NSN Travel Approvals
I have received the first report of Travel Approvals (from the early January referrals) arriving.
There are no new rumors about the next cut-off or when the next batch may arrive. I’ll let ya’ll know if I see anything.
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Note from RQ: The section below is for comments from ChinaAdoptTalk.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with any particular comment just because I let it stand. Posts are generally only removed if they don't follow the rules of the site. Anyone who fails to comply with the rules of the site may lose his or her posting privilege. 69 Responses to “NSN Travel Approvals”Leave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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January 25th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Yes, our agency called today and asked if we wanted to expedite our Visas so we could leave next Thursday. We said YES of course, but Oh My Gosh!!!!! Our TA arrived today along with everyone in our Travel group. Wahoo! What a roller coaster ride! Doesn’t this usually indicate referrals are on the way, too?????
Pam
DOR 1/3/06
January 25th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
The matching department and the TA department are completely separate entities. It often happens that referrals come shortly after TA’s begin arriving, but they are not connected so it’s just a matter of them seeming to be connected when they are not.
January 25th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
tochinaforcamie:
Congratulations! Wow that is fast!!! How exciting for you. I agree, it does seem like TA’s and referrals follow eachother closely, but we have been reminded before that they are separate entities. Here’s hoping tho’!
Meg
LID 9/29
January 25th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I know they’re not related (TAs and referrals) But why am I so excited!! I’m excited about everything at this point!! And, how thrilling for those of you who are receiving TA’s. I hope they all come fast this time! LID 9/29/05
January 25th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Congrats to all those families receiving TAs!!! :O))) Now come on referrals!!!!!! :O)))))
LID 09/29/05
January 25th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Well… I’m praying referrals come quickly on the heals of these TA’s. Maybe CCAA is trying to make up for last month!
Pam
January 25th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Congrats Pam!!! How exciting! Are you already packed? You have a ton to do in 1 week, how fun! After waiting for almost 1 1/2 years, you finally have something to do!
January 25th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
toChinaforCamie,
Oh My!!! How exciting, I can’t believe some people really are going to travel before CNY, I didn’t think it was possible! Do you mind telling when you sent in your acceptance? Our agency did not send ours until Jan. 10th, and they expect us to receive TA around 2/14.
Congratulations!
LID 9/9/05
DOR 1/3/07
January 25th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
tochinaforcamie:
Congratulations. That was fast. If you don’t mind telling, when were your acceptances returned? Our referral was 1/3 also and I’m trying to get an idea of when our TA might arrive.
Thanks.
January 25th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Pam,
How incredible is that turnaround?!! So good to hear exciting news!! Blessings to you as you travel to meet your daughter!
And good luck with the packing!! Woohoo!!!
BTW: Can I ask if your travel group is big or small?
January 25th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I am still shocked how fast that turn around is! 3 weeks from referral to TA is really quick! Now if those darn referrals would show up! RQ, I know they don’t correlate, but do you have any stats over the last few months that shows when TA’s arrive and when referrals arrive for the next batch?
Thanks,
Meg
LID 9/29
January 25th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
WOW! Our agency told us not to expect TA for another 2 weeks or so…. I can’t believe any Jan 3 referrals will travel BEFORE Chinese New year…. amazing! Oh, I hope we also hear something SOON. I am so anxious to squeeze the chubby cheeks on my Josie!
Heather
January 25th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
No matter where you are in the China process, any time we hear about the CCAA doing something quickly is great news for all of us!
January 25th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
We just got an email that our TAs arrived today also…much sooner than expected! But we still aren’t traveling until after CNY and I’m okay with that.
January 25th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
cmbj,
Could you tell when your acceptance was sent in?
thanks,
LID 9/9/05
DOR 1/3/07
January 25th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Sorry guys, I logged off after my last post to make some phone calls. Our agency had us return our acceptance letters the very next day. We got our packets on the 4th and our letters had to be in the office by the 5th. They arrived in China on Jan. 10th.
Whether we travel before CNY or not depends now on getting consulate appointments.
BTW- NO… I’m not packed! Help!!!!!
Pam
January 25th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I’d also liked to know the TA to announcement of referrals time frame too—KNOWING they are two different departments I’d still like to see the correlation.
Someone from the Netherlands just posted a referral on the SeptDTC group but I’m not sure if it is a SN or NSN referral. Anyone else know? I asked but haven’t gotten a reply.
