them. You know that means I was gettin r done. Not a lot of phone calls are made up in here.
It ended up that we went to the Providence office last week and were fingerprinted there, ahead of our scheduled time. They were kind and efficient and there were no issues, praise God.
We are now waiting on the approval letter. We need to get it, notarize it, apostille it, and mail it before we leave. Easy-peasy. I have been praying about this timeline all month.
And then....we redo our home study in Florida and resubmit to USCIS again. For another approval letter that won't have a new date. Which means that if we don't have a referral by this time next year, we will be doing all of this again.
What a ride we are on!
So much to do, so much to plan, so much to figure out. But first, Halloween candy. I have a fox and Wonder Woman who are bouncing off the walls in anticipation of trick-or-treating.
Until next time...
xoxo
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