Yesterday was a huge day! We received our I-800A approval - specifically a 797C. This is the crucial paperwork from immigration (ours) that allows us to submit our dossier to Bulgaria and get on their waiting list, officially the Registry. There are three more "routine" steps: 1) Receive results of our 2nd HIV test - the 1st was 3 months ago. I could go on about the likelihood that adoptive parents are at that high a risk, but... 2) Send everything left (four documents, including a copy of the 797C) off to Raleigh for apostille - fancy for verify that we saw a real, commissioned Notary Public. 3) Send everything we've collected off to our agency for review and submission to their/ our partner agency, in Bulgaria for translation. Then, they submit it to the Ministry of Justice. Whew!
So, we're still pretty glowy! It took less than 2 weeks (not even business weeks!) to receive our 797C from USCIS after our fingerprint appointment. (and that was our 2nd fingerprinting too) And we got to do it here, instead of Charlotte! And quick, courteous, informative service... Just doesn't come close to lining up with our last experience, at any stage...
We are expecting something in the 18 month range from the actual registration with Bulgaria's MOJ. There have been a couple significant changes that may speed things up, but we are perfectly okay with it taking as long as it's supposed to. We only get to enjoy Tam solo for however long this takes.
So, enjoy the recent pictures of the boy (singular only for a limited time!):
