ZigZag and Back Again

At the beginning of the process, there are actually a few varieties on how you can begin the process. In my research I've found that different agencies list the first few steps slightly different from each other. And each strategy will work, it just depends on which agency you are working with. For instance, we had already contracted with our homestudy agency by the time we contracted with our international agency. And for them, that was slightly out of order. No harm, no foul because we were still early enough along in the homestudy.

Ok, so the two agencies had to sign an interagency agreement. Then, while the homestudy was still in process, we had to apply with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Here is the tricky part. You have to send in the I-600A form early enough in the homestudy process that it can be processed simultaneously so that you do not waste time. But, if you get it there too early, you may still lose time because you cannot get your fingerprinting appointment until the homestudy is complete. These interwoven steps still stress me out. So being at my most motivated and efficient ever, I was checking off the steps. And when we got our letter from USCIS with our appointment to come get fingerprinted, I was elated. At that point, we thought the homestudy was ~90% complete. The report was written, but it had not been passed off to the state director to move along the path. I don't know, just go with it. So anyway, we were allowed to bring an unofficial copy with us that day to Memphis (I'm thinking this was mid June 2005). And poor Doug, here is a great example of me charging along completing the steps while he just did as I said. He just went with the momentum. So I guess all I ever said was, "We're going to get fingerprinted in Memphis." I guess I never went into complete detail about it being at USCIS. So when we pulled up and his comment was, "Whoa, there sure are a lot of foreign people here," I just about died. Now it's extremely funny.

When we left Memphis that day, I was on Cloud 9. I was feeling so good about how fast we were jumping through the hoops. The next step was to wait for the all powerful 171-H form back from USCIS. This is THE form that gets you onto the waiting list! And it takes a long time to get. So the next step during that time is to prepare the dossier, which is the packet that goes to the country. Here is where you need a tip from someone who has been there, done that. Request the list of needed documents for the dossier while you are doing your homestudy. There is no reason to have to request your birth certificate from the state office more than once. Sheesh, people.

Next up: Dossier Queen and one heck of a bitch slap.