Friday, November 30, 2007

The Writing Of The Home Study

Got word from Judy that she is writing our home study and hopefully she will get that finished today. As soon as that happens she will send it to the Holt HQ in Eugene, OR for preliminary approval. At this point we are getting some vital records together like certified birth certificates and marriage license which will be submitted to the USCIS (formerly the INS) for immigration. To obtain our child's visa there is a three step process.

Step 1) Filing the I-600A which is the application for advanced processing of orphan petition along with supporting docs like the birth and marriage papers and home study. After we submit this we complete the FBI fingerprinting process for Tricia and myself. Jonathan does not have to do this since he is only 17. The USCIS then sends us the I-171H which is the Notice of Favorable Determination which is the long name for "Yup your I-600A is good to go". Totally waiting time is around 60-90 days to get the I-171H .

Step 2) Filing the I-600 which is the petition to classify an orphan as an immediate relative. We complete this once we get TA (Travel Approval) and the actual form is filed in Hanoi with our baby's legal docs.

Step 3) The visa petition interview at the US Embassy in Hanoi. These documents for the interview are our home study, birth certificates, marriage certificate, I-600A & 600, employment letters, copies of our W-2, and tax returns, and vaccination waivers.

Whew... sound like alot? Well I guess so but really it is submitting the same documents over and over and over again! So we just go with the flow and take baby steps closer! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

No comments: