DOSSIER IS DONE!

That was the subject line on an e-mail we received on December 30.  What a relief to make it through this phase of the paperwork.  It is also a relief knowing that so far all our paperwork has been acceptable to those reviewing it.   Now we continue along the path of acronyms.  The next date is the LID (log in date).  At that time our paperwork will be registered, translated, go to the review room to review content, and then to matching where Wen De's file will be put with our dossier.  Then an LSC (letter seeking confirmation) will be issued to us.  Once we formally accept, then we will file the I-800, a file request to the NVC (national visa center) and a DS 260, an online visa application.  These items are forwarded to our adoption agency GWCA (Great Wall China Adoption) who in turn forward it to the consulate in Guangzhou.  The consulate then issues an Article 5.  We should probably refer to it as the A5 since it would be more like an acronym.  Then the paperwork goes to CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) in Beijing.  Once approved, we will receive a TA (travel approval).  We then have 90 days to travel and bring Wen De home.

Getting the referral documents can take up to three months and the remainder of the paperwork/approvals can take up to three additional months.  So, it could be as much as six months, or end of June before we can travel.  However, we hold out hope that we will travel sooner.  Families in similar situations have seen their paperwork and approvals move slightly faster.  We are praying for expediency.

Certification Complete

Paperwork to send to Great Wall China Adoption.  The gold seals on the paperwork are from the authentication process done by the Wisconsin Secretary of State.

Today I received a FedEx package at work that contained our consulate certified paperwork.  When I got home, I started making copies of the paperwork and double checked everything.  Once I had everything complete, I braved the snowstorm that dumped 6 inches of wet, heavy snow on Madison and went to the FedEx office so it would make it down to Austin by the next day.  The next stop will be review by Great Wall China Adoption and then it should get sent to China for log in.

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!  Our Christmas letter can be found here.

The Paper Chase - Consulate Certificate

I-800A Approval Letter

One of the extra steps in Chinese adoption is the certification of the paperwork by the Chinese consulate.  This step happens after all the documents have been authenticated by the Secretary of State in your state.  As we posted earlier, we had submitted all our documents for authentication except the I-800A approval.  Well, on 12/12/15, we received a letter from USCIS telling us our I-800A had been approved.  It didn't seem like a very official looking document so we sent it to our coordinator at Great Wall to verify.  It turns out that it was the right document so we needed to write a notarial statement saying the document was truthful and then have a notary sign that.  Then the Secretary of State authenticates that document and then we sent it to the Chinese consulate for certification.  On Tuesday, 12/15, I took the documents to the Secretary of State and paid the rush fee for certification.  Surprisingly, the lady in the office said she'd have it done within 2 hours.  Wow - that's better than the advertised 1-2 business days! 

And it turns out that was a good thing.  As I researched the next step of certification with the Chinese consulate, which is in Chicago, I started to see a potential delay.  Paperwork to the consulate must be hand delivered.  So that means a trip to Chicago or working through a courier service.  The courier service recommended, There's Always Hope, is efficient and reasonably priced and it was a no brainer decision to pay the courier fee rather than 2 round trips to downtown Chicago.  However, she is traveling to Haiti from Dec. 28 - January 6.  And it takes 4 business days for the consulate to certify the paperwork.  So, if we sent the documents overnight, they would arrive on 12/16, but would probably not get to the consulate until 12/17.  That would get the documents back on 12/23 or at the latest 12/24.  So there was no time to waste.

I took off the afternoon of the 12/16 to prepare the paperwork for overnight delivery.  As I was double checking all the paperwork and making photocopies, I found another potential problem.  On two of our letters, the date of the letter was different than that of the date we signed in front of the notary.  We called our adoption coordinator to see if it would be a problem.  If we sent the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, it would be rejected.  However, if we sent it to the Chinese Consulate in Washington, DC, it would be ok.  However, before the paperwork could be certificated at the DC consulate, it would have to be authenticated by the State Department.  So I spent some time researching DC couriers, the fees involved and the timeline for document approval since we would have an additional step.

In the end, I figured we would be better off sending our documents to the Chicago courier in two batches.  One batch to be processed normally and the two letters to be processed as "expedited", or two day processing.  So we sent our first batch of paperwork on 12/15.  Then on 12/16 we reprinted the letters, found a notary to get them signed.  Then I went back to the Secretary of State to drop off the paperwork.  That afternoon I went to pick up the documents, put them in an envelope and mailed them to the courier.

As it turns out, all the documents arrived in time for her to make the delivery on 12/17 so they were all processed as one batch with regular processing and should be ready by 12/24 - our Christmas present!

Fingerprinting

When we arrived home from our California vacation, we had a letter telling us we needed to report to the Milwaukee USCIS office for fingerprinting on December 8, 2015 at 9am.  Dana's Mom came over to watch the kids so Dana and I went to Milwaukee on a fingerprinting "date".

We arrived just before 9am and passed through security screening at the USCIS office.  The waiting room was fairly full, but within 30 minutes we were processed.  Our friends Ross & Jenn Franke, who were assigned a fingerprinting date approximately 1 week later arrived and requested to do fingerprinting.  However, they were denied.  The USCIS official indicated that the whole process works best when you arrive on the assigned day for fingerprinting.  That is contrary to what you read on other adoption blogs and even to some of the advice that you can get if you call USCIS.  But apparently the system is streamlined to the point where showing up on the assigned day keeps things moving forward in the best possible fashion, at least in the eyes of the Milwaukee USCIS office.

Since we finished up fingerprinting quickly and the kids were welled cared for and happily engaged in making Christmas cookies with Grandma, we extended our date a bit by stopping in Johnson Creek to look at the outlet stores for a few items.  10:30 AM on an early December Tuesday is definitely the time to do your Christmas shopping as we were the only people in some stores.

After that, we stopped in Cottage Grove at the School Grounds Cafe - an old school that has been converted into a cafe/coffee shop/art gallery.  It's always caught our eye, but we never stopped.  We shared a hot cocoa and a sandwich before heading back to the house.  Who says fingerprinting and government paperwork can't be fun!