A lot has happen since the end of July. We received official approvals from China to adopt Colin and Cora. Here comes some boring details so feel free to skip this part! The first notice comes via computer system to our agency and then shortly after a hard copy arrives at the agency. A signed copy of the approval letter was sent, along with additional immigration paperwork, to United States and Immigration Services (USCIS) for our final immigration approval. That arrived at the processing center in TX and then was sent....somewhere else, forgot what state....to the National Benefits Center (NBC). We received that approval 8/8/17. Once the NBC approved us the paperwork was sent to the National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC will assign your case a visa number related to the embassy you will be using. For us that is called the GUZ number. I had to email and ask very sweetly for the GUZ number to file our DS260. We received our GUZ number 8/14/17 and filed Colin and Cora's DS260 which is their US Visa application allowing them to enter the US. Once we received our GUZ number we emailed again and ask very very sweetly for your RTF (8/15/17). This is essentially a very bland unofficial looking letter that states your file was transferred from the NVC to the US Embassy in Guangzhou China. Our agency then took a copy of our RTF, along with supporting documents, and turned them into the US Embassy in Guangzhou. This is referred to as your Article 5 drop off (8/17/17). After 10 business days our agency will pick up the completed A5 and then we will be waiting for travel approval (TA)!!! We anticipate our A5 will be picked up tomorrow and we should be waiting for TA by Friday!
Well now that all the boring little details are out of the way! We are getting really close to traveling. There is a large holiday in China that will most likely delay our travel by a few weeks. I anticipate us being in China the first week of October and meeting Colin and Cora Oct 9! I hope to have our travel dates firmed within the next 1-2 weeks. Once China issues us TA we should be able to confirm our consulate appointment (CA) in Guangzhou. Once we have our confirmed CA we can book our flights and hotels. It's getting very real! We plan on spending a couple of days in Beijing before taking the train to Zhengzhou. Our agency prefers we spend a few days in Beijing before traveling to Zhengzhou to allow a buffer for any flight cancellations. This ensure you will be in China and ready to go for Monday family days. The few days also gives you a little time to adjust to the time change. It's 12 hours and the jet lag is no joke. We will arrive in Zhengzhou on a Sunday and meet the babies Monday morning! The week in Zhengzhou will be for the Chinese side of their adoptions - finalization, passports, etc. On Saturday we will travel to Guangzhou in southern China to complete the US side of their adoption - medicals, embassy appointments, visas, etc. We plan on squeezing a little fun in there too. I am really excited to go back to China. October is typically lovely weather so I am hopeful we can explore some new places.
Here are a few photos of the two cutest babies!
Colin
Cora
