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Our dossier has been with out Agency for a month, just now they are reviewing it, the jerks would not touch it until I paid the bill in full despite the fact that I had already paid over 50% of all fees. Their excuse was that given the current economic situation they don't know which clients will end up completion the adoptions and which will drop out and they cannot assign resources until paid in full. Bunch of bull, probably pressed for cash and that's their way to squeeze it all out prematurely.
Anyway, lost a month already because had they looked at the dossier when I overnighted it, the dossier would have been in Colombia being translated already.
I anticipate that they will take another week or two with the dossier before sending it to Colombia for translation because I keep getting the same answer from everyone, waiting on so and so to confirm something.
Does anyone know the current turn around timeframe for a dossier translation in Colombia?
I found information online but the posts are outdated, the old posts say that it can sometimes take over a month for a dossier translation, that's unacceptable. I can translate the entire thing in 2 days tops. I actually began translating it but was told that it must be translated by someone in Colombia authorized by ICBF.
I am thinking, if current timeframes are unacceptable, I want to offer who ever is translating the dossier double their fee to get it done within what I consider a more acceptable turn around timeframe.
BTW, our I800A was approved in 8 weeks, satisfied with that turnaround time frame. It would have been approved in 4 weeks. I was forced to pay the agency $500 to review my home study to "make sure it was in compliance". USCIS said it was missing something, so in essence I gave away $500 because the "review" failed and lost another 4 weeks. Agency response, "we try our best".
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Sorry to hear that you are so disappointed with your agency. You can see our time line in our blog, it has every single date related to adoption steps.Anyway, if you are not comfortable with your agency, you should tell them. We knew the payment schedule and turn around times before signing the contract. BTW, I doubt I can translate our dossier in only 2 days!!! I guess we had more documents than you because our package was HUGE! I can't even imagine to do it in such a short time.
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Ours took 4 weeks back in 2006. I have a friend who just had hers done and it took 5 weeks. It is translated and then there are legal papers to do with it to be submitted, so I am sure it will take longer than 2 days. Ask your agency if they are working on any others first. That is why my girl friends took 5 weeks because they were working on others when hers got to Colombia.
We adopted last year and it seemed like it took FOREVER for our dossier to get translated. We submitted it to our agency in March, they had to review it and make sure there were no mistakes, ect..., then they sent it to Colombia for translation and I don't think the whole process was completed until May. I'm not sure if it was a problem with our agency (which has since closed) or if it was just a back up on the Colombia side. I can tell you that things do seem to move much slower there than here. Maybe a lack of personel and many, many dossier's to go through? Who knows. I'm not trying to discourage you, just letting you know what our experience was and that things in the international adoption world do seem to take much longer that it would seem that they should, so just try to muster up some extra patience! But of course, if you feel like your agency is being incompetent, that is another matter entirely and one that should definitely be addressed.
UNfortunately, it is the agency personnel's fault if it takes a long time. We hired a translator in Bogot, and she DID have it done in 2 days at a cost of $300. The translator DOES NOT have to be approved by ICBF. The translator must be approved by the Colombian Government and have a translator stamp issued by them. ICBF has nothing to do with this. There is a website that lists all translators. Agencies typically have a contract with one or two translators -- SOME OF THEM ARE NOT SO GOOD. WHen our agency had our dossier translated there were so many errors it was rejected by ICBF. We then paid for (out of our own pocket mind you) a second translation -- the one mentioned above.
Oh boy, don't get me started about agencies having contracts with specific incompetent people.
The agency charged me a fee to review my home study bc they did not have someone in NJ to perform it so a second agency did it. They did not review it very well, it was rejected by USCIS, so that was a delay, then during our dossier review this week the lady that was going to mail our dossier found more deficiencies and now we are forced to file amendments and updates with USCIS because the home study itself cannot be changed after USCIS approved it. all this could have been identified 4 months ago when I was charged for a REVIEW.
I thought we were on our way to Colombia soon but we hit neglegent, avoidable delays and there is nothing I can do about it. I thought about requesting my money back and switching agencies but that's just another delay.
You are going to like my next delay. The home study agency that we chose after our main agency located them for us, well, they do not require that you take online training prior to your home study being completed, they simply require that you commit to taking the training and signing such a commitment.
Well after 11 months after our agency found the home study agency, after all this time and was ready to supposed to be ready to be translated, they tell me that the main agency requires the online training for the home study. #1 they did not perform the home study, someone else did, if they expected the other agency to do things their way they should have provided a checklist to either me or the home study agency. #2 My home study review should have uncovered that we had committed to taking the training but had not taken it for the home study, there is an entire paragraph in the home study about this.
The last avoidable delay is even sillier. I was asked to an FBI background check. The check list they provided says and I quote "police background check needed, those in the US need FBI clearance. The agency stressed the FBI clearance, told me how to format the letter, helped me located the print cards, and reminded me about the FBI clearance at least twice. Well, now they tell me I also need local police clearance, what??? now you tell me!!
Agency tells me, calm down, it's just a letter and the PD dept will give it to you within 2 days.
After getting over it, I go down to my local PD station. Local PD dept. I say, sir, I am here to obtain a local police clearance, they go huh???? What's that. I further explain what I am required to obtain and the police officer with nearly 20 years of tenure in the city tells me they don't issue "local police clearances" never have.
He offer me a brochure for a State clearance, tells me, maybe this will work for you but we don't do local clearances.
Oh great for us, turns out State clearances are similar to FBI clearances and can take just as long.
So now, we face a 2-3 month delay not counting the translations.
Colombia literaly stops working in November so now we face the risk of our dossier not getting reviewed by ICBF until 2010 and they dont fully return back to work until sometime in February. Receptionist is there but not the main players.
So my checks have been cashed, I've had a bunch of avoidable delays and the it's only the adoptive parents that pay the price.
And I thought it was all going so smoothly.
Sumerce
UNfortunately, it is the agency personnel's fault if it takes a long time.
We hired a translator in Bogot, and she DID have it done in 2 days at a cost of $300.
The translator DOES NOT have to be approved by ICBF. The translator must be approved by the Colombian Government and have a translator stamp issued by them. ICBF has nothing to do with this. There is a website that lists all translators.
Agencies typically have a contract with one or two translators -- SOME OF THEM ARE NOT SO GOOD. WHen our agency had our dossier translated there were so many errors it was rejected by ICBF. We then paid for (out of our own pocket mind you) a second translation -- the one mentioned above.
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d5332
Colombia literaly stops working in November