Travel Approvals and CNY Timing
More NSN travel approvals arrived yesterday at several agencies.
Those waiting on SN travel approvals are getting pretty antsy again, so I hope we start seeing another flood of SN travel approvals come soon. Many of you have emailed me to ask me about it, and I’m sorry to say I have not seen any rumors at all about SN travel approvals.
Chinese New Year is February 18th this year. Many businesses and government agencies are going to take the Friday before off (February 16). I’m told that most government agencies will be reopen February 26th.
I think that this means the latest that families will be able to arrive in order to be home before CNY would be February 4th.
It also means that the consulate appointments for the week of March 5-9th are probably going to go pretty fast. It looks like families could start arriving in China again in order to process things in the Province starting February 25th. However, they can only do that if their agency can get them a consulate date the following week.
January 9th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Good luck to those waiting!!! N
January 9th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
RQ
I am guessing that if the next batch comes at the end of Jan. acceptances are mailed back and in by the 9th of Feb. then travel for the next referral batch will be sometime in the last couple weeks of March. What are your thoughts?
Meg
LID 9/29
January 9th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Based on this information, it seems that there will be little reason for CCAA to change its schedule, since they are only closed a week and a bit. (I imagined that a long holiday would spur them to get two batches out before CNY.)
The matching only seems to take a few days, so they can do a January 30th-Feb 1-ish mailing, return to the office the 26th, and do a March 1-3 ish mailing.
Thoughts?
PJM
on the cusp of the second batch in line – 10/26 LID
January 9th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
One of the things that is going to be interesting for this latest group of referrals is the I-171H renewals. I think this is the first group to be completely impacted by renewals. In my travel group, everyone has either just received their renewal or is waiting. Our agency won’t be able to schedule CAs until we have our renewals, so we all are on edge about it. I would be willing to bet this is happening in many of the travel groups right now.
So the main factor in getting those CAs this time around may be who gets their renewals done first, as opposed to who gets TAs the fastest
January 9th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
For the people receiving their referrals in the next batch they should still leave about six to eight weeks after referral, I would think. This next batch shouldn’t have to skip around any holidays or trade fairs, but the next batch after that will.
The Trade Fair in GZ is April 15-20 and then April 25-30, so agencies will be trying to avoid having their families in GZ during those times. Some agencies still schedule consulate appointments during those weeks and just keep their families in hotels outside of town, other agencies will not schedule appointments during those time.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
RQ- what is involved in getting a TA? Doesn’t the next batch have to come before the end of January, so that they can start the TA process before they go on holidays?
Thank you for everything.
Nazar 9/29
January 9th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Is it possible to receive a March 3 referral, return the acceptance on March 4th, receive a TA say 2 weeks later on the 17th-24th, and leave April 1st to get home by April 15th-ish? What is the shortest TA turnaround this year so far?
Alternatively, can you sneak in to GZ in that April 20-25 timeframe, and be out in the province say Chongqing, for the week prior?
Probably won’t make April but there is that 5% chance…
PJM
10/26
PS can we talk sometime about the visa application process? People who are just hanging around, do they need photos? What type? How many? Where do you go outside of SF (we can do it in person but I imagine others may not be able to). My sister is in Honolulu so will need to know.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Nazar – usually they send referrals just before they leave, so that when they return after vacation the acceptance letters are just beginning to arrive. This means the TA process doesn’t really get slowed down by their vacation.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
RQ- but do you know how long it takes them to get a TA? I am afraid that if they don’t start till after the holidays, we won’t travel till April. Sorry, if the TA process is explained somewhere else. I really don’t know what it involves.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Most people receive their TA 3 weeks after the CCAA receives the acceptance letter. It can take longer – some people have waited five weeks this time.
And yes, many people do squeeze in between Trade Fair phases.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Oh no! Do I understand this correctly? The worst case scenario for a 9/29 LID is a referral just before the holidays (February 15nish), TA towards the end of the March, and travel in April?
Noooooooooooooooooo!
January 9th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I’m trying not to think about this yet, but I can’t manage it. I wonder when they’ll send the next batch of referrals?
