[WaitingMom22]

I am just wondering how the timeframe works out when you need to be in China (after any additional sight seeing you do on your own.) Thanks.

[thundrrds]

Typcially:
You arrive in your child's province and receive your child that day or the next day.
Day 2 is usually the offical gov't paper work/ appts where you sign various forms, are interviewed and the adoption is approved/ finalized by the CHinese gov't.
One is in the child's province a minimum of 5 working days. It takes that long for the paperwork to be completed and the child's Chinese passport to be issued.
You're given all the CHinese paperwork prior to leaving your child's province.
On days you don't have appts you may be doing some local touring, visiting your child's orphanage, and of course geting to know your child

If you're American you then go to Guangzhou. In Guangzhou over about 3 or 4 days time your child has his/her visa photo and physical done, and the US Consulate appt.
Some agencies have families leave the day of the Consulate appt, many prefer to have families leave the next day in case there is any foul up/ delay with the paperwork/ obtaining the visa from the Consulate office.
While in Guangzhou one can also do some touring.

Hope that helps! Much depends on what days different appts are set up for the families and where the child is residing (for timing of flights). We adopted both times from Guangdong Province so our trip 'was shorter'. We arrived both time on Sunday, rec'd our children that day and left China the following Wed (9 nights total in China both times).

Joanne

[WaitingMom22]

Wow, I did not realize it could be that quick. So basically you will likely not be there more than 2 weeks. For some reason I thought it was 3 weeks.

[Momof2boysinOH]

Originally Posted by thundrrds

We arrived both time on Sunday, rec'd our children that day and left China the following Wed (9 nights total in China both times).

Joanne

Joanne,

Wow! Only 9 nights in China?! Can you PM me the name of your agency? My dh will most likely be traveling alone and I know he's interested in the shortest trip possible so he can spend a few days at home recovering from jet lag before he heads back to work.

Thanks!

[akina]

Joanne,
Could you pm me with that info too? 9 nights would be great for me. I am travelling alone and leaving my two kids for the first time.
Thanks so much!
-akina

[drmalcolm]

My agency does the "big stuff," such as the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City before we meet our babies--therefore, that part of the trip is optional (although still arranged by and with our agency--we aren't really "on our own") and you would not need to even go to China yet on those few days. Still, I think that would only shave off a day or two.

From what I understand, a lot of the sight-seeing events after we have the babies with us is more play-it-by-ear. That way, if someone is feeling tired or ill or if you just need to veg out that day, you can go back to your room after the official things are out of the way.

Joanne, as always, thanks for your thorough response. I can't tell you how many posts of yours I have printed out!

Christina

[thundrrds]

Mary... I'm laughing.. you do know we used the same agency as you

Let me just make sure I'm not confusing folks about the 9 nights in China...
Our girls are both from Guangdong Province so we had no in country flights once we were in Guangzhou. And both times we got off the plane in Guangzhou and received our children less than 3 hours after getting to our hotel.

Our agency routes families usually thru Hong Kong so we were there for 3 nights (both times) prior to flying into Guangzhou.

We were gone a total of 14 days both times and 12 nights of hotel stays

Joanne

[Momof2boysinOH]

Joanne,


I thought you were with the same agency but I wasn't sure. There's so many people on this board to keep track of, not to mention all the Yahoo groups I belong to.

Thanks for the clarification!

[LOU P]

we spent a total of 14 days,2 traveling,12 in china...flew into beijing,stayed for 2 days and did tourist stuff,then flew to guangzho(sp) and got our baby
i started a thread when we got back in july,it sort of chronicles our time there,perhaps it will be benificial to you...

our time in china