Hi all :)
I've posted a few times before, but I'm quite the lurker. My husband and I are adopting from Colombia and have just been told we're the next couple to get a referral. Yay! Wonderful! But...
Our INS approval expires in the middle of September - just a little too close for comfort if we receive a referral, at the latest, this week. Sooo...I have to fill our a whole new I600A, pay the fee all over again, and write a letter saying we're having to withdraw our old, approved I600A. Well, I looked through all our paperwork today in preparation for gather all the required documentation again and noticed something...it took them 5 months to approve our application last time!!!
I was in tears after I noticed this! :( But, it still has to be done. I just am not willing to have the application expire while we're down there...that would be a complete mess...and I don't want to risk the chance of not being able to proceed with the adoption. I'm having quite the pity party for myself now. Could someone please help to encourage me? I'm really very low at the moment. :(
Also, has this happened to anyone else? I'm trying to find a way to help speed things along, but I just don't see how to do this. We have to send everything in by mail and there doesn't seem to be any contact information for our local INS office - I think they must discourage that...who knows. If you've been in this situation, was there anything you did that helped? I'm just so devistated. We've been waiting for this referral for 17ish months now and I just shudder at the thought of waiting another 5 months.
Thanks for reading through all this and for any information you might have! I know my husband and I are lucky we've come this far and are next on the list for a referral...I just have to remember that and keep my chin up, but it's tough.