After the Referral

Several people have asked me what will happen after we get our referral, so I thought I'd share the information here.

When we get the referral, we will get pictures, medical information, and other information that might include things like what he eats, when he naps, etc. This will actually be an "unofficial" referral, and after we tell the agency we agree to the referral, the agency presents our file and the baby's file to the Vietnam government, who then sends us the "official" referral. I think (hope) it will only take about 2-3 weeks to get the "real" one after we get the first one....although someone I recently spoke to said that it took 6 weeks for them.

Then we send more papers to the Vietnamese government saying we accept the referral, and start the US immigration process for the baby. Basically we have to inform the USCIS that we're adopting an immigrant and apply for his visa. Approval of the Visa can take up to sixty days, but will hopefully take only 3-4 weeks. During this time, the US government investigates the baby's background and makes sure the paperwork is accurate and that nothing unethical has occurred. This is a scary step, because in the past the government has denied a few Visas in the past.

After the Visa is approved, we will schedule the "Giving and Receiving Ceremony" in the baby's province in Vietnam. Hopefully this will take place a couple of weeks after the Visa approval. We will officially adopt the baby in Vietnam, and when we arrive in the US, he will officially be a US Citizen. Then we'll be able to re-adopt him in Texas which will allow him to have a TX Birth Certificate (in English). We can change his name at this point, too.

We are hoping to have a referral by the first week in February. If all goes well, we will travel 3-4 weeks after that. It would actually work out great to travel in June or July because Eddie and Lisa will be out of school anyway.