Seems like getting two batches in before CNY would just be too good to be true. Yet if they wait until right before CNY to send out the next batch that would set a record for most time between batches, wouldn’t it?
~ Joanna (who is trying not to obsess and failing miserably)
9/29/05
January 9th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I’m guessing that the next batch will arrive at the end of this month or the first of next month and will probably leave for China in mid to late March and arrive home late March or early April.
January 9th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Nazar — that is looking likely, isn’t it? :( :(
January 9th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
RQ – thank you!
Joanna – right there with you. Slept five hours last night…
January 9th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
We are currently waiting for our new 171-H due to a “little” mishap of not being completely informed of what we needed–anyway I’m sort of confused as to when our agency would apply for the CA.
The previous post about new consulate rules for CA’s has me flipping out that we won’t be able to accept our referral because our new 171 won’t be here! Our current one doesn’t expire until 2-10 so are we safe to accept our referral even if the new one isn’t here?
I am *assuming* that we will we will be able to accept the referral but I don’t understand when CA’s are requested–is it after the acceptances are sent back to China or at the same time?
Can someone clear this up for me?
granolagirl
*next and starting to lose it*
January 9th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I’m not sure where you got the idea you couldn’t accept a referral without a new I-171H.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I am also waiting on an I-171H renewal, and sent my acceptance letter into the agency yesterday. From what my agency says, it appears they can send the letters back to CCAA, but they can’t request CAs until we have our renewals. The agency seems concerned about it because so many in our group are waiting on renewals.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Ok so that is cleared up (which is what I thought) then I guess my bigger question is how long after we accept our referral will our agency request our CA? Your post said “An appointment will not be scheduled if either will expire before the appointment.”
How do I know how long we have to get the new 171 in our hands before if would cause travel problems?
Is that a better way to ask my question?
January 9th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Granolagirl — We’re in the same position. Our homestudy agency said they’d put pressure on the USCIS to speed up the processing if we got the referral and the new 171 hadn’t arrived yet. I talked to my agency about it too.
It’s a little stressful, but I understand you can accept a referral without it. You do need it when it comes time to make the consulate appt, though.
Nazar — I got about that much sleep too. My brain was like a hamster on a wheel (a squeaky one) about the adoption last night.
January 9th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Your agency can not request a CA for you until they receive your TA back from the CCAA.
January 9th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
OK so the CA comes after you receive a TA which we are seeing come in about a month or so after referral.
Thank you all— that makes much more sense!
Our little hitch is state clearances which could take 3 weeks but our CIS office is ready to mail us the 171 as soon as the get them. I think I understand the order of things now so we should be ok.
Sorry I sounded like an idiot earlier—being almost 16 months pregnant gets a little uncomfortable. ;)
January 9th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Hi RQ,
We’re with a medium, multi-country agency. We got our referral on Thursday, November 30. Our papers arrived by FedEx on Friday, December 1. We were required to have our acceptance letter back to the agency by Monday the 4th in the am. Letters left that afternoon and were accepted on the morning of the 8th in China. We felt good about a pretty quick turnaround, but much to my frustration (and that of our entire group of 34 families) we still have no TA.
Is it possible that each individual SWI or orphanage waits until all letters from all agencies adopting from that particular SWI in a given referral batch arrive before sending TA? I’m grasping at straws here, but each day we have no TA means another day someone else is raising my daughter…
I’m ready to swim!
~KM in CLT
January 9th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
PJ Mama-
The visa application is really easy. Make sure you have a passport that will be current for at least six months. You will need a passport-like photo (I had mine taken at the local UPS store.) The visa application (with picture), a return FedEx envelope and your passport are (sent to the Chinese Consulate through a courier service. The whole process took me less than 10 days. It’s quite easy.
Laureen
(Leaving for my Little Isabel in 9 days)
Woo Hoo!
http://www.babysites.com/sites/laureenmary
January 9th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
granolagirl… don’t forget that you can ask your sw to ask for your 171 to be expedited to you! i talked to my sw and agency and they both concurred that this is absolutely doable… and even gave me an email address that i could contact the individual over the process on my own. not wanting to do it if not necessary but they suggested i wait until i have the referral in my hand (which is hopefully in about 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!) and then go ahead and ask for the 171 to be sent out… which is supposed to be only 2 days! we’ll see… i’m hoping that darn thing shows up in about a week though!!! and yes, you have it the info right… the CA will only be made AFTER our TA shows up – which may be the end of Feb… so we definitely have time on our side!!! good luck! we’re almost there!!!!!!!!!!
