January 1999
01.19.1999 Started research!
01.22.1999 Ordered I-600A from INS Website, order HERE
01.24.1999 Subscribed to APC, email community
February 1999
02.02.1999 Rec'd I-600A packet
02.09.1999 Overnighted I-600A to INS
02.12.1999 Received Fingerprint Letter from INS
March and April 1999
Work on Formal Application (autobiographies, pictures, etc.)
Home Study Updated (we already had a current home study)
May 1999
05.07.1999 Formal Application Approved
June 1999
06.00.1999 Home Study to Dillon International
06.16.1999 Home Study Approved
06.23.1999 Recieved Dossier Instruction Packet
06.24.1999 Home Study to INS
July 1999
07.01.1999 Began certification and consularization of all documents
(I highly recommend FedEx!!)
07.23.1999 Received I171H from INS--Yippee!!
August 1999
08.19.1999 Dossier to Dillon International
08.23.1999 Dossier sent to Beijing, China
08.26.1999 Dossier received in Beijing, China
08.30.1999 DOSSIER LOGGED IN to the CCAA in Beijing, China
December 1999
12.00.1999 Letter to Family and Friends
April 2000
04.13.2000 REFERRAL!!! 227 days after DTC date
04.18.2000 Acceptance of referral sent to CCAA
May 2000
05.03.2000 Package arrived somewhere in China per USPS website
05.05.2000 Visa Apps Rec'd at Chinese Consulates
05.10.2000 Visa's arrived via FedEX
05.18.2000 Travel Approval rec'd
June 2000
06.02.2000 Fly to Beijing, China
06.07.2000 Meet Elizabeth Xiaochai in the city of her birth, Maoming
06.09.2000 Promise to the Chinese officials that we would always love and care for our daughter
06.15.2000 Left Guangzhou for home
TIPS
The documents must be processed through the listed steps within the states where they originated. (Don's employment letter originated in Texas; therefore, it had to be notarized by a Texas notary, certified by the Texas Secretary of State and consularized by the Houston Chinese Consulate even though we live and work in another state.)
Make sure the notaries are using "good stamps" which the secretary of state will approve.
(We had to re-do three documents when the notaries were using "unapproved" stamps! Your Secretary of State will be able to tell you what they deem acceptable. It differs by state.)
The Paperchase consists of several months of document gathering. The documents included in our dossier are: birth certificates, marriage license, employment/salary verifications, an approved home study, medical exams verifying our health, local police letters indicating whether or not we have had any brushes with the law, statement of assets/debt and a "Letter To China" explaining why we want to adopt a child from China.
All of these documents are notarized (local notary), certified (by the Secretary of State) and consularized (by the Chinese Consulate)--only then can they become the all important "dossier".
