A Fine Brick Wall

We seem to have reached a major roadblock in terms of our I-600a extension. This form is one we file with Citizenship and Immigration to be cleared in advance to bring an orphan into the country. We were approved over a year ago, but after a certain period of time the approval expires and you must apply for an extension. We did this in September. We know that our application was received -- we were smart enough to have delievery confirmation -- but from there its all a mystery. The process ideally takes about two weeks in our state. We should have received our approval letter (I-171h) by the beginning of October. Now it is the end of Decmeber and there is no sign of it.

I contacted them at the end of October and since that time have been told on a weekly basis that we are approved and our form is in the mail. About two weeks ago, when there was still no sign of our letter, I enlisted the help of our social worker. She is now getting the exact same run-around. They would not give her any information but to say that they would resend the form. Last week they even went so far as to confirm our address and tell us that the form was going out that day. Over a week later, we still haven't seen it. Their office is three hours away.

Nobody knows what is really going on. It is completely absurd that such a routine process would be so messed up. I almost wonder if somebody there doesn't like us for some reason. We may never know, but we need that form.

When a family is placed on the waiting list, the understanding is that they will have this letter in hand by the time they reach the top. With over 20 families on the girl's list, signifying months of wait time, its not a big deal to have the process done in time. It is, however, a stated requirement to have this form to complete the referral process. I'm not sure what this means for our case. I've been keeping our case worker up-to-date, so she knows we're trying. If it comes down to it, we will seriously drive over there and pick up the silly form -- that is, if they'll let us.

Would you please pray specifically for this form? Also that we wouldn't be anxious -- we really feel like we've hit a brick wall. As with our referral, we must essentially sit and wait through the holidays, because if things weren't moving at this government office during normal days, I can only imagine how difficult it will be to navigate during these next two weeks. Our social worker and case worker are also out of the office until the 5th. I officially hate waiting!