The most common question we are asked about our adoption is, "When will you be traveling to China?" Unfortunately, we have been unable to answer that question specifically but have only been able to say, "We hope sometime in February." Well today we passed one of the last 2 major hurdles in finding out that answer. And that is, the Article 5 document from the US Consulate got issued!!! Here's an explanation of what an Article 5 is:
If the Consular Officer determines that the child appears eligible to
immigrate to the United States and that the information provided
indicates that the adoption process thus far has complied with the
Convention and IAA, he or she will notify the Convention country's
central authority by issuing an Article 5/17 letter. The Article 5/17
letter will inform the foreign central authority that U.S. competent
authorities have determined the prospective adoptive parents are
eligible and suited to adopt, that the child may enter and reside
permanently in the United States, and that the U.S. Central Authority
agrees that the adoption may proceed.
So the US has reviewed all of our paperwork and are now certifying to the Chinese government that we are good to go.
Here is the email we received:
Dear Adoptive Parent,
The Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU)
at U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou has finished processing your child's
Article 5, and your file is ready to be returned to your adoption
agency's facilitator today.
Next, your agency will deliver the Article 5 and
Letter of Seeking Confirmation to the China Center for Children's
Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA), which will issue the Travel Approval
(TA). The TA allows you to come to China to finalize
the adoption, so once the CCCWA issues the TA, your agency can email us
to request an immigrant visa appointment at the Consulate. When your
agency requests an appointment, they are required to submit your five
choices in rank order. The ACIVU strives to
schedule every family for their top appointment choice on which we
still have available visa appointments. We do not reserve certain days
for children of certain ages. All appointments are open to adopted
children of any age and medical condition, and they
are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. We then notify your
agency of the scheduled date and time.
The last and final step will be getting our Travel Approval (TA) from China which means that we can book our trip and we will finally know our date!
