The last couple of weeks have been crazy. They have felt sooo long. The days have been dragging on as we are now waiting for our second referral and our final approval. Once we received her referral we had to generate a dossier summary form. It was two pages and very brief. Our pre-approval from China was based on that information. Now we wait for our official approval - LOA. This is two steps. Step one is getting our dossier through translation then we will be OOT (out of translation). After our dossier is OOT our dossier will be moved to the review room. Recently LOA's have been issued, on average, 4 weeks following your OOT date. Are you confused yet? Our official approval will come after our full dossier is reviewed and the information on the pre-approval form is verified. Our agency stated that our LOA should be expected 2-3 months from our PA date. So about 60-90 days. That sounds about right based on recent averages.
Well, our dossier is already OOT! We had pre-approval last Friday and we were out of translation yesterday (Tuesday)! So did that 60-90 day wait just turn into a 30 day wait???? Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not. We have 30 days until the government is closed for Chinese New Year (for a week). So that would add on another week if we don't get in before CNY.
I hope that wasn't too confusing. Never ever EVER have adoption steps gone faster. Ever. We initially were hoping to travel around the end of May or beginning of June. Granted that was a TOTAL guess but now I am wondering if it could more like late April or early May. Holy awesomeness!
Yes yes yes!!! Isn't this a totally different, borderline surreal experience?! If you think time is flying now, just wait until you get your LOA - it's warp speed from there out. Love the updates...keep em coming!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura. Since you have 2 files, you will have an extra step- your dossier will have to return to accounting to confirm that you have paid the waiting child fee before your dossier is released to the department that will issue your LOA. We got hung up in accounting because the person (yes, singular) in accounting was out of the office for a number of weeks, so our 3-4 week wait became 7 because no one knew what was going on. I just share that with you as a heads up because it is not one of the steps required for most adoptions. Hopefully it will not take extra time, but if it does, your agency can be a 'squeaky wheel' and call attention to it to get it out of accounting ASAP.
ReplyDelete-Amber Magnuson