COME ON REFERRALS!!!!!!
January 25th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
granolagirl…I just saw that also. I think they’re LID was 9/21/05.
Cindy in KC
LID 10/18/05
January 25th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
roomforgrace,
our acceptances were mailed on 1/12. Really fast turnaround.
January 25th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
toChinaforCamie-
Wow - that was fast! We got our referral on 12/01 (LID 09/08/05), TA on 01/10, CA appt is 02/15, and we don’t travel until 02/07, return on 02/17. Everything was slow until we get to the actual travel - for that, we go over there, complete everything, and return home ten days after we leave here.
Congratulations to those receiving TAs!
January 25th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Hey Pam!
I just figured out we are with the same agency…. So glad this is working out for your group!!!! I will be pulling for you all to get those CA’s asap!
Have fun pulling it all together!!!
DJR
Group 233
January 25th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
OH MY STARS!!!!!!!!! Really??? Oh my goodness!! I’m getting soooo excited!!!!!
While I have been a bit upset that we didn’t get them Monday (the cut off date for our agency to get us to China by next Thursday), I am VERY happy to know that TAs are coming in and we’ll really get to go to China SOON!!!
I just wish CNY wasn’t this month. Sigh. I guess it had to come sometime…
His,
Mrs. U
LID 9-12-05
referral 1-04-07 for Elizabeth
http://www.youbelong.net/upchurchfamily
and
http://www.makingahouseahome.blogspot.com
January 25th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Hmmmm… my last post hasn’t shown up yet….
Anyway, I just talked with my agency and they said they do not have TAs yet.
His,
Mrs. U
LID 9-12-05
referral 1-04-07 for Elizabeth
http://www.youbelong.net/upchurchfamily
and
http://www.makingahouseahome.blogspot.com
January 25th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Us too!! No we’re not 100% sure we’ll be able to get everything done and may still have to wait, but we’re sure gonna try!! I was so hoping we weren’t gonna have to wait another whole month - looks like I may get my wish. We are numb!
I don’t have a crib! (the spam word) :-)
January 25th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Granolagirl,
I saw it, too but I think she must be sleeping now. Sounds like a regular referral to me!!! Could it be???
January 25th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
There has been NO reports of SN TAs today on the Yahoo boards…we are waiting, but no news yet.
January 25th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
TAB and granolagirl; I thought that people in Holland had to wait around 2-3 weeks before their translations from their referrals were available… is it possible she is just from the last batch….. I may be wrong, because its more than 2 weeks now or maybe she was missed because her LID sounds like it is from the last batch…..Lets hope referrals are on the way…
January 25th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I am truly enjoying all of this positive energy. Especially you 9/29ers. Cheers to all of you! Hoping to be next at 10/28/05…
January 25th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
I know that referrals and TA’s are not connected, but they do seem to normally arrive at the same time! Hopefully referrals are on their way for you guys! Every ‘batch’ brings us closer!
Jessa
January 25th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Her LID says Sept 21 and she said Netherlands. I’m not sure what to think of that. She said her agency called and told her their baby is a boy and they were expecting a girl. It sounds like a new referral to me. Could it be that her LID changed from the 21st to the 29th?
January 25th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Okay, on pins and needles now. What are the European boards saying, does anyone know?????
Meg
LID 9/29-going nuts w/ the rest of you!
January 25th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
TAB, Where did you see her log-in date? I couldn’t find it.
January 25th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I searched her other emails and it is below her name. Aren’t we funny trying to figure it all out?
January 25th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Holy moly — 3 weeks!
We were LID 7-20-05, DOR 8-25-06 and didn’t travel until 11-1-06 — NINE long weeks (it nearly killed me!).
So happy for you who can travel quickly!
Come on referrals!
January 25th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I can’t even see my post on the board to see if she’ll ever respond. Is anyone else having trouble posting to the Sept2005DTC group?
I think it sounds like a new referral too because she said they were expecting a girl less then 12 months but I thought maybe it was a SN because it was a boy.
We are one sorry bunch of folks with nothing to do but WAIT!!!!! ;) LOL
January 25th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Ok, so if Netherlands did in fact get referrals, how long will it take for us to get them in the U.S.?
