we are in kauia, which has been great. I'll post more about that later. But first the really sucky news. Just before we left, we got an email from our agency. 2 families from our agency, adopting from our province (quang nam) submitted their I600 about 6 weeks ago. They both just recieved the following letter.
"March 27, 2008
U.S Citizenship & Immigration Services
Diamond Plaza Building
34 Le Duan Street, 8th floor
Dist. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Dear **,
The USCIS office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is in the process of reviewing your Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative (Form I-600), to determine whether the child qualifies as an orphan under US immigration law.
Please be advised that Vietnamese officials have prevented the U.S. Government from conducting an inquiry into the status of the child identified in your petition. This interference will add significant time to the processing of your case while the U.S. Government seeks to resolve the problem or find alternative ways to conduct its inquiry. You should know that this interference could result in a determination that the child may not be eligible to immigrate to the U.S. as an adopted child.
In all cases, USCIS strongly recommends that you do not travel to Vietnam until USCIS has provided notification to you that the child qualifies as an orphan. Traveling to Vietnam prior to getting this notice from USCIS will not advantage or prioritize your case, and may result in a prolonged stay in Vietnam. The USCIS office in Ho Chi Minh City will provide you with an update on the status of your case in 60 days.
If you do not wish to wait until such time as the Vietnamese authorities allow the U.S. to proceed with a field inquiry in your case, you may request a final decision on your petition based upon the incomplete record. Please note that this may result in a denial of your petition.
Alternatively, you may wish to consult with your adoption services provider or attorney to consider the other options that are available in your particular case, including, but not limited to, withdrawing your petition, filing a new Form I-600 after identifying another child for adoption, filing a new Form I-600A and selecting a different country, or filing a written request for a change of country with USCIS. Please note that these options may require a new or updated home study and/or incur additional fees."
I've seen various versions of this letter kind of floating around, but never dreamed we would be the recipients of it. Well, we aren't officially the recipients, but apparently we shoud expect to be because there is currently major drama in Quang Nam. I really don't understand where this drama is coming from, since I know SEVERAL families who have adopted from Quang Nam without any issues whatsoever. So why now, when we are finally so close? And what is going to happen? It really sucks b/c i anticipate in about 60 days we will get this letter, and then it will be another 60 days (or possibly 60 BUSINESS days, who really knows) before we get any other news. So with 60 business days plus 60 business days that puts us right around 180 days, which is 6 months, which is October, which happens to be after the MOU is up, and could potentially mean Juneau isn't coming home. Yes, I know, worse case scenario, but after losing a referral, and now trying to adopt a baby from a "blocked province", i'm not really sure if there is ever any good news for us out there.
Anybody else out there having this problem? What are you going to do?
Juneau
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I hope this doesn't affect you guys. Maybe they won't even investigate Juneau's case... Some families have gotten approved soon after they received their letter.
I hope your form is in soon and that you hear quickly about your approval!!!
I don't personally have this problem yet. I do know that this site is working on the issues with the US goverment. http://www.bringourchildrenhome.org/601.html
Good luck and I hope you don't get the letter!
I am so sorry. As you know, Lucy is from Quang Nam, and we had no problems. But things are working SO differently now. The whole process is such a mess right now. Maybe it will all be worked out before it is time for you to get this letter. So sorry.
Yes, my son was born at a hospital that is blocked. Call attention to the fact that failure of US govmt. organizations (CIS DofS)to conduct investigations does not constitute fraud from the Vietnamese people they are failing to investigate. Children remaining institutionalized indefinitely because of politics DOES amount to unethical behavior (on the part of OUR government). Please peition your representatives for help.
I so hope this does not happen to you. I know that there are a group of parents trying to work with our govt. to work things out. Good luck!
I think you should take each case individually. I reallly hope that this doesn't happen to you. You guys have totally been through enough.
I agree with Lori about the petition. We forwarded it to every single person we knew.
Post a Comment