711 Dossiers Ahead of Us!

I made a little spreadsheet based on information that is in the monthly China Program newsletters we receive. Every month there is a list of log in dates (LIDs) and I can see where we are in line.

After looking more closely, I can tell you some "fun" facts about our place in line.

1. There are 711 dossiers ahead of us. In other words, 711 families have LIDs that are before 8.23.07.
2. There are 417 dossiers with 2006 LIDs.
3. There are 299 dossiers with 2007 LIDs (including ours; there are 4 other families with the same LID).
4. The next LID that will get referrals is 1.6.06.

I think that if I keep track from now on when referrals come, I might someday be able to offer an educated guess about when we might get ours. I really have no idea if that will work, but it gives me something to play with.

Believe it or not, it could be worse. When we got our LID, there were actually 942 dossiers ahead of us. The growing wait time as well as a host of other issues has caused 231 families to drop out of the China Program.

Expiration of Forms

After US Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) approved our I600A application, the "application for advance processing of an orphan petition," (for $670), and we had our fingerprints taken and approved by USCIS, ($80 each), we received our I171H form from USCIS that says we are approved to get a Visa for our child. These are very important steps in the adoption process and were the final pieces that allowed us to submit our dossier to China.

The I171H form expires after 18 months, in our case, in December of 2008. We get one free extension that lasts for one year. If we are not home with our child by December of 2009, we have to submit and pay for the I600A all over again.

Fingerprints expire in 15 months, in our case, in August of 2008. We will most definitely have to go through this process and pay all over again. Insane.

It would be very easy to get discouraged by all this, but in the end, that would just make us miserable. We knew the process was lengthy and we jumped in anyway. The more into it we get, the more we learn just how bizarre it can be. Nothing to do about it but abide by the rules and wait. :)