[Banjobean]

Hi all. Just wondering with the longer wait time if there is a Chance that our paperwork will expire, ie medicals, backgroud checks etc. Is that true that they expire after 1 year? We were DTC in Feb and our medicals are dated November, and our backgroud checks are dated Oct. Does that mean that if we don't have a referral by Oct that we will have to redo paperwork or how does that work? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

DTC 24Feb
LID?
DH James

[thundrrds]

As far as the US fed gov't is concerned the only thing you need to keep track of is when your fingerprints expire which were done for your I171. It states the date of them on your I171. You don't want those to expire becuase then you'd have to also redo the I171.
You're responsible for having your fingerprints be current.

Joanne

[koalasong]

Hi -

I am going through this right now. You should have your homestudy and fingerprint expiration dates right on the documents. The homestudy must be current at the time of referral OR at least in the process of being updated and complete by the time of travel. Your fingerprints must not be expired until after you arrived back in the country with your new daughter. Hope this helps. We're doing ours now. We just expired and should get our referral in the next batch as we are LID May 31st.
Deb

[thundrrds]

Deb;
I have to 'counter' the whole homestudy expiring thing. China has no requirement of the homestudy being a certain time frame once the dossier is submitted.
The homestudy 'expiring' is a state issue and has nothing to do with China nor even the fed gov't here in the US.
Homestudy updates are required in certain circumstances when the family has had 'major life changes' (moved, changed jobs...).
One needs to understand the differences between state regulations, fed, and China requirements with the homestudy 'expiring' and then decide what they want to do.

The fingerprints with the USCIS is a fed requirement and must be complied with as well as having an I171 that is current.

Joanne

[prechrswife]

The homestudy expiration thing is something that varies state-by-state. We had a pretty thorough discussion of this on the June DTC group, as a lot of us are dealing with this situation now. Your homestudy agency should let you know if an update is necessary in your state. The main thing we are concerned about, as someone mentioned earlier, is that our fingerprints with USCIS will be expiring in early June. My dh and I are in the process of scheduling a refingerprinting appointment.

[HopefulMommy]

I am confused, how can your fingerprints expire?

Or is it your paperwork attaced to when you got your fingerprints done?

Could someone explain this one to me, or is it a government thing to get more $$$ (synical? who me?)

[thundrrds]

It's not that the fingerprints themselves would change but the information gathered thru the investigation of the prints can 'change'.
So the regulations are 'currently' that the prints are good for 15 months (from when one was fingerprinted) and an I171 is good for 18 months (from the date the I171 was issued).
For the prints to 'be run through' again by the gov't people need to be refingerprinted before that 15 month date 'expires'. If one lets the prints expire it results in not only needing to be refingerprinted but to pay and have another I171 issued.
You can decide about the role of $$ with the gov't....

Joanne

[Teekay74]

This is part of the reason we have an agency right? They should inform us of anything we need to do before it happens.I really would have no idea that my homestudy could expire if I was not on the forums!

[cungar]

Originally Posted by Teekay74

This is part of the reason we have an agency right? They should inform us of anything we need to do before it happens.I really would have no idea that my homestudy could expire if I was not on the forums!

I think it's wishful thinking to assume your agency is going to keep you abreast of everything. It may be true of many of them but I wouldn't count on it for all. You need to be aware of all aspects of the adoption process in case your agency isn't.

[Banjobean]

Do medicals expire after a certain timeframe as well?

Tammy
DTC 24FEb
LID??
Dh James

[cooperbabe]

I've heard that in some states (like mine!) physicals have to be less than 6 months old before the info is authenticated.

My question is tho, if I have my physical done in May, can I go ahead and get it authenticated in June even if the rest of my paperwork isn't ready to be authenticated until, say next January (hypothetically speaking.....) Or do they require everything be authenticated at once?

My head hurts thinking about everything Maybe it's just me not being used to Daylight Savings Time

[cungar]

Yes but once the physical's been Logged, it doesn't need to be updated.

[thundrrds]

Originally Posted by cooperbabe

I've heard that in some states (like mine!) physicals have to be less than 6 months old before the info is authenticated.

My question is tho, if I have my physical done in May, can I go ahead and get it authenticated in June even if the rest of my paperwork isn't ready to be authenticated until, say next January (hypothetically speaking.....) Or do they require everything be authenticated at once?

You can but if the consulate office you're working with (I believe Houston) requires certain time frames with documents you may run the risk of documents not being in compliance if you get some authenticated etc months ahead of time.
You'd also be incurring additional postage fees by not having everything done at once.


Joanne

[koalasong]

Joanne -
All I know is what my agency spells out on its website. They place in all 50 states and what they say is that as long as the homestudy is no more than 12 months old at the time of referral and nothing has changed, then it does not need updating. However, if older than 12 months at time of referral or changes have taken place, then it must be updated. They also mention that it is everyone's own responsibility to make sure they are current because as the referral wait is increasing, it is more likely that updates will be needed. I have spoken with our agency, and they stated that yes, indeed it needs updating just because of age and that we will be required to bring the update with us to China. Perhaps it is just our state. I just wonder why China would need it when we travel??? Not sure about that. So I would just say for anyone getting close to that 1 year mark to just verify your status with your own agency. Boy, if that's the case, I wish I didn't need it in my state because it's requiring the whole criminal background check, DCYF check, social worker update. That's along with fingerprints for immigration of course!! Just a pain for no changes except for about 30 days. Guess it will all be worth it in about 3 or 4 more weeks! And thanks for the info. everyone. This site gives such great info!
Deb