Friday, June 15, 2007

Keep 'em crossed!

I did something crazy yesterday. I sent off an I-600a application WITHOUT A FEE! I don't know if we will get a free extension or not but this is the only way I know to find out for sure. When I called our USCIS orphan officer back when the fee increase and free renewal were announced and spoke to him and asked about whether the free renewal is effective immediately or only for those applicants whose forms expire after July 30th (ours expires on July 7th), it was the first he had heard of either. Nice. He said to send it in and 'see what happens' so I did. I also included a cover letter thanking them very kindly for listening to adoptive parents and attempting to streamline our process somewhat. I also quoted to them the part from the Press Release dated May 29th that states that adoptive parents may now receive one free extension of the I-600a approval if they have not yet filed an I-600. To me, that means us. Keep your fingers crossed! If I haven't heard anything by mid-July, I'll call and see what's up. Worst case, I'll send a check in before the fee increase takes effect on July 30th.
In other adoption preparation news, we applied for the kids' passports MONTHS ago and haven't seen them yet. We did receive our home study update yesterday, though, and went out and got round #2 of Hep B vaccinations to celebrate!!!

3 comments:

Ava's family said...

Man, that would be great if they don't make you pay!!! We finished round #2 of the Hep B a month or so ago. We have to finish the Hep A & B in August...FUN! Still haven't done the passports for the kids, but plan on doing it before school starts.

jennifer said...

It's definitely worth a shot. I am still loving this song you have playing. It's an extra treat everytime I check your blog. I need to learn how to do that.

Mom 2 six said...

Hope it goes through.
Good to get your ducks in a row now rather than scrambling in the end.