[connorsmommy1999]

UGH! I'm so frustrated. I need some advice on what you would do.


Our 171H expires on November 3rd.
We know we can apply for the extension within the 90 day window (I think we have 76 days as of today)

there is NO word on our BC - waiting for RENAP since July 10th.


I've been told to give as much time as possible for USCIS....but I really thought we'd have a BC and have her home by early September at the latest. Obviously that isnt looking good right now. --and now I'm seeing that some people are waiting 8-10 weeks for the BC.

should I start the process of updating the homestudy? --we were told it could take 3 weeks.

what would be the LATEST that you would send the letter asking for the extension??

[mommytoEli]

i would start...but that is just me. i would hate it if i gambled...and lost...and delayed the homecoming.

[DPline]

I too would start. What office do you go through and what is their track record? My local office is horribly, terribly, awfully slow. In dealing with them, I would have my renewal documents on their desk on the 90th day. If I was dealing with an office that was generally more efficient, I might wait up to more like 60 days out.

Good luck!

[connorsmommy1999]

OK so here is what I dont understand...

Do I need to have the APPLICATION in before the expiration date or do I need to have the APPROVAL back before the expiration date??


the difference is quite huge

also, if I apply for the extension and then we get our BC and PINK before we get the newer 171H have I just messed things up??

[DPline]

You need to have applied before the expiration date. You must have requested your one time free extension and submitted the appropriate paperwork prior to the 171H expiring.

And if you have the BC and Pink before the new 171H is issued it won't matter. It won't mess anything up.

[connorsmommy1999]

OK thank you SO much! that makes everything much clearer (and was more than our atty knew! - you ROCK!)


It took 30 days from our re-fingerprint date to get our new 171H...but the original 171H took 11 weeks.
Should I assume they are 'faster' -based on the 30day number or that they are slow - based on the almost-3 months?

thanks again!

[DPline]

The thing is, fingerprint approvals are generally faster than a 171H. (A simpler process.) So I am not sure I would use that as a basis.

And processing times can change dramatically within a single office. And often quickly. This was back in 2003, but a friend got her 171H in less than six weeks in June/July, and ours took 3.5 months after our application in late Sept.

(How is that for a non-commital, non-answer?! )

Honestly, what I would do, is post on the Immigration and China and Russia forums, asking if anyone has received 171H approval from your local office recently and what their processing time was. Just to get an idea of where they are at currently. With the long wait times for China, someone there might even be able to give up 171H renewal processing time for your office.

[pjeaton]

I would agree with others to go ahead and apply for your free extension. The same thing happened to us back in January/February of this year while waiting for our Mixco BC. We had our request to our USCIS (Nebraska) Office 6 weeks prior to our expiration. Thankfully I had the email of the USCIS person who does the approval because our initial request got "lost" in their mail room for over 3 weeks even though we sent it certified mail/return receipt requested. I ended up dropping off copies of our request in person at the request of our USCIS person. We emailed weekly and got our approval one week before our I-171H expired. Thankfully our PINK appt was 4 days before our I171H expired but I was so glad that we were covered either way.

Patty

[susy...patience]

I would absolutely start now....I know that it costs money but right now in in unlikely event that you aren't home before 171 expires then as I understand it US says it won't let you adopt....

Why take that risk?

(But please understand that I was the one who didn't breathe deeply about my adoption until we not only landed in US but made it through immigration......and I willingly paid money before recent deadline to file another171 for another country as a backup plan just in case things didn't work out).

[connorsmommy1999]

Thanks everyone


Susy, the reason I was thinking of holding off isnt just about money....our social worker wants many many documents re-done in order to do the updated homestudy. we're going to have to take time off work to get it all together but we're also going to have to take time off for PINK and that means our time staying home with DD is going to be shorter.

so it's money, time off ---blah blah blah.

but I also thought that if I sent in the request then we'd be "on hold" until it was renewed. so, what I had thought was if the original expired in Nov but I sent a request in Sept then we'd be out of luck and couldnt bring her home until the renewal came through ---which isnt the way it works from what I've read on here. I think that is what I was stressing about the most.

thanks everyone!!!!

[brink]

Just be certain that your entire home study, and not just the update gets sent in. We were needing to renew near the end of our process. I sent in the request and paperwork, got our home study updated...and somehow our agency only sent the update. They need the original and the update, as updates don't contain all the info they want. All along I thought we were just waiting for the renewal to show up. In the meantime, the US embassy neglected to tell our agency, the hogar director, or us of our pink appt. We missed it! I was able to get through to the embassy and beg the woman to give us a new appointment, since our I71H expired in two weeks. She told me they don't do appointments over the phone, and suggested I email. I let her know how desperate we were to come before expiration and also reminded her that NO one had told any of the three entities mentioned above about our appt. in the first place, not an email to anyone. At that time, we still didn't know yet that our renewal was on hold for lack of the entire homestudy. As it turned out, by the grace of God, she gave me an appointment three days before our old I71H expired. Way too close for comfort. When we got home with our new daughter (11yrs old and wonderful), we got notice that our renewal was on hold. I cancelled the renewal. It was all a miracle, except for the embassy goof up!