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Since I have had alot of experience with one country and some experience with another I will give you my experience with both.
The Russian process can be very lenghty, stressful and expensive. The length of time and paperwork required depends on the region(s) that your agency works with. We had a nightmarish paperwork process because we ended up in a region that wanted everything redone including fingerprints every three months, no exceptions. It was very stressful not knowing when we would get a court date, but not all regions are so picky. Additionally, accreditation is important, so make sure the agency you select has accreditation or will be reaccredited otherwise you may have problems adopting in Russia. It took us exactly 13 months from trip 1 to trip 2 to bring our children home and the wait was awful. There is so much unceratinty when you wait this long that you fear the worst, so the uncertainty is difficult. This is not the norm, so choosing a region that is adoption friendly is important. I am not sure which ones are.
As far as China is concerned, we are waiting for our referral and I can tell you that the costs were minimal and the paperwork was minimal. Although the wait time has increased, the wait time is not that bad because in the end you know you will be receiving a referral no matter if it takes six months or 12 months. We were LID in June of last year, so that makes our wait 10 months this month and we will probably be waiting another one or two months, which is fine with me because when the time comes you know you will get a referral. This process was almost stress free compared to Russia's. This is only my opinion based on what I went through for Russia and what I have had to do for China.
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Gigi
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