USCIS APPOINTMENT
Last Thursday, March 3rd, we went to Indy for our USCIS appointment for the Federal Background check. The worst part of this experience was getting there.
We left home in two vehicles. I was headed out of town for the night for work, and Steph intended to go to her office after our appointment in Indy. So, we drove two vehicles to Daleville, and left my work truck at a gas station. On the way to Daleville, we were both hearing on the radio that the entire NE side of Indy was shut down due to an accident. Well, it is my MO to never leave for a destination until the last possible minute to make it with zero time to spare. I find it uncomfortable or a waste of time to arrive places too early. For example, I normally travel nervously to the airport wondering if I will make a flight and it is normally my fault when we walk into church on Sunday morning after the organ has begun playing. This time I was wishing I had left a little early.
We decided that the only way we were going to make it was to find an "alternate route." You may know that from Daleville, IN there is really no such thing as an "alternate route" to Indianapolis. I-69 is really the only option. We started south on I-69, traffic was very slow (30 mph), even some 30+ miles from Indianapolis. We decided to exit on 67 and try to make it down to I-70. We drove as if we were going to be late (no cause for alarm I was still driving safely!) and we made it to 950 N. Meridian Street only 5 minutes before our letter indicated we were to be there.
The Departement of Homeland Security is on the 4th floor on this building. Upon exiting the elevator we were met by a security detail and were searched. I emptied my pockets as if I were going through airport security. However, the metal detector beeped at my pocket, I reached in and pulled out some change and a dog biscuit. I offered the biscuit to the security guard, he said, "you had better keep it you may be in there all aftenoon, you might get hungry." At this point I thought, why did we rush to get here. We walked into the waiting room and were handed a paper to fill out. The room was packed with immigrant families. We found the only place where there were two chairs together and took a seat, expecting to spend hours in this crowded hot room. Everyone in the room, except for us, was either Latino or Asian. We assume most were there applying for citizenship.
Before we could even finish our intitial paperwork at the USCIS, a man approached us and asked, "Are you Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin." We were surprised that we were getting action after being there such a short period of time. We knew this was either real good and we would be moved ahead in line, or it was real bad and there was a problem with our application. He asked us to follow him and we were taken to a processing room. WOW, we didn't have to spend all day waiting at the Dept. of Homeland Security.
The fingerprint processing room was very technologically advanced. They simply placed our fingers on a glass and the computer recorded our fingerprints. No Ink! It took about 15 minutes and we were out of there. We think that those who are there to complete form I600A, international adoption, are perhaps given priority.
Many have asked, do you know when you get to go to Ukraine? The answer to that question is that we have no idea. It should take about 30 days to get our INS approval to adopt. That completes most of what we have to accomplish. After receiving this approval letter, we simply have to put together all of the documents for our dossier. We will send our completed dossier to Kathy and she will look over it to see if we have everything in order. Then, we will send the dossier to Ukraine, it will be translated and then processed. We have no idea how long this will take. We understand that it depends on the number of dossiers Ukraine is receiving and which government employee gets our application to process. If approved by Ukraine they will send a letter inviting us to an appointment to the adoption center in Ukraine. The amount of time between when the appointment letter is received and when the appointment date is can vary greatly. Recently one family received their appointment letter in January and their appointment was scheduled for June. So, we may have to wait as long as 6 months after we receive notification of our appointment.
We left home in two vehicles. I was headed out of town for the night for work, and Steph intended to go to her office after our appointment in Indy. So, we drove two vehicles to Daleville, and left my work truck at a gas station. On the way to Daleville, we were both hearing on the radio that the entire NE side of Indy was shut down due to an accident. Well, it is my MO to never leave for a destination until the last possible minute to make it with zero time to spare. I find it uncomfortable or a waste of time to arrive places too early. For example, I normally travel nervously to the airport wondering if I will make a flight and it is normally my fault when we walk into church on Sunday morning after the organ has begun playing. This time I was wishing I had left a little early.
We decided that the only way we were going to make it was to find an "alternate route." You may know that from Daleville, IN there is really no such thing as an "alternate route" to Indianapolis. I-69 is really the only option. We started south on I-69, traffic was very slow (30 mph), even some 30+ miles from Indianapolis. We decided to exit on 67 and try to make it down to I-70. We drove as if we were going to be late (no cause for alarm I was still driving safely!) and we made it to 950 N. Meridian Street only 5 minutes before our letter indicated we were to be there.
The Departement of Homeland Security is on the 4th floor on this building. Upon exiting the elevator we were met by a security detail and were searched. I emptied my pockets as if I were going through airport security. However, the metal detector beeped at my pocket, I reached in and pulled out some change and a dog biscuit. I offered the biscuit to the security guard, he said, "you had better keep it you may be in there all aftenoon, you might get hungry." At this point I thought, why did we rush to get here. We walked into the waiting room and were handed a paper to fill out. The room was packed with immigrant families. We found the only place where there were two chairs together and took a seat, expecting to spend hours in this crowded hot room. Everyone in the room, except for us, was either Latino or Asian. We assume most were there applying for citizenship.
Before we could even finish our intitial paperwork at the USCIS, a man approached us and asked, "Are you Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin." We were surprised that we were getting action after being there such a short period of time. We knew this was either real good and we would be moved ahead in line, or it was real bad and there was a problem with our application. He asked us to follow him and we were taken to a processing room. WOW, we didn't have to spend all day waiting at the Dept. of Homeland Security.
The fingerprint processing room was very technologically advanced. They simply placed our fingers on a glass and the computer recorded our fingerprints. No Ink! It took about 15 minutes and we were out of there. We think that those who are there to complete form I600A, international adoption, are perhaps given priority.
Many have asked, do you know when you get to go to Ukraine? The answer to that question is that we have no idea. It should take about 30 days to get our INS approval to adopt. That completes most of what we have to accomplish. After receiving this approval letter, we simply have to put together all of the documents for our dossier. We will send our completed dossier to Kathy and she will look over it to see if we have everything in order. Then, we will send the dossier to Ukraine, it will be translated and then processed. We have no idea how long this will take. We understand that it depends on the number of dossiers Ukraine is receiving and which government employee gets our application to process. If approved by Ukraine they will send a letter inviting us to an appointment to the adoption center in Ukraine. The amount of time between when the appointment letter is received and when the appointment date is can vary greatly. Recently one family received their appointment letter in January and their appointment was scheduled for June. So, we may have to wait as long as 6 months after we receive notification of our appointment.
posted by Baldwin at 9:17 AM
2 Comments:
You will make a wonderful family. You be able to enjoy the satisfaction of just watching your child sleep, play or just sit on your lap with complete trust. I believe that God did put children on this earth to spoil and it is a great feeling. Great idea you had with the web site. If there is anything that my family can do for you, please let me know and we will be there.
Thank You Joe and Steph for letting us be apart of this wonderful experience.
I'm glad to hear things went so well for you last week, and that you were able to give our government the finger...somebody needs to. We too are anxious to meet the child God has for you, and for Brookelyn to have another cousin to play with. Love you guys.
Karen
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