Ins I-600a

Roger, when we filled out our INS form we put Guatemala. Our home study was just sent in last week and I asked the SW to include a cover letter saying we wanted to switch to Panama. There is a form (with a $140 fee), but that form says it's for people who already have their approval and 171H. I'm hoping the way we're doing it will work, since we don't have BCIS approval yet. Joan:rolleyes:

It seems that nobody has a concrete answer as to what to do. We are going to try your suggestion and see what happens. That is if the homestudy has not been sent yet. It was suppose to be done last Friday but every time they have given us a date it has not happened.

adamas, Why don't you just call the free BCIS (INS) helpline about switching from Guatemala to Panama and whether or not there's a fee? BCIS Helpline: 1 (800) 375-5283 (found on BCIS Web site)

Our SW included a cover letter with our homestudy explaining that we were switching from Kazakhstan to Panama. She also personally called the BCIS person she deals with to make sure he/she was aware that we were switching. What concerns me more is that your SW didn't make this suggestion. I hope for your sake that he/she is not who your working with for your actual placement. I don't know where you're located, but from the time our homestudy was submitted to BCIS with the cover letter explaining the change to the time we got our letter directing us to have our fingerprints done was only 1 week. We're in Chicago and our WPA coordinated tells me that BCIS in Chicago is pretty quick. We did our fingerprints yesterday. Good luck! Renn

Our Homestudy agency has been very slow. Just yesterday they emailed us the updated homestudy which we have waited two weeks for. It was the same, just Panama where Guatemala used to be. That should give you an idea of what we are dealing with there. I spoke with Jim at WP today and he told me to send a letter to BCIS explaining the country we are going with. Remember we put "unknown at this time" under country of choice. So that is what I'm going to do. We turned in the I-600A back in January and were fingerprinted in March. So all BCIS is waiting for is the homestudy. We hope it won't take long for approval from the time the homestudy is received. We are in the Atlanta area. Thanks to all for all the help. Roger

By the way....I did call BCIS and after a long wait spoke with a very nice lady. She only advised that she did not see any form we needed to fill out to choose a country. After that she had no idea what to do. I tried.

Roger, As you are in the Atlanta area and with WPA, I have a sneaking suspicion we may be using the same homestudy agency. If so, I'm suprised because they have been really great with us. In fact, they have jumped through hoops for our three country changes and need for re-fingerprinting. Our homestudy is over a year old, and so we are actually having a follow up with our SW tomorrow. She will make the change to Panama then as well. Here's the contact our homestudy agency gave us for Atlanta, she was really helpful when I called. Officer Honor at 404-331-1031 ext. 5117 We have to be re-fingerprinted this week while my husband is home on leave, and fill out the change country form at the same time. Officer Honor gave me a name of someone to talk to onsite, and told us to call her immediately if we had any problems when we got there. Good Luck! Kirsten