It's Wednesday evening in Guangzhou. The girls are down for the
night. That's fun to say....the 'girls'. The past 30 hours have
tested us to the limits once again. Some of you may have been getting
some brief email updates from our parents asking for prayer regarding
some of the difficulties we've been having getting the last paperwork
in order for the US Consulate. This was a big deal since if the
Consulate doesn't have all the correct information, then they don't
issue Tori a Visa and she can't enter the US. Crazy. She is
officially declared our daughter in the People's Republic of China,
but until she gets a Visa, she is considered a foreigner without
permission to enter by Uncle Sam. At one point in the process my dad
told me we'd be better off just booking a flight to Mexico and then
driving Tori across the border. Sheesh.
Up until 10 hours ago, the US Consulate still said that we were not
approved to adopt Tori because she is a special needs child. See,
there is specific paperwork that you have to complete in order to be
approved to adopt a special needs child. We completed all the
necessary paperwork back in June and it was approved by the
Citizenship and Immigration Service in August. However, before that
approval gets to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, it must pass through a
black hole of a government office known as the National Visa Center.
Apparently, this government office is where sanity, competence,
compassion, civility, honesty and responsibility go to die. Do I
sound agitated? Sorry, this is still pretty fresh. And besides, an
oyster doesn't make a pearl if it isn't agitated.
Anyway, I don't want to bore you with details, but we attempted to
send our special needs approval to the US Consulate twice before we
left since they said it wasn't right the first time in August. Then
last week, we got word that the Consulate still didn't have us down as
approved for special needs. We rallied the troops at AWAA and
Congressman Wu's office even got involved. (Thank you Brian
Plinski). Our Social Worker at AWAA, Briana Curry was a champ. She
had a very sick child and was still pushing buttons for us. By Friday
of last week, it looked like all the effort paid off and the third
time was the charm. We had confirmation that the National Visa Center
had forwarded our approval to the US Consulate and all would be well.
Then, yesterday, we heard from our guides that the Consulate still did
not show we are approved to adopt a special needs child!
AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I blew my top. What in the world was going on. I
sent out a flurry of emails trying to chase down exactly what was
going on. I called the National Visa Center via Skype and tried to
sort things out with them. It was 5am on the west coast, so a bunch
of people woke up to a flood of Urgent email from me. With help from
our adoption agency, we went through the process of sending through
all the approvals again in record time as we only had about 16 hours
to get it done before our appointment with the Consulate. By 1:30am
Guangzhou time, it looked like we had verbal confirmation from the
National Visa Center that our information approved us to adopt a
special child and the the Consulate had everything they needed.
Exhausted, I went to sleep.
We woke up the next morning, had breakfast and waited by the phone to
see if our approval went through. We got a call from the Consulate
that said that there was still the same problem. There's a special
needs box on some mysterious form called 'Visa 37' that is supposed to
be checked. Ours was not. This was it for me. Right there in our
room I called the Consulate and reenacted the eruption of Mount St.
Helens. I told them that I was leaving China on Sunday with my family whether our paperwork was in order or not. If this wasn't resolved, I would call the local media outlets in Seattle and have US Immigration explain this debacle of incompetence to them when my own country doesn't let my daughter in. Tessa was praying. Christina was praying (while doing
laundry in the bathroom sink) and so many others were praying. The man I erupted at, Roy, said he didn't want me to have to do anything else. He would look into it and take care of it. Twenty minutes later, I called Roy back and he told me that everything is fine and we'll get Tori's Visa. God was working, even when the USCIS was not.
Thank God we get to bring Tori home on Sunday.
night. That's fun to say....the 'girls'. The past 30 hours have
tested us to the limits once again. Some of you may have been getting
some brief email updates from our parents asking for prayer regarding
some of the difficulties we've been having getting the last paperwork
in order for the US Consulate. This was a big deal since if the
Consulate doesn't have all the correct information, then they don't
issue Tori a Visa and she can't enter the US. Crazy. She is
officially declared our daughter in the People's Republic of China,
but until she gets a Visa, she is considered a foreigner without
permission to enter by Uncle Sam. At one point in the process my dad
told me we'd be better off just booking a flight to Mexico and then
driving Tori across the border. Sheesh.
Up until 10 hours ago, the US Consulate still said that we were not
approved to adopt Tori because she is a special needs child. See,
there is specific paperwork that you have to complete in order to be
approved to adopt a special needs child. We completed all the
necessary paperwork back in June and it was approved by the
Citizenship and Immigration Service in August. However, before that
approval gets to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, it must pass through a
black hole of a government office known as the National Visa Center.
Apparently, this government office is where sanity, competence,
compassion, civility, honesty and responsibility go to die. Do I
sound agitated? Sorry, this is still pretty fresh. And besides, an
oyster doesn't make a pearl if it isn't agitated.
Anyway, I don't want to bore you with details, but we attempted to
send our special needs approval to the US Consulate twice before we
left since they said it wasn't right the first time in August. Then
last week, we got word that the Consulate still didn't have us down as
approved for special needs. We rallied the troops at AWAA and
Congressman Wu's office even got involved. (Thank you Brian
Plinski). Our Social Worker at AWAA, Briana Curry was a champ. She
had a very sick child and was still pushing buttons for us. By Friday
of last week, it looked like all the effort paid off and the third
time was the charm. We had confirmation that the National Visa Center
had forwarded our approval to the US Consulate and all would be well.
Then, yesterday, we heard from our guides that the Consulate still did
not show we are approved to adopt a special needs child!
AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I blew my top. What in the world was going on. I
sent out a flurry of emails trying to chase down exactly what was
going on. I called the National Visa Center via Skype and tried to
sort things out with them. It was 5am on the west coast, so a bunch
of people woke up to a flood of Urgent email from me. With help from
our adoption agency, we went through the process of sending through
all the approvals again in record time as we only had about 16 hours
to get it done before our appointment with the Consulate. By 1:30am
Guangzhou time, it looked like we had verbal confirmation from the
National Visa Center that our information approved us to adopt a
special child and the the Consulate had everything they needed.
Exhausted, I went to sleep.
We woke up the next morning, had breakfast and waited by the phone to
see if our approval went through. We got a call from the Consulate
that said that there was still the same problem. There's a special
needs box on some mysterious form called 'Visa 37' that is supposed to
be checked. Ours was not. This was it for me. Right there in our
room I called the Consulate and reenacted the eruption of Mount St.
Helens. I told them that I was leaving China on Sunday with my family whether our paperwork was in order or not. If this wasn't resolved, I would call the local media outlets in Seattle and have US Immigration explain this debacle of incompetence to them when my own country doesn't let my daughter in. Tessa was praying. Christina was praying (while doing
laundry in the bathroom sink) and so many others were praying. The man I erupted at, Roy, said he didn't want me to have to do anything else. He would look into it and take care of it. Twenty minutes later, I called Roy back and he told me that everything is fine and we'll get Tori's Visa. God was working, even when the USCIS was not.
Thank God we get to bring Tori home on Sunday.
I can't wait to see you guys!
ReplyDeleteKeep on glowing in the dark,
Elora