Tomorrow (Monday March 17th) should be a very busy day. It is day known in the adoption community as "the paper chase". Now, part of this process happened on Friday in Audrey's birth city.
When the adoption ceremony was complete, we quickly walked three blocks to the police station where she was issued a new birth certificate, certificate of citizenship, the passport ordered and the necessary pictures taken. This whole process took a couple of hours, which is very typical. All of those steps had to be completed in order for the events of tomorrow to happen.
Now tomorrow, each step must happen in specific order or the subsequent steps will be postponed. Here is what the day *should* look like.
1) 12:45 Pick up translated adoption documents
2) 1:00 Pick up passport
3) 1:30 get Visa picture taken
4) 2:00 Have medical appointment
5) 2:30 return to apartment to complete USCIS form i260 online
6) 2:45 Embassy appointment.
The most crucial step for tomorrow is step 2, picking up the passport. If it happens the passport is not ready the rest of the day comes to a screeching halt and is postponed until Tuesday.
Assuming the passport is ready, the next critical piece is #6, the Embassy appointment. When we adopted Abel the embassy completed our paperwork and handed over his Visa in a matter of a couple hours. Usually this is a two-day thing, requiring the family to return to the embassy the next day. If we get the Visa tomorrow, we will be on a flight out very early Tuesday morning. If we have to return on Tuesday morning for the Visa, we will fly out Tuesday afternoon.
I really do not want that Tuesday afternoon flight because it gets us home at 11:30 pm but that is only if all the flights are on time and there are no hold ups with Immigration like last time. But what I really want, more than anything, is to be on a plane…any plane…sometime Tuesday that is headed the direction of home!
The adoption has been VERY fast. From the day we committed until I arrive home with Audrey will be less than three months. The in-country process was 15 days, but we arrived early and will have been here 20 days. We're ready to go home. ;-)
When the adoption ceremony was complete, we quickly walked three blocks to the police station where she was issued a new birth certificate, certificate of citizenship, the passport ordered and the necessary pictures taken. This whole process took a couple of hours, which is very typical. All of those steps had to be completed in order for the events of tomorrow to happen.
Now tomorrow, each step must happen in specific order or the subsequent steps will be postponed. Here is what the day *should* look like.
1) 12:45 Pick up translated adoption documents
2) 1:00 Pick up passport
3) 1:30 get Visa picture taken
4) 2:00 Have medical appointment
5) 2:30 return to apartment to complete USCIS form i260 online
6) 2:45 Embassy appointment.
The most crucial step for tomorrow is step 2, picking up the passport. If it happens the passport is not ready the rest of the day comes to a screeching halt and is postponed until Tuesday.
Assuming the passport is ready, the next critical piece is #6, the Embassy appointment. When we adopted Abel the embassy completed our paperwork and handed over his Visa in a matter of a couple hours. Usually this is a two-day thing, requiring the family to return to the embassy the next day. If we get the Visa tomorrow, we will be on a flight out very early Tuesday morning. If we have to return on Tuesday morning for the Visa, we will fly out Tuesday afternoon.
I really do not want that Tuesday afternoon flight because it gets us home at 11:30 pm but that is only if all the flights are on time and there are no hold ups with Immigration like last time. But what I really want, more than anything, is to be on a plane…any plane…sometime Tuesday that is headed the direction of home!
The adoption has been VERY fast. From the day we committed until I arrive home with Audrey will be less than three months. The in-country process was 15 days, but we arrived early and will have been here 20 days. We're ready to go home. ;-)
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