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(No, the approval didn't come in this pretty gift bag from my sister, Michelle!) |
Yippee!! I'm so happy to report that our I-800 has been approved! Our officer confirmed by email that it was issued yesterday on 12/22! The next steps can be pretty confusing so here's a quick outline of the process (thanks to Courtney's China Adoption Online site [2014 update: this site no longer exists]):
Once our approval reaches the National Visa Center (NVC), our information will be entered into their computer system. Within a couple of business days, the NVC will email our file -- also referred to as "cable" -- to the US Embassy in Guangzhou, China. This will be the approval of our visa petition. NVC will then send us a letter by mail stating that our petition has been forwarded to the Embassy. This letter is very important as the agency needs it to proceed with our adoption. Since this letter may take several weeks to arrive by mail, it is best to request the NVC to email the PDF version of the letter. So, here are MY next steps:
- Now that I know that our I-800 was approved or issued on 12/22, I wait about a week from our I-800 approval date to give enough time for the approval to reach the NVC by mail.
- I'll give myself an exact week, so on 12/29 I will email NVC to find out if we've been entered into the system and if we are, to please email me the PDF of the NVC letter. If we're not in the system, I'll email them again after the New Year on the 3rd (they will be closed on January 2nd).
- If we are in their system but haven't been "cabled" yet, NVC will reply to my email to let me know that we will be "cabled" shortly; they will also include our "GUZ#" assigned to our case. I will wait 1-2 days and then send another email to NVC with my new GUZ# to request the PDF letter.
- Once I receive the PDF of the NVC letter, I will forward it to my agency so they can begin processing our "Article 5" (I will explain this part when the time comes!). The printed NVC letter will arrive shortly after that but I'll just file that away.
One step closer to baby boy.... Merry Christmas, everyone!