[sfalone]

Hi All,

We can't get our physicals until May 11th (me) and dh May 16th. Than we wait a week for results. We will have our 1st HS visit near the end of May, than our sw will be on vacation begining of June. She won't be able to get the report done till mid June, than I can send it in to immigration which will than maybe be 6 weeks for I171..I am looking at August till we submit dossier to our agency. I can drive to Harrisburg to get the state seals the same day.

I love my homestudy agency as they did our homestudy for our son's adoption and they are giving us an unbelievable price since they have known us for 2 years.

But I am frustrated becuase the wait is only getting longer for referrlas...but I can enjoy the summer at the pool with my son and does it usually take some 3-4 months for getting your homestudy to your agency?

It only took me 2 1/2 months for our son's dossier to get to Guatemala..I was a paperchasing machine then.

[lovemybulldog]

We completed our dossier in almost exactly 6 months from Orientation to DTC, and that included a month between orientation and first homestudy visit, and a one month "drag our feet" period between Thanksgiving and Christmas before the new rule changes were announced. If we had tried harder, I really think we could have done it in about 3 to 4 months. It sounds like you'll be on a fairly average paperchase timeline, although since you've been through this before, you know that it should be shorter the second time around (from what I hear).

I would suggest connecting with your homestudy agency AND doctors to see if they can let you know if there are any cancellations that you can squeeze into. This is especially possible for your doctors since doctors typically receive cancellations or rechedules for about a third of their patient appointments. Also, ask if they can fax in orders for your blood work BEFORE your appointments so they only have the forms to complete and notarize when you get there.

Just have everything else ready to go in case there is a speed up with one of these appointments or faster than usual USCIS turnaround.

Good luck with everything! Let us know how it goes!

[sandswilliams]

Hi,

We submitted our application to our agency on 2/1/06, our DTC was 5/12/06 and our LID was 5/18/06. Our social worker had our homestudy completed within 1 week of our last visit. It only took 2 weeks to get our I-171 from USCIS. Our agency told us that the "norm" was 6 months from start to DTC.

I set goals along the way for getting things completed. I called DH physician's office and told them that we are adopting and the labs that needed to be completed so that he could go in advance to have his blood drawn and scheduled an appointment for the actual physical knowing when the labs would be back. My DH and I coordinated a date for us both to take off. So on the day of his physical, we also went to the police station, had passport photos made for him, applied for his passport, etc. I am a nurse practitioner so the surgeon that I work with did my physical and I ordered my own labs. My DH and I both have notaries at work so that saved us some time as well.

I agree with lovemybulldog that having everything else ready is a good idea in the event you are able to see the physician sooner or USCIS has a fast turnaround. I was shocked when ours arrived in 2 weeks. Another couple that is adopting from our agency (we use the same USCIS office) received theirs in 1 week.

Don't get frustrated. I am hoping that since the guidelines are changing 5/1/07, that we will eventually see process speeding up.

I know that we have done everything on our end and now it is out of our control. This process has definitely taught me patience. But when it's meant to be it will happen.

Good luck and keep us posted as you progress through the process.

02/01/06 - submitted application
02/12/06 - notified our application had been approved
05/12/06 - DTC
05/18/06 - LID
04/28/07 - patiently waiting for our referral

[Trace7]

Our HS took awhile, but that was partly because we had to get a couple background docs that took awhile (one was from a government agency, and of course the MN government shut down for a few weeks right at that time) and partly because my DH wasn't 30 yet, so we sort of took our time. Then in the end, the I-171H took it's sweet time. So our whole paperchase took about 9 months.

[MichelePA]

We had all of our paperwork ready and then set up the homestudy visits. Our agency was super fast and we had our homestudy report in 2 weeks. We took less than 4 months to complete everything and get our LID. And we had some major paperwork obstacles along the way.

Michele

[L_M_D]

Our paperchase took from Jan 31, 2005 (agency information meeting) to being DTC July 1, 2005 with a July 13, 2005 LID. The homestudy took about 6 weeks of that. One of the longest parts was waiting for our SW to write it up, the other was waiting for our I-171 from USCIS.