LOA, I-800 and more!

First...we received our LOA on December 1st!  Pretty amazing that this exact date was my “best case scenario” guess as to when we could possibly receive our LOA way back when I made my first time line estimate.

We were able to share our adoption news with the rest of our family on Thanksgiving.  Even better to be able to share our “soft loa” news with them at the same time!  Yeah, you can guess what came to mind when we thought about the many things we were thankful for!

When our adoption agency received the actual LOA paper on Dec. 1, they emailed it to us.  I printed it out, drove it to Kevin’s work so he could come out into the parking lot to sign it, scanned it in, and emailed it back to our agency the same day.  Excited much??  ;)  The next day, they overnighted our I-800 application to the USCIS.  Not to be confused with the I-800A that we already did, this approval will let us bring Little Guy back to the US, where he will become a citizen as soon as his feet hit US soil. :)  We are told to expect about a 2 week wait for this one.

In the meantime, my email box has exploded with information and instructions from our adoption agency!  We had a few more forms to sign, notarize, and send back to them.  We also had a few checks to write.  One large chunk of money goes to Little Guy’s orphanage to help cover the cost of his care.  Luckily, his province accepts a wire transfer from our adoption agency, so we won’t have to carry this bit of cash with us to China.  Not all provinces accept this.

On Dec. 4, the actual LOA arrived at our house.  We had to sign it and send it back to our adoption agency to be sent back to China.  It felt amazing to hold that piece of paper in our hands!  I wanted to take like a MILLION pictures of it from every angle possible!

Our agency has requested an update on Little Guy.  We were able to submit 5 questions with this request.  It was hard to narrow down our questions to just 5!  We decided we wanted to ask things we thought would help us care for Little Guy in those first few days.  There is no guarantee that we will get this update, but we remain hopeful.

On Dec. 5th, we received word that our I-800 application had been received.  This gives us a receipt number, so now I can call to check on the status of our application.  I’ve only called 3 times, so far.  I got a little anxious about it on Friday, when I found out a couple other people on our timeline had received their approvals.  Well, our application is on the officer’s desk, so hopefully it will soon be approved soon.  I’m trying to decide what time I should call on Monday...

Once our I-800 is approved, it will be forwarded from the NBC (National Benefits Center) to the NVC (National Visa Center), where it will be entered into their system (which gives us a GUZ number) to start Little Guy’s US Visa process.  I will email the NVC to get our GUZ number, Invoice number and an email copy of the NVC Letter, because these things are needed for our next step- to fill out Little Guy’s Visa application on his behalf.

If I understand this correctly...  Once our adoption agency has proof that we sent Little Guy’s Visa app (DS-260), an email copy of the NVC Letter, and perhaps another document or two, they will be able to send our file to their team in China, who will deliver our file to the US Consulate.  They are only allowed to drop this off on certain days of the week.  The US Consulate will review everything and produce our Article 5.  This Article 5 will then be picked up by our adoption agency’s in-China staff and sent to the CCCWA (Chinese government).  THEN, the CCCWA will issue us a Travel Approval, which is our invitation to come pick up our son!  Whew!!

As you can see, we still have several more steps, but they are happening much more quickly than, say, the LOA.  Our adoption agency is starting to prepare us for traveling.  We have consulted with a travel clinic at the Adoption Center in Chicago.  I am starting to have all kinds of lists running through my brain at all hours of the day- packing lists, paperwork lists, to-do lists, you name it!  Add that to the usual fast pace of the holiday season and you can understand why my head feels like it might explode some days!!

Travel is typically 9-12 weeks after receiving LOA, but it can be delayed by things such as holidays and CCCWA computer upgrades, both of which we are dealing with.  Still...it will be here before we know it!!  <3 <3