August 15th, and a USCIS rumor
Enough agencies are saying the cut-off is the 15th that I think it’s probably the cut-off. I’m putting it at an R4. It’s not an R5 because I’m told there is still one European agency telling their 8/18 people they are in this time.
Several agencies are saying referrals have been mailed. I’m thinking that probably means we’ll begin seeing them tomorrow, but there is a possibility they could arrive today. I do not see reports of them arriving in Europe yet, though.
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In other news, I’m seeing reports that the USCIS isn’t going to allow any more extensions to the grandfathered I-600A paperwork. I haven’t seen anything official yet, just reporting what some people are beginning to hear. If this is true then people who have used up the allowed extensions, keeping their paperwork up to date, will have to start over again with the Hague compliant paperwork if their final extension expires before they can make it to their consulate appointment in China.
January 18th, 2012 at 9:07 am
Congrats to all who have been waiting so long. We adopted our precious daughter 5 years ago and know the joy many of you will have soon. We are now waiting on TA for a 12 year old girl and are awaiting our “seeking confirmation letter” for a 9 year old boy. RQ, can you tell me, are the SCI’s for special needs children usually sent out with the referrals? Also, any word on TA’s? Do they usually come about the same time as referrals? Thanks so much for any info.
January 18th, 2012 at 9:39 am
I can’t remember about TA’s either…I think they are around the same time…but would like to know as well…We are waiting on ours too!! We received our referral 12-20 for a 6 month old little girl….Just curious…Congrats again to everyone who is in!!!
January 18th, 2012 at 9:49 am
I don’t believe the SN TA’s run parallel with the NSN referrals.
The NSN TA’s appear to run parallel with referrals, as they often begin showing up a day or two before referrals arrive. However, that’s just a product of the way the timing works, the two are not connected in any way. When you send in the paperwork accepting your referral the CCCWA sends notice to the orphanage that the child is going to be adopted, and the orphanage has to respond back to the CCCWA that the child is still in the same basic condition the paperwork showed them to be in, is still available for adoption, etc. I believe the local Civil Affairs office has to be involved in there somewhere, too. Once the CCCWA has received everything they need from the SWI and the local Civil Affairs office then they complete some paperwork on their end, and then TA’s are mailed out. It just works out that the timing for this is about the same as a referral cycle.
I do not know the full procedure as to what is involved in sending a SN TA. I assume that it involves everything in the NSN process, plus a few extra check points, since their paperwork process is different internally. Also, in the NSN program the parents are already approved and have gone through the review process by the time they send in their acceptance of a child, whereas that isn’t always the case in the NSN program.
January 18th, 2012 at 9:52 am
I should add – the best place to get information about the SN program is in the SN room in the forum:
http://chinaadopttalk.com/forum/index.php?board=128.0
I haven’t been through that process, so I don’t really feel qualified to give advice about it. But there are plenty of people in that room who know the process inside and out.
January 18th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Yep I heard it too, about the extensions. One paid for/one free/One paid for/one free….THEN CUT OFF. What makes me the maddest about this is they should either have let all of us that were continuing to be updated CONTINUE till it ran out on the dates…..OR they should have told us in advance, “This is how it’s going to be. You decide”. It’s as if they went by the seat of their pants, but what they say is firm, at the same time!
So, just curious, does the Hague paperwork cost more? And what are the disadvantages of it? We’ve kept ours updated all along and paid the fees, but most likely won’t get our referral for another 2 years or more (Being mid April LID) and we only have one more extension to go before we have to change to Hague.
January 18th, 2012 at 10:33 am
Thanks RQ!
January 18th, 2012 at 10:48 am
Main difference in paperwork up front is that it’s more of a PITA to put together, especially if you’ve lived in a bunch of cities and states. One of the biggest drawbacks about it comes after referral,though — it takes a whole lot longer to be able to travel to your child if you have to go through the Hague process.
They actually did warn that this would be it, back when they first allowed for the extensions. It’s just that no one thought the wait could possibly get this long, so no one thought it was relevant.
January 18th, 2012 at 11:44 pm
We are in a difficult position. LID 8-17-2006. Our I171H expires 4-23-2012. I was told by USCIS today that we would need to switch to the Hague convention if we miss the 4-23-2012 date. How long are TAs taking after referral these days?
