We are another half-step closer on our journey! Last week I mailed our I800 application via UPS and it was signed for on Thursday around 12:43. I just received the email confirmation that it's moving on. :-)
"Dear Applicant/Petitioner:
Your USCIS application/petition has been received and routed to the National Benefit Center for processing. Within 7 - 10 days by standard mail you will receive your official Receipt Notice (Form I-797) with your Receipt Number SIM#####"
Of course I don't expect the "7-10 days" estimate to be accurate, but it is great to know that it's already on its way! And occasionally I am pleasantly surprised with the speed of our mail. Maybe this will be one of those times! *crosses fingers* Although, I don't think it really matters when it gets here. From what I understand (and this could be wrong, because this is the gray area I know little about), it is for my records and I need to bring it with us when we travel to Crescent Moon, but there's nothing I do with it immediately. The USCIS agent/officer will forward the approval to the "NVC" who will cable a copy to Crescent Moon. Once they have done this, the NVC will send us a letter saying they have done so. That letter gets sent to our agency ASAP for forwarding to the US Consulate in Crescent Moon. Then we wait for our "Article 5" which is Z's pre-approval for a visa. Once we get that, it gets sent to the CCWAA and they issue our travel approval. So, it's a lot of behind the scenes paper pushing and each step takes around 2-3 weeks with intercontinental mail and all of that. But, YAY!! We're so close!! To say I'm getting excited is an understatement. Looking up all of these steps so I didn't miss anything had me in tears a couple of times. Tears of joy. The words "travel approval" get me every time, but in the best way!
In only slightly related news, the kids and I had our appointment last week to get our German visas extended. We must have won a jackpot because we had a HELPFUL and KIND government worker!! In US, that's hard to find, but here in Germany it's about 100 times harder! People over here typically do the minimum their job requires and jobs don't consider friendliness and helpfulness to be important. I really wanted to ask him how we will need to go about getting Z her German visa when the time comes, but D is still weary that if they find out, they will someone block us. But, we got his card, so once the adoption is finalized, D can call/email and see how to go about getting a visa for our new child who is also a US citizen. I truly believe this guy will help us out rather than pointing fingers and refusing. So, I guess it was a blessing that the grouchy old lady who extended D's visa back on December 3rd was too grouchy to want to extend ours as well.
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