Our I-800 has been approved!

I'm currently working another book about our first trip to China, and I'll be including my blog posts in the book. I discovered from one of my older posts that I had emailed the National Benefits Center (NBC) nine days after our "received date" for our last I-800 Approval in 2011. I found the email I sent to the NBC asking for the name of our assigned officer and the status of our application. I don't quite remember why I did this because you still have to wait about a week after your Approval Date is known in order to take the next step, which is to contact the National Visa Center (NVC)...and by that time, your I-800 Approval should have arrived in the mail.

Out of curiosity I pulled out our current receipt of the I-800. We received the receipt Notice in the mail on 03.26 (and the "USCIS Acceptance Confirmation" via text and email on 03.23), but had a "received date" of 03.19, which had been nine days yesterday! :D I made a few minor tweaks to the 2011 email and hit Send. It wouldn't hurt to know!

In less than fifteen minutes, our officer replied to tell me that our "I-800 was provisionally approved earlier today" (03.28) and the notice will arrive in the mail!! :D I was so excited!!

NEXT STEPS:

1. When the I-800 Approval arrives in the mail, probably some time next week, I'll contact our agency.
2. One week from our I-800 Approval Date, which will be 04.04 (our Shih-Tzu's 13th birthday!), I will email the NVC to check if we are in the system. If we are entered into the system, I will request a PDF copy of the NVC letter to be sent to me via email. I will then forward that PDF to my agency, and we can then prepare for the next step (applying for Oliver's US visa).