January 25th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
granolagirl,
i cannot post to the sept board either. its about 1:25 am in the netherlands right now
bill
10/9/05
January 25th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
granolagirl, I tried posting to Sept2005DTC over two hours ago, but my post hasn’t shown up either.
I spoke with a friend who said she doesn’t think the referral is SN because low birth weight is considered SN.
An earlier post suggested that the translation may have held up the referral for a few weeks, but wouldn’t the agency give families some preliminary information like gender and age?
I’m going nuts with a 9/29 log-in. I’m glad I’m in good company!!
Bring on the referrals!!
January 25th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Try posting again. Someone’s post just went through.
January 25th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Oh my, just checked my email after being gone all afternoon and we got our TA today!!! Our agency is saying we won’t travel until after CNY. Our acceptances weren’t even mailed out to China until Jan. 1oth or 11th!
What a fun surprise to have the CCAA work so quickly!
LID 9/9/05
DOR 1/3/07
TA 1/25/07
January 25th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I thought it was the same day or the day after for the U.S. If the Netherlands did get referrals, it’s strange that we are only seeing one post. A second post certainly would make things very interesting.
January 25th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Just looking for some help. This is my first time on here and waiting to be a dad for the second time. My wife and daughter are excited for our referral to arrive. My first daughter Meg Su is turning 4 on Sat., what a nice surprise it would be for her to see her sister for the first time (Morgan’s pic in a frame.) We have a LID of 10-14-05. For those with experience do we have a shot for a Friday referral….
January 25th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Morgan’s Dad,
I wish we knew. That would be a wonderful birthday. Hope her dreams come true!!!
January 25th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
With our first adoption when the Netherlands started getting their referrals for the last batch ( they got their referrals a month or so behind us) the following week we would see referrals for the next group of people everywhere else. It had something to do with being translated first and then they would get the call. I can’t imagine waiting a month later to get referral when the rest of the world has theirs!!!! We are on day 128 wait for our SN TA or LOA or anything to say we are on the right path to getting our child home!!!!!!
January 25th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
I know it has been stated that there is absolutely no correlation between when referrals arrive and when TA’s arrive, however I spent some time scrolling back through many posts to find out how many days between the last two sets of NSN TA’s and referrals, and it looks like the last set of referrals had 1 day b/t TA and referral and the referrals before that had 3 days b/t NSN TA and referrals. Maybe this means nothing, b ut I am very excited to see that NSN TA’s are arriving….I personally hope it’s a good sign!
Meg
9/29
January 25th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Do you think it is in poor taste to let the others in your referral group know that the sooner referrals are accepted, the sooner we will probably travel? I am with a small agency and there are 6 families in our group. Most of them don’t know about RQ and have no idea about how timing effects this stuff. I was thinking about sending them a very nice e-mail and slipping this in but don’t want to piss anyone off or make them feel rushed. Ideas? Suggestions?
Kim
10-08-05
http://www.3peanuts.blogspot.com
January 25th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
kimber, i would totally do this … i have thought the same thing. we have a few from our LID group that are major RQ followers, but we have some that we (the RQ folks) aren’t sure of if they are watching as we are… and we want to make it clear to get those letters in asap as well! if your agency has a webboard that you can post those things on, i would go there first. but if you have everyone’s email address i would go in to it like, “have ya’ll heard how we can get to china so much faster??” and go at it from that angle…. keeping in mind these are the people you will be spending LOTS of close up time with for 2 solid weeks! :-) good luck!
January 25th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
TAB; I think zoemom is right…The Netherlands gets their referrals one month after evreyone else…RQ do you know if this is correct?
January 25th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Kimber, Definitely do everything you can to encourage your group to return their acceptance letters ASAP. It seems so minor, but some of the members of our group waited two days to return their letters. Had they not waited, we could have our TAs right now! As hard as the wait to referral was, the wait to travel seems harder. As far as how to do it, I think you should just be blunt! It is not as if by returning that acceptance letter they will be forced to adopt a baby they later determine they don’t want–waiting to return that letter is just selfish, because everyone else in the group likely has no doubt! I wish you the best.
AFK
January 25th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
Hi Truly Blessed~
Your little Bug is SO precious! She certainly loves her sled. Hilarious!
Gosh, Kimber. Delicate. Even though you already know this, maybe ask your agency, and if they respond with this same info, then pass the word along. What do you think?
