USCIS Price Changes

Robin- Looks like you are enjoying the roller coaster ride of adoption. How fun - relax and remind yourself that good things will come to those that wait. Very little in this process can be controlled so even control freaks (like me) need to roll with it. Every day is something new. It calms down after the paperwork is submitted but then it is the big - unknown wait for referral. One thing to check out (warning you may get different answers on this one). If you submit the I600A this week without the homestudy (which is now required for processing) will they hold it for processing (waiting for the homestudy) at the old prices? I know when we filed ours - it was with the homestudy attached and the whole fee - including fingerprints up front but it appears some people don't do it that way. Some small Homeland security offices may let you get your fingerprinting done - yet this week - bigger offices require an appointment that they set up. I don't know if you can ask your agency this or call the homeland security office. Personally, if you are going to a large volumn office - I wouldn't even attempt this - I would pay the higher fees and submit the complete package. I can tell you that you can't just walk in and ask the question at the office - when we went last month it was a major adventure. Lots and Lots of security and we had to show our paperwork just to get in. It was like going threw airport security. Tammy Paperwork in Panama - waiting for DNA approval Faith International

My adoption case worker said to send the whole amount (including fingerprint fees) now at the lower price. She thinks they have a "postmark by" kinda rule that grandfathers folks in, even without our homestudy attached.

Is the "whole application, including homestudy" a new USCIS requirement??? We sent our I-600A in WITHOUT the homestudy because that's what the cover sheet on the I-600A told us to do to speed up the process! I also sent a cover letter in saying that we would forward the homestudy just as soon as it was completed. When I did (Dec. 17, 2002), our I-600A was approved just 6 days later (Dec. 23, 2002)! So unless the I-600A form tells you that you MUST send EVERYTHING in with the full payment at the same time, I'm with your caseworker: just send in the application, the $460, plus the $100 for fingerprints (for 2 of you), plus the various documents (birth cert, marriage cert, etc.) along with a cover letter re: your homestudy coming later. Just be sure to pay with a cashier's check (money order)! Our I-600A form said a personal check was OK, but the Indianapolis INS office sent our entire package back and said "Cashier's Check/Money Order ONLY!" ;)

We also sent our I600-A in without the homestudy. We sent a personal check and they cashed it. When we did send in the homestudy they approved us within two weeks.

We sent in the I-600A with full payment (personal check) and the letter saying the homestudy would follow when completed. Unfortunately many offices are now waiting to get the homestudy before giving you a fingerprint appointment, including ours (Milwaukee). They held our documents (but cashed the check of course) until they received our homestudy. We then got our fingerprint appointment. We received our INS approval within about 6 weeks of the homestudy being sent in (2 weeks to get the appt letter, 2 weeks from getting the appt letter to the appt and then another 2 weeks to process the prints). Although I have heard that other offices take much longer. It's a longer process now because you can't do the homestudy and be in the process of getting INS approval at the same time. I would still send it in without the homestudy, some offices may process without it.

Isn't it odd how all states handle their NATIONAL forms differently?! You would think there would be a national standard for this sort of thing, but afterall, for an organization that is now on its third name in just a few months (ha!), why should this be surprising? ;) Just to show you how even further "out there" Indiana is: 1. the Secretary of State's office doesn't charge ANY kind of fee for putting apostilles on our documents (that's a GOOD thing) 2. we got our FBI fingerprint appointment letter within a month after submitting our I-600A WITHOUT the homestudy, so our FBI clearance was in before the homestudy (but also a good thing) 3. we got our I-171h approval letter within 6 days of sending in our homestudy (definitely a good thing) 5. But...they wouldn't take our personal check, and wouldn't even begin processing our case until we sent the entire thing back (paying the FedEx postage again) with a cashier's check for $560. Go figure. (And that cost us a few weeks.) All in all, though, we've been very pleased with Indiana's efficiency... Go Hoosiers! (Hey, we're not so "back woods" afterall! Well, at least not re: international adoption processing.) :D

I'm moving to Indiana!! LOL Florida charges $10 per document for apostilling. Waaaaaaaaaaaah. I'm so into CYA that I want a 2nd copy of my apostilled dossier to carry with me to Panama, personally. I know we're supposed to have a copy with us, but I don't think that copy has to be apostilled. Cha-ching! Robin