LID 9/29/05 – referral soon??? REALLY????? ;-)
January 9th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
oh yeh, one more thing… as usual those NSN TA’s showing up usually is the sign referrals are soon to follow…. anyone else concur??? or am i just absolutely 100% undeniably delusional today!!?? AH!
p.s. spring clothes are showing up in stores and they are CA-UTE!!!!!!!!!!!
January 9th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
You really think referrals are going to come a week after we last saw them?
I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen.
Not that I don’t wish it would, but I just don’t see it happening.
January 9th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Wow, am finally getting very excited about referral (9/29). With a 4 yo at home it’s been very easy to keep busy, but now it seems that everything I do is focused on our new baby, the trip, preparing for when we return, etc. I guess it’s called nesting. I would love to see referrals at the end of the month or early Feb. April in China would be very nice!! Last time we traveled in August!
Joan
http://www.chinamomsonline.com
January 9th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Hi,
I just called our China coordinator becuase I am starting the 171H renewal and I needed info and she told me that she was very excited for us as they are expecting our referral (along with 2 other families) in the next batch. I know they are being optimistic in thinking our referral will come next, but it was really cool to hear if from someone official. I know we are on the cut off but I am still optimistic that we can be squeezed into the next batch.
Also, I called CIS in Los Angeles and spoke with the officer and she said they are only running 2 weeks from submitting the full 1600A w/ homestudy to getting the 171H out. Even more good news.
I did want to ask RQ if she tought that CCAA will put out 2 batches before CNY. I know they like to do a batch before they leave for CNY & I cant imagine them taking 6 weeks to put out the next batch, so with that said would you guess that they would do 2 batches before CNY. I know you dont know for sure but I just wanted your best guess.
Thanks,
Christy
10-17-05
http://www.bock.redthreadkids.org
January 9th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
RQ… absolutely not. that’s why i was confessing i was absolutely 100% undeniably delusional!! but i do think they’ll show up in about 2 to 2.5 weeks. call me crazy then, too, if they don’t show! AH! this wait is wearing on me big time!
January 9th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
2 to 2.5 weeks for referral????? :o))) that would be WONDERFUL! :o))))) OMG, I can’t believe we’re FINALLY next!!! :O))))
LID: 09/29/05
January 9th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Here is my post about when they might show up
http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/05/how-long-till-the-next-batch/
January 9th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
HI guys, We got our referral on 01-04-07. I am really getting nervous because we don’t have our renewed I-171 H. I have called our agency and it sounds like there are several of us in this situation. I know that our agency has been able to call someone and make the process go faster. But, I wonder if it will still go faster if there are a bunch of us in this same situation. I am really scared that this is going to delay our CA.
January 9th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
chinamom2006, doesn’t it absolutely seem surreal? i mean… really! i finally started packing some things in a suitcase today for our baby girl! that felt GREAT! i know i’ll unpack and repack 3 or 4 more times but it was wonderful putting her bibsters and soaps, etc., in her bag!!!
January 9th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
We received our referral on Dec. 1st, 2006. Our agency sent our acceptance letters back to the CCAA on the 12th of December. We have not received our TAs yet. We have 7 families in our travel group. Out of the 7 familes, 3 of them have not received their I-171H back from their local CIS office!! Our agency rep e-mailed me this morning and said that even if they do receive the TA, they cannot request the CA Appointment until those 3 families receive their I-171Hs!! Talk about stress! If we receive our TA and have to wait who knows how long, we will seriously go crazy.
http://www.crazyaboutcali.blog.com
January 9th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
crazyaboutcali, that is what I am scared of. I am so sorry, you are in this position. Do you know where in the process these three families are? For example, do some if not all of the three families come from states where it takes awhile to get there I-171 H forms. Or what is the hold up. Our paper work was sent off the end of Nov. Everything was done. Here we are in Jan. and we still don’t have our new I-171 H. You are in even a worse situation than me. I am so sorry!