January 25th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Kimber,
I agree. If I hadn’t accidentally found the online community, I would be clueless. And personally I would want to know the impact of such a delay. It doesn’t mean no one would be offended, because the world being what it is today, someone gets offended by everything. But I think you would be justified, and most people would probably be grateful.
Just my .02.
Peace!
Maggie in TX
LID 12/12/05
not even close yet
January 25th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I’m with Pam and Katri…Yikes Yikes Yikes….was totally blown out of the water when our agency called today about our TA arriving and even the possibility that we could travel BEFORE CNY. I am the ultimate pessimist and planned on everything taking 3x as long as we’d expect…but let me tell ya…if we don’t get that CA there are going to be a bunch of us Really Bummed Out that we have to ‘wait’ another month - just sitting around twiddling our thumbs (b/c we sure as shootin’ have to be packed and ready to go)!
Lisa
January 25th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Kimber, I wondered exactly the same thing with my travel group! Let me know how it goes with your group.
C’mon referrals!
Snick
Oct 31/05
January 25th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Kimber- I was a little perturbed that we received our referral packet in the a.m. and were told we had to overnight it back to the agency the same day! Referral packets came on a Thursday and our acceptance letters were in Beijing on Monday a.m. I believe that’s why we have our TA’s in only 3 weeks.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Maggie and AFK,
Thanks for the advice! I will e-mail the group and in my kindest way let them know the scoop. You all motivated me to do this.
Kim
LID 10-08-05
awaiting referral any day
January 25th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
congratulations on the fast tas hope everyone is on the plane soon.
January 26th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Kimber,
Im with a tiny agency and there are 3 of us that are expecting referrals at the same time and I did exactly what you want to do. I politely told them the situation (luckily they were both RQ people and knew what was up) and they both agreed to accept on the spot (barring any major issues). Our agency has a very quick turn around from acceptance to TA and most usually travel in about 4 weeks. So, as long as we all accept the day the referral comes in and acceptance is mailed back that day or the next, then TA’s come really quick.
If your travel partners are not aware of the timeline crunch, then maybe a gentle email may clue them in. I did exactly that and I was lucky that my travel mates were receptive.
Try it in a nice way– maybe it will speed things up.
Christy
10-17-05
http://www.bock.redthreadkids.org
January 26th, 2007 at 1:43 am
I understand wanting everyone to hurry up and sign those acceptance letters asap. I actually have gently explained the process to other members of our DTC groups and tried to explain how delays can end up causing unnecessary delays for TA and travel. However, our agency has always cautioned us not to pressure one another. While they want people to be speedy also, most importantly they want you to be as sure as you can be before you turn those letters in. They encourage you to have your pediatrician look over the medical documents, and they ask us to be sensitive to one another. Sometimes, even with a nsn referral, there are questionable things that show up in the reports that prevent a family from accepting a referral. Some families have really had a terrible time. I know it’s hard with all the excitement of your referral, but try to be sensitive. My explanations have always been along the lines of, “of course you’ll want to have your dr check over the medical reports, but once you are sure that you are accepting that referral, please don’t delay in getting the acceptance form back to our agency.”
I couldn’t believe that one family in our last group did try to hurry, but after their doctor got back with them, they sent the unsigned form back to the agency. Our agency had to overnight it back to them for signatures and then they had to overnight it back again. I tried to be sensitive and understanding, really I did!
January 26th, 2007 at 5:00 am
They finally took the darn Christmas card off the CCAA site. So, I really hope that means they’re getting ready to update it…maybe Monday??? PLEASE let them finish the review of Feb and March documents already….it’s been an eternity.
Sarah
LID 3/1/06
January 26th, 2007 at 5:06 am
Some explanation about adoption from China in the Netherlands.
There are three adoptionorganisations. They do offcourse get the referalbatch at the same time as every other china-adoptionorganisation in the world.
One of them phones a few days after getting the referral and having translated and checked information. The other two take 2-4 weeks to translate everything and do a lot of other things with your referral before getting on the phone to everyone. Their contactpersons in China try to get new and recent information about the children before they phone you. Also they sometimes have to wait for special permission from the Dutch governement.
They give no information before that so the only thing you now for 2-4 weeks is that your referral has arrived in the Netherlands and that if everything is translated and OK that they will phone you with a referral. If its not OK they offcourse phone you asswell.
