[nifer]

Hi,

How long is the in country stay in Vietnam? My agncy is telling me 10-14 days however, I am hearing stories of 5 + weeks on the internet. YIKES!!!! Please tell me this not typical.

This is frightening me because we have 2 bio boys and my husband travels for a living. We cannot afford for the entire family travel Vietnam so we decided that I would travel and he would take his vacation weeks to stay with our boys. He only has 3 vacation weeks so we would in a real bind if I was gone longer than 3 weeks.

Thanks in advance for your held!
Jennifer

[jpeel99]

My agency is telling me 3 weeks and they are trying to make it a little bit shorter.

[r_stewart]

Our agency is telling us to plan for 2 to 3 weeks and I hear stories ranging from 2 to 5 weeks.

[ksquilter72]

The typical travel time for our agency has been just short of three weeks, with the longest being 3 weeks 4 days (but that was when the program had just reopened).

[ChrisO]

Our agency said to be prepared for 2wks, but possibly up to 3. We were there 3wks.

[adoptvietnamblog]

Hi Jennifer,
About 3 weeks is the norm. We were there one day shy of 3 full weeks. A lot depends on when your appointments fall (i.e. if things fall on a Friday, you have to wait the weekend without anything really "happening").
I would suggest getting in touch with other families from your agency who traveled recently and see what their experiences were like. If there's no need for investigation (due to unethical agency practices for example), the likelihood of you needing to stay over a month are slim.
have a wonderful trip!!!

[r_stewart]

I just got an update email telling us we can start eh passport process for the baby before our arrival cutting out 3-5 days.

Normally, I guess, this happens once you travel and after the G&R Ceremony.

[nifer]

That's great information. How do you start the process early?

[sak9645]

Do not expect that much can be done with the visa process by starting before you get your child. One of the most important aspects of the visa process involves the U.S. Embassy looking at the child's paperwork (which you won't have until you adopt him/her) and determining whether the child meets the definition of an "eligible orphan" and whether the adoption was handled in a legal and ethical manner.

Because there have been cases, both before the shutdown of the country and after the reopening, of visa fraud and other illegal and unethical acts, the U.S. Embassy tends to be fairly thorough in its review of the child's paperwork. There also may be a tendency of the Embassy to look with special care at applications where certain adoption agencies and certain in-country facilitators were used.

Sharon