Immigration Approved - Dossier Complete!

Words cannot describe the surprise I felt Friday evening when Picard and I realized that we had received immigration approval already. The letter had been in the mail box all day, but I hadn't checked. After having dinner and a few drinks with friends, Picard grabbed the mail on our way into the house at midnight. He tossed an envelope at me and said "Department of Homeland Security." I thought for sure something had gone wrong and this was a notice to fix something. But no! It was our I-171 H. At first, my mind couldn't grasp that we had gotten approval already. It should have taken 3-4 weeks to get this letter. Instead, we got it in 3 days. It must have been mailed the day after our fingerprint appointment. I kept scanning the form looking for the word "I-171 H," but I couldn't find it. It was written in small print at the bottom of the form. This form gives us favorable consideration to adopt 1-2 orphans from China.

Our dossier, pictured above.

The I-171 H was the last document we needed to certify and authenticate our documents. Today, Ninny fabulous notarized our last few pieces. Tomorrow, I will take our dossier to the Secretary of State and get all 13 documents certified. Then, I will mail the documents to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. They will authenticate the documents. Once I get that package back in the mail, I will send everything to our adoption agency for translation to Chinese. Maybe we will get a July log-in date after all!

I'll be sure to update tomorrow once the documents are on their way to Chicago!