Just received confirmation that our documents are still in Ho Chi Minh City getting translated... It's the news I was expecting but you can't blame a girl for wanting it to go faster...right? :) She told me to check back in two weeks to see if the dossier is moving on to Hanoi. Good thing we will be busy with Easter and spring break (for me)...the two weeks should go quickly.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services Office is considering raising the fees that are paid for various immigration and adoption services. Please help stop it by reading below and posting a comment on their site!
Dear Families and Adoption Professionals:
Fees are increasing at USCIS, and there is very little time left to voice our objection. The following is an outline on how the increase affects adoption and what we can do, as a group, to stop the increase. Please feel free to forward this message to any agency, listserv, group or individual who can help to eliminate the fee increases affecting adoption. We only have a week left to act on this.
Fee Increase ProposalOn February 1, 2007, USCIS published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the Federal Register that would substantially raise filing fees for most types of cases. If the proposed rule is adopted, filing fees would increase by an average of 66% over current fees. The proposed rule is subject to a 60-day comment period that ends on April 2, 2007. At the end of the comment period, USCIS will review and consider the comments it has received on its proposed rule. USCIS will then send its final proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for review. The OMB will make a final decision on the fee increase and issue the final rule. Timing of Potential IncreaseFortunately, the "adjusted" fees will not take effect until the public has an opportunity to comment. The comment period is 60 days beginning February 1, 2007, and ending on April 2, 2007. The increase in fees should not become effective until June 2007 at the earliest.
Adoption-Related Petitions Affected by the Proposed Increase (in the following order):
Form
Petition Type
Current Fee
Proposed Fee
I-600/600A
Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative
$ 545
$ 670
N-565
Application for Replacement of Certificate of Citizenship (used for namechanges)
$ 220
$ 380
N-600
Application for Certificate of Citizenship
$ 255
$ 460
Biometric Services (fingerprints)
$ 70
$ 80
Together, Let's Make a Difference! Adoption is expensive enough already, and it is unconscionable to raise fees by up to 66% for adoption-related petitions. This can be fought, but it needs action by everyone in the adoption community. Please forward this e-mail on to anyone who would like to see the increase rejected. Your action is needed quickly as we only have a week left to voice our objections.
Submit Your Comments to USCIS by April 2, 2007. Anyone may comment on the proposed regulation. Those interested in commenting should take time to review the proposed regulation and formulate logical, potentially persuasive statements. Comments will be made public, as they will be posted as submitted at http://www.regulations.gov. One should not include any personal detail unless s/he is willing to share it freely. While no one likes prices to go up, simply complaining about the increase in costs is unlikely to have an impact.
Comments must be received by April 2, 2007. You will need:
- the agency name "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services"
- i.d./docket number (USCIS-2006- 0044)
Comments may be submitted at http://www.regulations.gov the Federal eRulemaking Portal (search agency: USCIS, Document type: Proposed Rules, Keyword: USCIS-2006- 0044) or via mail or courier, in hardcopy, disk, or CD-ROMform to:
Director
Management DivisionU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Department of Homeland Security
111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 3rd Floor
Washington D.C. 20529
Conclusion: Voicing your opinion makes you part of the democratic process, and this is how the U.S. government and legal systems are supposed to work. Although most of us hesitate to publicly comment, the government really does carefully consider the content of comments, as well as the sheer number of those responding. When USCIS introduced regulations to reduce the time for B-2 tourist visits from six months to 30 days, for example, there were more than 10,000 comments. That convinced the USCIS to shelve the proposal. Remember, the key is the QUANTITY of responses they get. It should not be difficult to get at least 10,000 of us to comment. Please take the time today to do this. Together, we CAN make a difference!
The director for our agency told us that our paperwork was being translated etc. on 3.9.07. She told us that it may be 8 weeks until we hear anything new...I'm happy to report that it's already been 2 weeks! Let's hope we really hear something (better yet, see our Ella's picture) within the next 6 weeks!
Have a great weekend. I am going to two baby showers this weekend (neither are for us) but I'm hoping to scope out some "must haves" for Ella :)
Nothing to report on the adoption front, which is good and bad news. Nothing bad is happening, which is good, but nothing good is happening, which is bad...does that make sense?
We had a busy weekend. On Friday we headed about 3 hours north to visit my brother and his wife and their new baby! On the way up, we stopped at the outlet mall and got Ella an adorable rain coat at Old Navy Outlet...it's of course, brown with pink dots. (It looks big but it's only 6-12 months.)
Angelina and Brad...Wow...I've been bombarded this week by co-workers, friends, etc. all wanting to know more about the process. To be honest...I know very little about it at all. Because of the whole Anna Nicole fiasco (which is making me ill quite frankly)...I've found myself turning off the TV any time an entertainment show is on!
From what I am hearing...it is possible that Brad and Angelina filed their paperwork in summer. If that is the case...it would be likely that they went through a "process" to get their little boy. Other reports are saying that they just recently filed their paperwork and that their process would easily be done within 3 months. Yet another piece of info stated that they may be picking up the boy as early as this weekend! I have no idea what to believe...so I don't really believe any of it. Media is media and no one will ever really know the truth...except them, and I can't blame them for wanting to keep this under wraps. They are always a target for the media.
All I can do is hope that they are doing this process ethically. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they aren't taking advantage of the system, but no one really knows. As long as they can provide a loving home for the boy, I am happy for him. There are millions of older children that get overlooked by people looking for an infant. I do at times feel guilty when I see the pictures of these children, that we are not bringing one of them home. I also know that we have to do what is best for our family, and being only 27/28 years old, it's hard to picture us adopting an older child. Aside from the ethical debate over the adoption, I am happy that Angelina and Brad made the decision to adopt an older child!
Furthermore; I hope that adoption is not simply a "hobby" for them, but a mission in their lives, as it as turned out to be for us. I also hope that they can create more positive awareness about adoption and the wonderful joy it brings to a family!
For what it's worth...
I just got a call from the agency (it was on my voicemail this morning at work-from Fri.). Our paperwork is just now on it's way to Vietnam. The partner agency has had it for the past two weeks and has been reviewing it. So, we're not quite as far as we had hoped. She said it may be 8 weeks until we hear about being logged in etc. I think we are still #2, but it looks like it may be 2 more months before we get our referral :( Bummer-not good news for a rainy Monday morning.
You know the saying "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" - I was starting to feel like "always the aunt, never the mom"...but not anymore. I know that Ella is out there and she will be blessed to come home to a wonderful family full of cousins who love her very much.
Speaking of cousins, she will now have 5 girl cousins. My brother and his wife just gave birth to their second daughter on Friday night. Gracyn Elizabeth was born at 11:18pm. There were some complications during delivery, but both mom and baby are doing well!
Ed and I will be heading up to see them in a few days...I can't wait to get my hands on her! My parents are laughing because they are wondering if they will ever get their grandson...I think Ed and I may be providing that with our next adoption...who knows. For now, they will be full of love for their 6 granddaughters!
It's been a few days since I've heard anything from our agency, so I decided it was time to start hounding them for more info. Thanks to the wonderful Yahoo Group I'm on, I knew that a few people using our agency were getting referrals and others were making some progress-getting closer to getting travel information, but I hadn't heard anything.
I found out today that we are number 2 on the waiting list!!
I have a good feeling that Ella is waiting at the orphanage for us right now! AHHH! I hope translation goes fast because I think that's all that's holding us up!
Good News...I just talked to our agency and our dossier came back from the consulate and is at our partner agency getting translated!!! It should be logged in Vietnam soon! Happy Friday!