So a referral with a LID 21 sept 2005 is from last batch. No word about a new batch yet.
January 26th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Okay, I tested it out on one travel mate that I am clsoe to and she said her pediatrician and an IA expert said they need at least a week to look over the medical documents. I do understand that is really important but I don’t think my group is going to get things in in less than a week:( What a bummer. I will still let them know there is definitely a correlation between the time frames of acceptance and travel and hope for the best! Thanks for your suggestiosn everyone!
Kim
10-08-05
http://www.3peanuts.blogspot.com
January 26th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Wow!! This talk about how long it takes to get a doctor to review everything is astounding. When I got my referral, I called the doctor, got in the next day, she read everything, explained a few things, signed it, charged me $10 and I was done. In our case it was about 4 pages of information. I’m sorry to hear some of you have to wait so long. We also don’t have any doctors here that specialize in IA (town of about 100,000) so we didn’t have that extra step.
Good luck to those of you who are next. May you travel quickly regardless of the time it takes to get your documents back. I can’t imagine anyone dragging their feet at this stage of the game!
January 26th, 2007 at 10:14 am
ellen, we have also been very lucky. For all three of our adoptions, we dropped it off at the doctor and told them that we needed their response very quickly. (The dr knew the referrals were coming for the first two, and we discussed the need for speed in advance!) I was able to send the first two acceptances back the very day they arrived. For our third referral (waiting child), my doctor called me back that very day, but we had to wait for the pediatric cardiologist. Seemed like we had to wait forever, but he called me after hours the day after we received our referral, and talked to me for an hour about the range of possibilities we could be facing. So we were able to send that LOI two days after our referral call. No charge for any of the doctors. We’ve been very lucky!
January 26th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Kimber,
Our DS and DIL were LID 09/08/2005, received referral on 12/01/2006. When they received the packet with the translated info, including medical, and the acceptance form, the enclosed letter from the agency stated that the signed, notarized acceptance had to be in their hands within 48 hours of receipt of the packet, or they would have to wait and go with the next group. Since this agency only sends dossiers once a month, and the next LID was not until the end of Oct, that would have delayed travel by several months.
I am sure agencies differ in the policies, but this was our situation.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Kimber,
I think its really the agency’s job to set the ‘tone’ for how quickly you should respond back with your acceptance of the referral. I thinks its okay to share information with group members about how delaying accepting the referral can make the wait to TA longer, but I am not sure I would feel comfortable mentioning this more than once. Hopefully, they will read RQ (this would be my suggestion and learn this on their own). However, I understand that this is a personal choice.
January 26th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Good point Catherinethe great! No I see why you are great. I guess it is the agency who should set the tone. Unfortuantely, no one else from my group reads RQ and I am not sure I could get them on board at this point in the game. What will be will be. I don’t want to rush people but I don’t want to wait until May to travel either!!
Kim
January 26th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Hi!
I didn’t noticed that the Christmas card was taked off on the CCAA! That’s a good news! Somebody’s close to the computer!
January 27th, 2007 at 7:34 am
We waited for 15 moths for our referral, and took two days to return it. In that time we had an IA pediatrician in NYC review the medical, and took time to review it all ourselves. If some one had gently or outherwise told us to go quicker than that, they probably would have not enjoyed my response. The comments regarding the prodding of others to instantly accept are disturbing (and I am trying to be kind). The only comment that made sense was that the agency needs to set the tone. You are not buying a car here, you are adopting a child. Our agency was going to delay are travel so we could travel with the other referral, but we simply let them know that was unnaccpetable, and we traveled alone. (glad we were with smalll agency. The agency needs to give a deadline for return to be included in the large group. You all have had 16 months to prepare, you should have doctors etc lined up to turn around reviews quickly. Our doctor is a world renown IA expert, she took about 12 hours to get back to us. Additionally we were able to contact her fom China regarding a few minor issues and she responding in the same timeframe. Resources are there, but don’t tell people how quckly they need to accept the referral. Tell your agency to not let others delays affect you.. You are paying them, you are the boss. It seems that all are willing to blame China, and now other families for delays…take you agency to task
January 27th, 2007 at 8:24 am
tompettywaiting - I believe the issue is with families who take a week or two to decide whether to sign the acceptance, not with families who take two days to do so.