April 09, 2009

A Slight Delay

It's been a rough couple days.
I'm okay. Now. Tuesday & Wednesday were a different story.
Let me start at the beginning.


Tuesday morning I received a call from the travel coordinator at our agency. She said we had a confirmed consulate appointment, for our first choice, May 6. We didn't expect to hear anything until Thursday, so I was a little surprised, and very excited. I was all ready to jump on that computer & start looking for plane tickets. It took me a minute to notice there was not the usual excitement in the coordinator's voice. I knew then something was wrong.

Apparently when they confirmed our appointment, the consulate in Guangzhou informed them that they had not received all our paperwork and would be unable to issue Kalia a visa to come back to the states. The only thing they had was our I-171h and fingerprints, which are current. What they need to issue the visa is the I-600A, which should have been forwarded from our local USC!S office, via the NV C in NH. Without this I-600A we are not allowed to make travel arrangements. I spent all day Tuesday on the phone....with USC!S, NV C...even a call to the consulate in Guangzhou. I emailed everyone I could think of. Of course, I got answers from NOONE (Well, noone that could really help me)! The NV C and the consulate were very helpful, and let us know that the missing paper should have been sent from the local office. Unfortunately there is absolutely NO WAY to get ahold of the local office, other than to schedule an appointment and make the 2 1/2 hour drive to talk to them in person (bunch of crap, I tell ya!). I was an absolute emotional mess! The tears were never-ending (and I was supposed to be working! Ha!)

So this is exactly what Dan ended up doing today. He drove up to talk to the officer, and I think we've gotten everything all straightened out. For some reason they did not send the I-600A to the NV C. They started off by telling me (Dan had them call & talk to me after what they were telling him didn't quite seem right) that they didn't have the I-600A. I said..."Oh no...if you didn't have the I-600A you wouldn't have issued me a current I-171". Then they story changed to they couldn't send everything to NV C because I hadn't sent them an updated homestudy. I told them the same thing....couldn't have issued an I-171 without an updated homestudy (anybody else wondering why I'm having to tell the USC!S office their own rules????). Then the story was I had sent them an update, but it was not an original copy. Uhhhh....Nope! We finally decided that I would overnight ANOTHER original of all the homestudies (2006 & 2008, and an original of the addendum we just had done), and that they had everything else they needed. If I could overnight this to them they would overnight it (at my expense, of course!) to NV C. Fine...whatever! Just get the necessary paperwork to Guangzhou so I can get my baby!

It sucks that we are being held up a week or so b/c of something our own government did wrong. It sucks that I did everything right and something still goes wrong! I realize people make mistakes...everyone does. But it still sucks!

After many (many, many, many) tears, I'm okay with the situation. I know there is a reason we hit a snag. I don't know what that reason is, and may never know, but I know there is one. I sent the package overnight to arrive by 10:30 tomorrow morning. She said she would get everything together and send it out that same day, and since I'm paying for overnight delivery NV C should have it by Monday morning. I have requested the local officer to include a note on letterhead asking NV C to expedite processing & delivery to Guangzhou. If all goes well, hopefully we'll receive confirmation of delivery to Guangzhou by the end of next week. Then we can make our arrangements. Finally!

We were scheduled to receive Kalia on Monday, April 27, and hope to still make that day. We will not be able to make the sight-seeing trip to Beijing prior to that day, but still plan to visit. We'll just have to do it at the end of the trip, instead of at the beginning. Luckily we're flexible, and try to go-with-the-flow.

I have faith that everything is going according to plan....just obviously not my plan. And that's o.k. because I know He's a much better planner than I'll ever be!

I'd appreciate any & all prayers!

5 comments:

  1. Hugs its stressful I know when dealing with all the last minute things. I ended up taking annual leave days to sort things out, with goverment idots who do not know their job properly!. Its fustrating but everything worked out OK in the end and we flew when planned:). These are the final hurdles to get over, and when you meet your beautiful daughter this will all become a distant memory:)

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  2. Oh you poor thing! You hang in there! As I know all to well, plans change and things do still work out. Many times better than they would have with the original plan :) You have climbed this very very tall ladder, don't stop now, ther are just a few more steps left!

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  3. Oh no. I would have been an absolute mess had that happened to me. I hope everything is worked out now. I will be praying for things to go smoothly from here on out!

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  4. Oh gosh that really really sucks! Praying you still get there on time!!!!!!!!! Seems the last bit of road down the journey is always the bumpiest!!! But it'll turn out fine in the end!

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  5. Oh my gosh, I would be beside myself!! So sorry this setback happened to you!

    Prayers & Hugs are being sent your way!

    Smiles! :o)
    Nikki

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