Hello Everyone!
Well, the biggest news of this past month is the I-600A resolution recently issued by the U.S. Office of Citizenship and Immigration aka USCIS. I would like to continue our thanks to you the families, for your participation in Joint Council’s Call to Action regarding this issue. Joint Council had been working with USCIS to reach a resolution for the past 6 months but once the call to action was issued, with the help our adoption community, this resolution was reached within a matter of days. Great job!!
The resolution passed by USCIS will allow families an additional extension of their I-600A; families who filed their I-600A prior to April 1, 2008, will now be eligible for two extensions of this form. The first one is free, for the second extension, the family must submit the appropriate filing and biometrics fees. Therefore, in order to maintain their status as ‘grandfathered’ cases, families with non-expired Form I-600A approvals must request a one-time free extension. Then, prior to the expiration of the one-time free extension, families must file a new Form I-600A and pay the appropriate fee.
If the adoption from a Hague convention country is not completed after the third filing of the I-600A, the family would then be subject to the guidelines of the Hague Adoption Convention and would then need to file the I-800A. Families with a Form I-600A approval that has expired and who have not obtained an extension or filed a new Form I-600A, will also need to undertake the Hague process.
I talk with many families that are in debate about whether to continue to file the extensions or to simply let their I-171H/I-797C expire and renew this form once they are closer to the Matching Room. Please know that either option is fine, but if you choose to let your current I-171H expire, you will need to file the I-800A to receive your I-797C approval. Families that file the I-800A are subject to the guidelines of the Hague Adoption Convention. I think the main thing the families I talk with seem to be worried about – at least those families that submitted their dossier prior to May 1, 2007 (when the new eligibility guidelines for adoption from China went into place) - is whether or not they will be subject to China’s new eligibility guidelines.
Rest assured that we have verified with the National Benefits Center (NBC), that families preparing to file the I-800A that also submitted their dossier to China prior to May 1, 2007, will have their home study reviewed by the NBC under the China eligibility guidelines in place at the time of dossier submission. Families who filed their dossier prior to China’s new eligibility guidelines, implemented May 1, 2007, would not be subject to review under these new eligibility guidelines. Only families with dossiers submitted after this date would be subject to the new eligibility guidelines.
The I-800A form is new and different and may be a little intimidating, but these changes that are in effect as a result of the Hague Adoption Convention are for the benefit of both parents and children in the international adoption community. I think once the adoption community as a whole obtains a better understanding of these guidelines it will be a much smoother process.
Take care,
Beth Breedlove Reeves
Associate Director of Client Service & Relations
Great Wall China Adoption |
