We've Got Gold!

Today we travelled to Philadelphia for my sworn statement interview with the Adoption Officer at USCIS. This was our last hurdle before we head to Vietnam. We arrived early (1.5 hours)and had to wait downstairs in the waiting area before the guards would let us upstairs at the designated time. Knowing how important this was we were a little nervous they would not let us upstairs. We did finally get up there, and were called almost immediately. We went in and when we sat down the Adoption Officer pointed to a stack of I797C's on his desk, "That's gold." he said. "When you leave here today you'll have yours too." (BIG SMILE) And he was right! We have gold!! We have our extension. For those who don't know the I797C is the approval you need for an advance processing of an orphan petition. This is needed for our Visa interview in Hanoi.

Now let me tell you about our experience. Everyone knows I was a little leary of going from a few communications with him. But, today we saw a very caring man who took his job seriously. The stack of I600A extensions must have been 12 inches high. The fingerprint extensions, 6 inches and the new cases about the same. He is very busy and each case is very important. For those working through this office you should know that he understands the urgency of each case and while we want it right now, he will have it to you when you need it. While we were there he took care of my fingerprint extension, our approval extension and sent off the Visa 37 cable. Gold!