January 9th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I received my SN Travel Approval yesterday for my 7 year old daughter from Chongqing. My agency received 9 SN TA’s and 2 NSN TA’s yesterday! Tentative travel is January 24th with a Consulate appointment on the 5th or 6th of February.
January 9th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Is that typical for an agency to wait so long to send acceptance letters back??? That just seems like a long time – 11 days! I wonder if that is the norm??
January 9th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
We received our referral on a Friday. Our agency had our acceptance by the next Tuesday. They said that some of the other families were having their child’s medical infomation reviewed, etc. It took a few of them longer to return their acceptance back to the agency. I guess that is why it took 11 days. As far as the I-171Hs go, our agency rep said that they expect to receive them any day now. We just received ours this past Saturday, January 6th. Our CIS appt. was way back on October 26, 2006. It is very frustrating to think something like this could delay us from finally meeting our little girl.
http://www.crazyaboutcali.blog.com
January 9th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
wow… that stinks for the families that were extremely vigilant about getting their acceptance letters back only to have to wait on others taking their time…. which is fine, too… but when it comes down to it i know everyone is just ready to go, go, go!!! i think our agency stresses that if at all possible to get those back to them asap! they don’t want to delay a TA for us anymore than we want the delay! i’ve talked to 3 of our families so far and they’ve all said how quickly they will turn those acceptance letters around…. shew!
January 9th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
We rec’d referral 11/30 and still do not have TA.
Our letters were all logged back in at CCAA on 12/8.
3 people in our group do not have the renewed I-171H..we’ve been pushing on USCIS to get ours done since Dec. 26th….the response that we received from our senator’s office was the USCIS could wait a full 90 days before reviewing the docs and they are trying very hard to push the new I-600s through for folks that will be affected by the May 1 changes. Admirable, but not helpful for me! The latest update is that USCIS has agreed to process my I-171H first thing tomorrow, even though the office is with intermittent power for some reason.
I’ve posted this so many times but, please re-file for your I-171H early…AT LEAST 90 days before it is to expire.
January 9th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I am curious to why people wait for the last minute to re-new their I-171 forms. I would be pretty mad if I had to wait for other people that waited for the last minute. I would hope my agency would not wait for requesting CA’s.
January 9th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Here you have to wait a month before it expires to renew, so no choice. And some USCIS offices crawl at a snail’s pace.
It may not be the fault of the families.
January 9th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
bruno1: We re-filed 3 months before ours expired, in total, with the homestudy in tact. Please consider it may not be families causing the hold up.
January 9th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Joanna,
We have to get this processed streamlined across all the …UNITED…states. After all, this is a federal government agency!
January 9th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
hello…off topic here, but trying to track down Wrigsassy…
if you see this, please leave your email on our blogpage….
if anyone does know how to get a hold of her, please let her know we’re looking to contact them. :)
thanks!
January 9th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
crazyaboutcali–
I’m trying to view your blog but cannot. any tips?
January 9th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Our LID is 10/11 and we hope that we will be in the next batch. This process has trained us to be pessimistic and wary of making assumptions.
We have applied to renew our I-171H, but the approval won’t arrive until after we recieve our referral. So I just want to make sure that I understand correctly…The agency doesn’t make the CA until after they recieve the TA from China, right? So we can accept the referral even though our current I-171H expires on Feb 1. Did I get this right?
Thanks
January 9th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Waitingwaiting – yes you can accept your referral and receive a TA but the agencies can’t make Consolate approvals without valid 171-h. I’m in this situation and I can’t get any response from my local USCIS – I have the officers voice mail and e-mail and leave messages. I started this process back in May with renewing homestudy and fingerprints in August – sent in the 645$ in October was told it could take up to 180 days. I am sick. I’m gonna call the social worker who did our homestudy to see if she can help pull some strings.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Absolutely, accept your referral. Accepting your referral is NOT contingent on your I-171H…you just need it to make a CA and travel.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
My agency has already stressed to everyone even the new paperchasers to document on our calendar 3 months before the I 171h or fingerprints expire and to begin the renewal process right then. don’t hold out that maybe you will be able to squeak by without renewing. As crazy as things have been with referrals skipped etc. you might not guesstimate right. My agency is also one that says do not let fingerprints or I-171H expire and then refile. Begin early!!! i would be really upset if someone postponed a whole group from going to get our children especially after all of the warnings about having them and now with the new consulate rule of being informed by the agency everyone’s expiration date. I don’t think this part of the process is to be taken lightly. Maybe everyone just starting or currently waiting should go ahead and expect and plan for the extra time and expense added to what they originally thought .
