[kikalee]

I've noticed that several people on this board have sent out their I-600A forms before their homestudy is completed. I mentioned this to our SW and she said that it cannot be sent early -- it has to be sent out with the homestudy.

I'm confused. If people are indeed sending I-600a's before HS is complete, how are they being processed? What does BCIS do with them? What are the advantages of doing this?

Thanks for any help...
Lisa

[GoingtoChina]

Lisa- I think it depends on which USCIS office you are using. I sent my I-600A before my HS was done. They just wouldn't set up a fingerprint appointment until they received my HS. I used the Jacksonville office.

The BCIS is the same as USCIS, CIS... which are all formerly known as the INS.

Kelly

[pb86]

Lisa,
I am only beginning this process so my comment is limited to the information I've received from attending agency seminars within our state. With that said, I was given two conflicting reports: One stated that it is very important to have the I-600A application in to CIS as soon as possible, preferably as one of the first tasks right along with sending in the application to the agency you are planning to work with, whereby you state on the CIS application that the homestudy portion is scheduled to begin at such-and-such date and will be submitted immediately upon its completion. The reason for/importance of submitting the application in this way they say is because it takes awhile for the CIS application to be processed and many times the office is backlogged, so it will save you 6-8 weeks of time. Another agency stated simply to have your completed CIS application and other required documents ready for CIS submission prior to the homestudy so that you can submit all completed materials together immediately upon homestudy completion. In a nutshell, I think it is largely dependent upon the requirements/tolerance of your local CIS office as well as the recommendations of the agency you are working with. I hope this answers at least in part your question and I wish you the best of luck.

[Tony&Jen]

Well for our region, North Florida, your social worker would be dead wrong. We were advised by our SW to send it in to Jacksonville, ASAP, along with your fingerprint fees and any other approrpriate fees. Then, when the home study was completed we fedexed a notarized copy to the same Jacksonville USCIS office. This worked flawlessly for us and two weeks after we sent our homestudy in we received our fingerprint appointments which were last Friday.

We hope to get our 171-H letter sometime next week if the Jacksonville USCIS keeps up their great reputation of speedy service.

[33458]

This is one part of the paperchase that I wish was more uniformly structured...

[hcromwell]

Lisa,
We had our I-600A in and were fingerprinted before they rec'd our homestudy. We used the Philly, PA office.
Hope in PA

[Korrie Sue]

Lisa,

I have heard that some USCIS offices require you to wait till you have your homestudy done and that other offices do not care.

I am in Michigan. We sent our I600A in without our homestudy. We got a letter for our fingerprinting appointment and a letter saying that when our homestudy was done we would need to forward it to them.

You may want to refer to the book by John Maclean titled "the Chinese Adoption Handbook". This book was updated in 2004 and gives a detailed description of each state's USCIS preferences.

Good Luck

Korrie Sue

[smedf]

I have to agree with everyone, FYI here in Atlanta we were able to send in our 600a and were fingerprinted 2 weeks later just waiting to send in the approved homestudy(should be next week). So everything is there waiting for the homestudy and we are done. From my understanding Atlanta is running 1-2 weeks if everything is done. Hope this helps and good luck.

Sherry

[tgross]

Hello,
is anyone in southwestern PA, who has sent out their I600?

[soontobethree]

We have completed three international adoptions and each time, our I-600A application was sent to INS (uscis) prior to our homestudy being completed. WE sent the I-600A application and our agency sent the homestudy. Once the iNS received the application, they send out a form letter stating they have received it and what you need to submit. The HOmestudy is one of the items on the form for them to check so it must be a common practice. It is likely just the practice of your agency that they must be submitted at the same time.

[ahfdragonfly]

We had our I600A to the Albany, NY INS before our homestudy was done. We even had our referral before our homestudy was corrected and ready to turn in! We actually turned in our baby's legal paperwork from Korea when we went in for our fingerprints. (Again, before the homestudy was done.) I would find the nearest INS branch, and call them to see what they recomend. Albany told me that they would just hold onto everything in one file until all the documents were together.

Good luck!

[bchelgren]

I sent my I-600 in way before my homestudy was completed, because our local USCIS takes soooo long to do anything because they are so backed up. I didn't get my invitation to get our fingerprints done until 4 weeks after we sent it in, and when I did get the invitation, they gave me a one week period of time to come in, but that one week period was 5 weeks later, ARGH. But our local USCIS will not even think of writing your I-171 approval letter until they get the completed home study.

Good Luck!
Beth

[JackieC]

Hi All,

Our agency recommended that we submit all documents including the homestudy at one time. This made sense to me since I worry about a large government office trying to "match" my homestudy with my I600A. At any rate, that is what we did. We submitted our I600A (including home study) on April 11, we were fingerprinted on April 12 and received our I171H yesterday on April 28th (approved April 26th).

From start to finish the entire thing took 2 weeks and 1 day!!! I live in Utah and have been polling everyone and the shortest turnaround time I had found was 5-6 weeks. I agree with someone else that it would be nice if they would just standardize this.

The way we did this, it felt like we had no wait at all but we certainly could have submitted everything else a month before our home study was done. I think I would have felt like I waited a lot longer - even though the wait would be the same.

One thing is certain, in a state where they won't give you a fingerprint appointment until they receive your homestudy, it may be best to turn in everything at one time. We made an appointment to submit our I600A and were given our fingerprint appointment on the spot. If we would have mailed everything in (or had the homestudy mailed in after original submission), we would have had to wait a week for them to mail us a fingerprint letter.

From what I can tell, there is no right answer to this question. I just wanted to share my experience.

By the way YEAH!!!!!. We'll be DTC in May!!!!

Best Wishes,

Jackie

[Shelley]

I think what it boils down to is your agency's requirements. I agree with the above poster, in that I would be afraid they might not match my homestudy to the I-600. It might add a few weeks even a month but to me this would be preferable to having them lose, mismatch, whatever my paperwork which in the long run could add match more time. JMO, Shelley

[kikalee]

Thanks for your words of advice. I live in Mass., so it certainly could be the regulations of the Boston BCIS office, it's so weird how this process varies from state to state. I also agree with the above two postings, that I was a little leery of sending unfinished paperwork to BCIS.

(venting)...Also trying so hard to get my passport done, went to my local post office this morning -- in Salem -- which listed Saturday hours for passports. And the office was closed. Is it Salem witchcraft? I'll try again Monday...

Lisa