January 19th, 2012 at 2:14 am
waiting&waiting… That is a terrible situation and I hope it works out for you. Our LID is 8/16/2006 and I just made the travel inquiry of folks in the Facebook August group who recently traveled. All who replied traveled about 6 weeks after referral. I inquired with my agency and they confirmed a 5-6 week timeframe to travel. It could be tight, but you might make there and back by 4/23 it if referrals come about this time in February.
January 19th, 2012 at 7:57 am
I am currently under the I600A/I171H. I’m confused about what has to be complete by the time it expires? If I have a referral, can I file the I600 form before expiration and continue under that? Or, do I have to complete the entire process and be home before the I171H expires?
January 19th, 2012 at 9:59 am
waiting&waiting that is awful! Is there a way to start the paperwork for I-800 before the I-600A expires? I seem to remember that you need the I-600A when you go to the consulate, so that is at the end of the trip.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:25 am
as RQ stated, this was always the case and announced with the original ability for the free renewals.
at the time we thought we’d all be fine because although the wait was likely going to get this long at some point, it wasn’t going to happen THIS soon.
5.5 years and they’re barely through half of 2006.
January 19th, 2012 at 11:47 am
basically they allowed one extension on the first and one extension on the second and that was it. so four sets of 18 months (assuming they don’t overlap). that’s 72 months or six years.
so you’d have six years to complete an adoption or have to file the i-800a. that means that the i-600a will be gone as of next summer sometime (roughly).
as of jan 2014 everyone needed to have an i800a from the original announcement. most of us figured the i-600a adoptions would be completely by the end of 2013.
January 19th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
As someone that chose to allow our paperwork to expire- for fear of what is occuring now, and possibly not having received a referral, and having to evaluate the whole adoption at one point, I can tell you- it was not such a terrible ordeal to be a Hague Family. We have not lived all over the country- so this was not a huge issue. We have lived in two states- so getting paperwork from those states were fairly straight forward. Some states take longer than others. The paperwork was not hard at all- no harder than dossier paperwork, but I did have an excellent agency that walked us through it. Waiting to travel after referral- well it was not easy- but it was not terrible. It gave me more time to plan for my kids at home, with my job, my leave of absence, to shop, prepare her room etc. I received my dd exactly 3 months after referral. So we waited about 4-5 weeks more than Hague families at the time. By the last week I was getting antsy- but I also still had a ton to do… go figure??? I worked up until the day before I was leaving and it all worked out. I know it is heartbreaking to have spent all that money and time updating and to lose it all- but just know- this is not so terrible- just another bump in the road and you will get over the bump with just a little extra work. In the end, the Hague worked for us- because I travled solo… so we had a silver lining. GL to you all!!!!
January 19th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
The problem is that some families do not qualify under the Hague. Minor health problems, single parents and even weight requirements can make a family unable to qualify. We will not qualify and will thus be tossed out. We expire in August and have an LID in October of 06. So- it is a big deal for families who waited and waited and once upon a time did qualify. For us and others like us it is not merely a bump in the road, it is over.
January 20th, 2012 at 12:30 am
You still qualify for China- USCIS and China requirements are not the same. I know there was a lot of confusion about this earlier on. Did your agency say you will not qualify? You are still grandfathered in and have no issues with China, despite being a Hague family. I know there are others that can explain it better than I, unless something has changed.
January 20th, 2012 at 8:09 am
My understanding is that at first, USCIS wanted you to qualify under China’s new rules before they would approve paperwork, but they changed that. You can get Hague paperwork without qualifying for China’s new rules, as long as you were logged in before the new rules kicked in.
However, there are a few US rules that are tighter under Hague than they were before. I don’t remember what they are, and it seems to me they had more to do with income than with anything else. Maybe someone else can help us with that.
But the BMI rules and the no anti-depressent rules are China’s new rules, if you were logged in before they kicked in then I believe you can still qualify under Hague.
January 20th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Thanks for the info- We have always been told our agency that we are not eligible and cannot switch. Things may have changed though. I have not asked in a long time.