[Mindybeth6]

We sent out our I600a over two weeks ago. From looking at other's who have used Cleveland...it seems like we should have had some sort of contact from them by now. The check has not cleared yet either. Still nothing in today's (saturday) mail...much to my dismay. I am starting to wonder if they even got it or worse I did something wrong on the app. Any advice from anyone who has used this office recently? Big THanks!

[my2guats]

Did you send a personal check or a money order/cashiers check? I sent my I600A on 3/14 with a personal check. I watched my bank on-line and saw that after a week they had not cashed the check. Then on 3/21 I got the forms back and my check with a letter stating that they no longer except personal checks. I mailed it back that day with a cashiers check. I knew better then to send a personal check but the form did say "send check or money order to" so I thought it was okay. Did you get a tracking number from the place you mailed it from? I use the us postal service and saw that mine arrived the next day and even saw who signed for it through their web page. Hope that helps.

[Mindybeth6]

I did send a personal check but a good friend of mine did as well recently to the same office and had no trouble. I think I will call them on monday as I am freaking out about it. I kow its early but its the fact that something should have happened by now considering thier timeframe. Did you send yours to Cleveland? Just wondering. Maybe its a new thing if you did so recently. I didn't check your timeline. I will.

[cr653]

i hate to panic you,
but Cleveland is not only a SLOW office in regards to fp appt, and clearance, But that I171h typically takes a good 2 months once all is said and done.
I would say, however that if there is a problem and they did infact recieve you form/money, you would have gotten it all back and told how to fix it.
My concern is that it got misplaced.
my first hs was misplace somewhere in that large building, even though i had the info that it was in fact signed for upon delivery.
You may have a horrific time getting through at the number 'publicly' posted, and in dealing with them for 3+ years, i can say there is no other number. i have actually used 3 phone lines at one time trying to get through to them...busy busy busy.
It is VERY frustrating.
I would recommend that you post this to the 'ohio international adoption yahoo group'. there are LOADS of folks with current info on what you might do.

On the flip side, though i hope you never ever need this,
when there is a real crisis like i had at the expiration of my I171h, their was an office (i cant remember his name) who really really came through for our family. but i had to knock on a lot of doors lots of times to even get to him!

next time you send funds, i would use a money order. there is i also a chance they are waiting for the check to clear which is 15 business days. most of the time a m.o. is sent to avoid any Extra issues.

please pm me if youd like.

im sorry to be the bearer of the news of rough waters ahead.
hang in there and be thankful you arent using one of the uscis offices in FL. i cant remember which one, but they are often 3 PLUS months behind! arugh!

cris....wish all this was not the case, and hoping that in the past 9 or so months...it miraculously all changed for the better~!

[Mindybeth6]

Hmmm...thats strange. I have a couple of real good friends who sent in their stuff....got the fingers done about a month later...got the 171H quick too. I was surprised to read your info. I will have to call in there on monday...if I have time. I am so frustrated about this. It's seems like ithas been one thing after another so far and we are just starting out.

[RSFBuckeye]

We have also used the Cleveland office for approximately three years and they are indeed very slow. Initial application to I171H approval was 3+ months. We changed countries and this took a little over a month to receive their approval. Then our fingerprints and application were going to expire so we filed again. The second time also took a good three months. I called for hours on end between 1-4 p.m. and always received the dreaded busy signal. I never to talk to anyone. I'm not sure how your friends received such good timing but maybe you could find out. It looks as though we may need to be re-fingerprinted again. I'd like to know their secret.

[cr653]

even in dealing with the 2 directors/owners of my hs agency, they had little to NO encouragement in how i should deal with Cleveland! it's a ROUGH office!

they LOVE cincinatti, but loathe cleveland!

i have had the MOST success in dealing with cleveland.
of anyone i, or my hs agency knows!

i would contact your friends and find out how to contact cleveland. and how what they wrote/did to get such quick results!
Yeah for them! Follow in their footsteps! ASAP!

as i have NEVER heard positive comments aside from my own, and that was when i ran into problems in my own adoption experience..
the standard cleveland uscis is incredibly busy and understaffed and BEHIND!

call your friends asap!

good luck~

cris.

Originally Posted by Mindybeth6

Hmmm...thats strange. I have a couple of real good friends who sent in their stuff....got the fingers done about a month later...got the 171H quick too. I was surprised to read your info. I will have to call in there on monday...if I have time. I am so frustrated about this. It's seems like ithas been one thing after another so far and we are just starting out.

[Mindybeth6]

Now I am just depressed Oh well...I have to get it sometime I guess. I will try to call them this week and try to at least find out if they got the dang thing. I would feel much better if the check had been cashed. I am getting tired of the setbacks already. Each one just makes the whole process seem further and further away from becoming reality for me. I am just having a bad day altogether. Sorry for the ranting and frustration.

[cr653]

dont WORRY!
cleveland uscis has been the cause of adult acne for a mess of us!
IF you dont here something with in a week,
and your friends/agency cant give you contact information,
make an appointment and BEG..BEG for information! on your case...it might work!

cris....who considered MOVING at one point just to be let into the cincinnati uscis area!

hang in there this is a long and rocky road, BUT i have a sleeping newly one year old upstairs! miracles happen every day, and adoption is one of them!

[Mindybeth6]

Awww...thank you so much for your support. Someday's it just seems hard. I was just posting on another post about how difficult is sometimes to move from the emotionally taxing process of infertility to the emotionally taxing process of adoption without being able to catch your breath...which is what we did. Some days I just find it hard to patient when we tried for sooooo long for another baby. I just want something to be easy. Just one thing. LOL. I know I will get through this. It just so annoying that one simple paper can delay your process so much before you ever even really get started. THanks for input. I really appreciate it.

[vangrad]

I hate to be the bearer of more great news, but I filed on Nov. 15, and got back the "you need to send the fingerprint fee, too" letter on November 29. It takes them forever to respond at all. And, I had just been re-fingerprinted for my expiring fingerprints for the previous I171H. I had to be fingerprinted again. I'm still waiting for the I171H. I finally got through to one of their two phone answering personnel and found out they were waiting for my home study. It had been sent at the same time as the original application, but they attached it to the new fingerprints on the old I171H, and never bothered to tell me they need a new copy for the new application.

I hope you have better luck than I.

And, It would be easier to get an appointment at the window, than to get through on the phone. You can hit redial continuously for 3 hours and not get through.

Jen in Amherst

[TyAva]

Hey Mindy,


We go through Cleveland too. I sent in our I660A on 3/2 (using Fedex) and the receipt they sent back was dated 3/7. We used personal checks to pay the fees. We just got our fingerprint notification in the mail today! Our appointment is scheduled for 4/13. Hopefully yours will be coming soon!

[KJones5]

I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news but we sent our 1600 in last year on 3/15. Our fingerprint apt was 5/19. HS was sent around 4/25. We rec'd our I171H on 6/21. CLE is REALLY slow & hard to get a hold of.

Having said that, I have a friend who rec'd her I171H in the mail the same day she was fingerprinted!

[Mindybeth6]

Since I never recieved a reciept then looks like I am going to have to call them on monday. I will have to look up the number. I think I read only certain times of the day you can call. Does anyone know if that is correct?

[TyAva]

Don't know about the times of day you can call, but the number on our letter from them is 800-375-5283. Good Luck!