Our fingerprints expire on 4/11/07 and our I-600A expires on 7/20/07. When we got fingerprinted 15 months ago, I thought to myself "we are in the clear, there is no way it is going to take 15 months to get our referral", well, I guess I was wrong. I am just hoping we get our referral before our new fingerprints and I-600A expire!!!

The I-600A needs to be completed by a U.S. citizen who plans to adopt a foreign-born orphan but does not have a specific child in mind. The I-600A is filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. We need to be re-fingerprinted as part of renewing our I-600A and our home study will need to be updated, and of course, there is an additional fee for getting re-fingerprinted and re-filing the I-600A. Oh well, I know it will be worth it when we finally bring Mei home.

FYI - our fingerprints are valid for 15 months from date of fingerprinting and the I-600A approval is valid for 18 months from the date of completion printed on the I-171H (Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition).

I am off to work on our I-600A application for the second time since we started this process, hopefully this will be the last time (at least for this adoption).