May Update
I took some heat from well meaning friends and family for failing to post a recent update. Although we are just in the begining stages of the Great Wait, there is some news. A couple of weeks ago we were notified that Ukraine did not accept our certified marriage certificate. Apparently the reason is that the title of the document is "Application for Marriage." Well, the way it works is that once the application is signed and certified it becomes your certificate for marriage.
I saw this development as a huge positive because I knew it could be resolved and it also told me that our dossier was actually being reviewed. Steph became somewhat nervous and frustrated that we did not have everything perfect the first time. I understand that it would be unusual if every document was accepted at first review.
So, to resolve the problem. Steph called the Randolph County Indiana Clerk, who was very helpful. She agreed to search for the marriage certificate that was completed by our pastor and should have been certified by the county clerk. There was a chance that this document was not on file in the court house, and we could not find a copy of it. Ironically, we were searching for this document on May 16th, 2005 exactly 7 years to the day that we were married. I called Jim Koenig, the pastor who married us, he did not have a copy. Fortunately the document was located by the County Clerk. We had it certified by the clerk, notarized and I took it to the Secretary of State Office in Indy and had the cerifification and notary apostilled. Then I sent the certified, notarized and apostilled document to Lousiville and then its off to Ukraine.
Another development that may create some challenge is that we are moving. I asked our facilitator if this would cause a problem, she said "uh, yeah it could." The problem is that our home study was for our current residence that we are renting. What needs to happen is that our Social Worker will need to file an addendum to our INS file indicating a change of address. We do not think this will cause a problem with the documents in Ukraine. We are hopeful that it will not, otherwise we would have to re-submit all of the documents that have our address noted on them.
I saw this development as a huge positive because I knew it could be resolved and it also told me that our dossier was actually being reviewed. Steph became somewhat nervous and frustrated that we did not have everything perfect the first time. I understand that it would be unusual if every document was accepted at first review.
So, to resolve the problem. Steph called the Randolph County Indiana Clerk, who was very helpful. She agreed to search for the marriage certificate that was completed by our pastor and should have been certified by the county clerk. There was a chance that this document was not on file in the court house, and we could not find a copy of it. Ironically, we were searching for this document on May 16th, 2005 exactly 7 years to the day that we were married. I called Jim Koenig, the pastor who married us, he did not have a copy. Fortunately the document was located by the County Clerk. We had it certified by the clerk, notarized and I took it to the Secretary of State Office in Indy and had the cerifification and notary apostilled. Then I sent the certified, notarized and apostilled document to Lousiville and then its off to Ukraine.
Another development that may create some challenge is that we are moving. I asked our facilitator if this would cause a problem, she said "uh, yeah it could." The problem is that our home study was for our current residence that we are renting. What needs to happen is that our Social Worker will need to file an addendum to our INS file indicating a change of address. We do not think this will cause a problem with the documents in Ukraine. We are hopeful that it will not, otherwise we would have to re-submit all of the documents that have our address noted on them.
posted by Baldwin at 11:08 AM
0 comments
