I800 Approval and Final Steps!

We are getting down to the last steps before travel!  Our I800 immigrations form was approved yesterday, January 28.  In legal-eze what this does, from the USCIS website;  "USCIS will provisionally approve the Form I-800 if the child qualifies for classification as a Convention adoptee and the proposed adoption or grant of custody will meet Convention requirements."

Next up is the Article 5 from the National Visa Center.  Again, from the website, " submit a visa application to a Consular Officer at the appropriate U.S. embassy or consulate in the Convention country. The Consular Officer will review the Form I-800 and the visa application for possible visa ineligibilities and will advise you if there are options to waive any noted grounds of inadmissibility.  If the Consular Officer determines that the child appears eligible to immigrate to the United States and that the information provided indicates that the adoption process thus far has complied with the Convention and IAA, he or she will notify the Convention country's central authority by issuing an Article 5/17 letter. The Article 5/17 letter will inform the foreign central authority that U.S. competent authorities have determined the prospective adoptive parents are eligible and suited to adopt, that the child may enter and reside permanently in the United States, and that the U.S. Central Authority agrees that the adoption may proceed."  

The NVC should have our paperwork by this time next week, and they are generally quick to issue the Article 5.  Due to the Chinese Consulate being closed for Chinese New Year our Article 5 will not be able to be submitted to them until February 10.  Typically the Article 5 approval takes two weeks then we wait on our invitation to travel!!!

So there you have it!  Article 5 and Travel Approval.  We are that close!

We completed our applications last night for Chinese Visas so we will be ready when our travel invitation arrives.  It is looking like traveling at the end of March is a real possibility!