How Much Longer Until We Meet Baby "B"

Each day that passes we get one step closer to meeting Brielle. As the clock ticks closer to ending this  year and moving into 2015 we are getting asked almost weekly, "How much longer?" "When will you know?"  The easy answer to this question is that adoptive families never know the exact dates of their travel until after they receive their Travel Approval letter from China (which is the final step in the adoption process). From that point, it's around 2 weeks later that most families book their flights and leave for China.  So for Type A's and planners (I won't mention any names here) this can be hard to plan ahead for. For those who are curious and would like a helpful breakdown and to follow where we are, the last few weeks we have covered quite a bit of ground in these last stages on the journey to our little one.  

We are excited to say that we have mailed off the last of our paperwork and have just a few items left for our Chinese visas for our passports which permit us entry into China. Nate and I are both list makers so it felt SO good to mark almost everything off of this particular list!  Because Nate works for a church and because China is a communist country with very strict religious laws and practices, Nate must write and file two letters with the Chinese Embassy when filing for his entry visa stating that Nate's sole purpose for entering China is to do adoption proceedings and nothing else related to church work or the likes. Both he and our church have to write these letters confirming that he is going into China only for this reason. 

Outlined below are the milestones from the last week and a rundown of each step. We hope this will be a helpful timeline for those of you who are detailed oriented and like this sort of thing or are planners- and timelines help you visualize. I'll help explain what each step is about so you have better context of what it means in our process.

Our Timeline

November 26, 2014- Mailed USCIS (U.S. citizenship & immigration services) our I-800 application which will grant approval of our child that we are seeking to adopt; therefore, allowing us to file a U.S visa application for her re-entry into the U.S.

December 1, 2014- USCIS  received our I-800 application for our adoption. We wait for the Provisional Approval document from the immigration office. 

December 10, 2014- I-800 Provisional Approval received (standard wait time for provisional approval from time of filing- 2-4 weeks. Our wait time- 10 days)

More Wait time-  we then began the wait on our National Visa Center (NVC) letter which allows us to file for our daughter's U.S. visa for entry into the U.S. as a citizen after her adoption. This letter generally arrives 5-7 days after the Provisional approval is granted. 

December 16, 2014- our daughter's file was approved by the US Department of State National Visa Center for filing of her visa. (standard wait time- 5-7 days. Our wait time- 6 days.)

December 17, 2014- Official NVC letter emailed to us, granting us permission to file her U.S. visa application (DS-260) w/ the U.S. Department of State.

December 18, 2014- DS-260 filed (her visa application that gets reviewed/ approved by the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China) This was filed on a Friday and paperwork doesn't get submitted to this office except for Monday/Tuesday/Thursdays, so this information couldn't be submitted until the following Monday in China.

December 22, 2014- child's visa paperwork submitted by our agency reps to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Now we wait for the Article 5 to be issued by the Consulate which grants approval of the adoption case. This usually takes 2 weeks.

What's to Come?

Approximately 2 weeks from Dec. 22- should receive Article 5 approval which is then express mailed from Guangzhou China to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare & Adoption) in Beijing

**Holiday closures & various dynamics at the CCCWA in Beijing for the rest of 2014, could slightly delay this outside of the normal timeframe. We estimate the next approval arriving around January 5th or slightly after.

1.5-3 weeks following the receipt of the Article 5 at the CCCWA- the CCCWA issues our final approval- the Travel Approval  (TA) Letter!! This is what grants us permission to travel to China for an adoption and allows our agency to begin to contact the applicable offices to set up our adoption finalization appointments which, in turn, determines our dates of travel. 

Travel to China- this occurs generally 1.5-3 weeks after travel approval (TA) letter arrives and appointments are confirmed by our agency, etc. 

How Does Chinese New Year Affect Our Travel?

Chinese New Year (CNY), also known as Spring Festival, is the largest celebrated holiday in many parts of Asia and throughout China and follows the Lunar Calendar; therefore, the date changes each year.  This year the official Chinese New Year's day is February 19th and with this Chinese holiday on the horizon, our travel to China could be affected. Because of the rush that occurs with so many agencies around the world trying to get their families approvals from various offices before everything in China closes down for this holiday, things can start to back up quickly.  

Agencies try very hard to get a family approved for their adoption appointments, but it doesn't always work out and is out of an agency's control. For U.S families, an approved appointment at the Consulate in Guangzhou before CNY begins, must be obtained in order to allow the child's U.S. visa to be processed for a family to return to the U.S. with their child. This means a family would need to be leaving for China around the end of January in order to make it through all of the required appointments before everything closes for Chinese New Year.

Once the Chinese New Year festivities begin and everything closes down, all offices that process adoptions close down for a little over a week and a family cannot stay in country and wait for their next appointments, due to the length of time, high cost of travel, and staff that are in China celebrating with their family. Travel is very expensive  around and during this time and also difficult to accommodate due to the large number of people all over China that travel back to their homes during this time. (Think Thanksgiving & Christmas here in the states for a comparison and how we travel to be with family and celebrate these holidays)

That said, our travel timeframe will depend largely on this holiday and the closures that surround it. If we cannot make it to China early enough, we won't be given clearance to travel until after these closures. 

We will continue to keep you posted on the upcoming weeks ahead as we continue, day by day, to be one step closer to meeting our daughter.