January 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
I don’t think anyone should point fingers at others for not starting the renewal process soon enough. Everyone’s situation is completely different and when it comes to this type of a situation most of it is out of our hands anyway.
We started our renewal process at the end of October–our 171 doesn’t expire until 2-10. We were fingerprinted in November and a MONTH later (around the holidays) we were informed that we had to have state clearances REDONE before we could receive our new 171. So our second set of documents did not get sent out until after the New Year. And none of this was our fault and all we can do is wait.
Wouldn’t you say starting in October we were planning ahead? I thought it was crazy to start so soon and now I’m glad we did.
Anxious parents waiting on other anxious parents waiting on the government doesn’t seem like such a good mix.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
This may be a dumb question, but why do agencies make families wait for other families to receive their updated 171s? Why can’t they go ahead with consulate appointments for their families with current 171s and fingerprints?
Can these families ask their agencies to go ahead and arrange their travel?
Am I missing something here?
January 9th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
We received our referral on 9 December 2005, got TA on 23 January 2006 and travelled 17-25 February 2006. That was the longest wait for TA I had ever seen. Why? I am not sure, I just know it was forever before we got our babies after referral!!!!
January 9th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Congratulations TA families !!
Laureen/mom2isabel, take a thermos, those Nanchang girls like hot bottles, best wishes. jfk
http://www.HelloKatieGirl.com
January 9th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Our LID is 10.25 and our immigration work expires on 2/7/07. Our agency was all over us to start our renewal in August. Thank goodness they did. Though we swung into action in early September, the write-up of our homestudy update seemed to go at a snail’s pace. We got all our immigration work in on October 30th. Our state is running a full 90 days or longer so we’ll make it just under the wire. First time around it took only 2 weeks from when all the info was sent in. Blossombaby
January 9th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
Our agency recommends starting to renew 12 months after they have been issued. They will also not wait for families that have not recieved them back in time. Those families have to travel at a later date.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Barbs61:
We received TA for our SN daughter on January 2. We will be traveling Jan 22-Feb 7 with a consulate appointment at 9am on Feb 5. We will be in Beijing, Xi’an, Hohhot, Guanagzhou.
January 9th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
We began the process for renewal in October as well. Unfortunately, we had to wait for our county clearances and our state fingerprints to come back and that took a freakin’ month. Our agency sent in the whole kit n’ kaboodle to USCIS 12/3. Ours expires on 2/10. Our state is currently taking between 7 and 16 weeks to process I600A’s. It is so frustrating to be on the cusp for a referral and then be waiting on this paperwork. Our first go round it only took us 2 weeks, now this is going to mess with our travel… Grrrrrrrr.
Claire
January 9th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Hi Christy.
That’s wonderful!!! I’m almost 99.9% sure that we’re with the same agency and excited that we’ll be traveling together.
Linda
LID 10/7/05
January 9th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
bruno 1
Please remember that these last groups of referrals are really the first ones to have their I171H expire. This was new for all of us and even our agency would not tell us for sure if we should renew. Now it is oh so obvious that people will need to renew, not so a few months ago.
Thankfully we should be fine, but there are many in our travel group who are not so sure.
LID 9/9/05
ref 1/3/07 (8.5 months old)
January 9th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
The rules and process for CIS renewal seem to differ so much from state to state. Here in MN, our homestudies expire after 1 year, but a simple update is all that is required. To reapply for CIS, we simply fill out the form, add birth/marriage certificates and a check (of course) and send it in. Our homestudy agency is supposed to forward a copy of the homestudy update to CIS for us.
