My understanding is that one submits the I600 application (with a $460. fee) and then waits for the agency to respond with an invitation for fingerprinting. In the meantime, I was advised that I should get the homestudy started and that, hopefully, its completion will coincide with the fingerprinting. The questions is, if the homestudy (and other documents) is only good for 6 months and the wait periods in some countries is 6-9 months, does one have to continually update? I am so confused.

[teranga]

Hi. I'm not sure what the expiration is with all the documents, but my homestudy is good for 18 months. I think that's pretty standard--there aren't many countries with which you can complete an adoption in 6 months. (BTW, the I-600a went up--it's $525 now if I'm remembering correctly). You should have plenty of time to complete your adoption before your homestudy expires!

[bekalynn]

The wait definitely does depend on the country you are hoping to adopt from!

We are still in the process of doing our homestudy, but we submitted our I600a immediately. We received our request for fingerprinting maybe a week later. Once our homestudy is complete, we will submit that to the USCIS to get our 171-H. Our homestudy will be good for 18 months as well.

DH and I are adopting from Colombia, so we are aware that there may be a chance that we will have documents expire, but that is something we are willing to work with - but you should be good in most cases.

[2Bulgarianbeauties]

Depending on your country, there will be documents that expire every 6 months, so yes, you will update certain documents 1 or 2 times before your adoption is complete. Like the others said, your homestudy should not expire, but watch the eperation of your agencies liscense. If it expires before your adoption is complete you will have to resubmit that.

The papers that usually expire are your medical letter, your FBI clearance and your local police clearance. So, about 1 month before they expire, you get new letters, get them apostilled, and send them off. It is just part of the process.

Kay

[ljs]

The 18 months is how long the homestudy is good for the US immigration system (INS, BCIS, USCIS, whatever their name is now). The expiration for the country you are adopting from may be different. My dossier documents (including the homestudy) are only good for 1 year for my country. It is seperate from the requirements for BCIS. I have not ever heard of a country where a homestudy is only good for 6 months but it may be out there. I am lucky that my social worker is only charging a nominal amount to do an update and then I will be good for another year. If the adoption takes another year I may have gone crazy and not be able to get another homestudy approval! I did also have to get a new employment letter, local police clearance and medical check, both for the homestudy update and for the dossier.

[abcolo]

Our homestudy was completed on December 7, 2004. We are waiting for a girl referral from Korea. We were told to apply for the I600 in the Spring since we won't get our referral until late fall or even Christmas. I wish it were done, but don't want it to expire.

Andrea

[piadopt]

Once we've completed our dossier, how do we know documents have expired? Should I keep my own list...or does someone magically remind me?

[2Bulgarianbeauties]

You need to keep your own list. You need to find out from your agency which documents will expire, and at what point. make sure you have them updated, notaraized and apostilled in enough time to get to your country before they expire. This usually means you are updating documents every 4 1/2 months or so.

Also, watch the expiration date of your social worker and agency licenses. You will need to send over updated copies if they expire before you are complete.

Also, it is smart to go ahead and send in updated tax forms once you have filed. most countries will require your 2004 tax forms if it is March of 2005.

Kay

[piadopt]

whew! thanks - very useful information.