Ours expires 4/30/06, and since we’ve already done our homestudy and been refingerprinted our agency says we can wait until the next referral batch before sending it in.
January 9th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Congratulations, phoebesmom, you must be so excited!!!
January 9th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Here is how it worked for us:
February 27, 2006 received referral
March 3, 2006 acceptance letters returned(our agency waits until families have reviewed the translated info before sending back letters)
March 26, 2006 TA recevied
March 30, 2006 CA confirmed for April 28, 2006
April 16, 2006(Easter Sunday) left for China
April 19, 2006 united with daughter(stayed in province for 7 days, it was WONDERFUL) to avoid Trade Fair in GZ
April 26, 2006 Left for GZ (had to stay in hotel 1.5 hours away from Shamian Island b/c of trade fair)
April 28, 2006 CA
May 1, 2006 left China for home
January 9th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
We are considering going “waiting child” — can someone tell me where the CCAA is in relation to LOI dates and TA’s? How long is it taking once a LOI is sent to China to hear a consulate date? I think my temninology is right, but not sure. We are DTC and LID, so that shouldn’t be an issue. We do need to update our home study and get re-fingerprinted.
Lucy
January 10th, 2007 at 12:48 am
With a 10.18.2005 LID, our INS forms expired in Feb/2007. We started the renewal process a few months ago, along with our homestudy updates. We were pleasantly surprised that the process to update the documents was a breeze, other than having to pay all the fees again. The homestudy update was done by our SW over the phone ($250) and we had to get new fingerprints ($70 ish each) and file a new I600A form ($545 I think). We were just trying to play it safe and wanted to go into the holidays not having to worry about these expiring documents.
Hoping for a Jan/Feb referral, or maybe a nice Valentine’s day surprise before CNY.
3+
January 10th, 2007 at 2:07 am
Hello from China. I am living and working as an expat in Beijing, and I have a minor point of clarification to make about the Chinese New Year Holiday period. According to the China government and HR departments accross Beijing, the official holiday begins on Sunday, February 18. Saturday, February 17 is an official working day and all government offices will be open. The following Sunday, February 25 is also an official working day. It would be really odd for the CCAA to close on Feb 16 and/or 17. For the three “Golden Weeks” where people do not work for 7 days in a row, China’s powers that be announce some work day rearrangements. You see, people do not get 7 real holiday days. They get 3 holiday days with 4 weekend days lined up nearby. In practice, this means that we are officially supposed to work either the weekend before or the weekend after the 7 day holiday period (or a combination as in this case). Hope this helps.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:45 am
My I-171H expires 2/9/07. I first made contact with my SW about renewing in August. At the time, she told me to wait until October. I had no reason to disbelieve her as our USCIS (NYC) had taken only 3 weeks to process our first I-171H. I called USCIS in late September, and the orphan officer told me it would just take “a couple of weeks”. We did the homestudy in October, and then there was a glitch when it was lost in the mail (!). And then my agency told me to wait until after the late Nov referrals were in before submitting because we had a strong chance of being in them. We missed that cutoff by a day, so I sent my referral on Dec 2. Then I learned from some other people that NYC has slowed down to 6 to 8 weeks. I now have a referral and am in week 5 of waiting. It could be another 3 weeks. I am not happy over all the misinformation in the fall.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Thanks for the info Rebecca. I’ve also had some emails from people in China about when things are open and closed, and one of them talks about when their provincial government offices will be closed, and that province is shutting down the Friday before.
I have not yet heard for sure when the CCAA will be taking off.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Claire, so sorry to hear about your being on the cusp of a referral and having to wait for paperwork. What a heartbreak. Our thoughts are with you.
And ratgirl, our homestudy agency actually told us to wait til our immigration work expired on February 10th!! to renew our I171H (“What’s your hurry?”). Thank goodness our adoption agency was much more knowledgable. But if we had listened to our homestudy agency, we’d be in a pickle.
Blossombaby
January 10th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Got our TA just now. No travel details, but they expect it will be the first or second week of February. Cutting it close to CNY; hopefully it will be sooner.
Kayli’s Mimi
LID 09/08/2005
DOR 12/01/2006
TA 01/10/2006