Quick note to prospective parents (and some folks "enjoying" the long wait times): the fees for filling out I600 & I600A forms are going up. You can read the new fee schedule on this pdf from our beloved Homeland Security office.

I read about this in a discussion on the forums.adoption.com message board, which may carry on to include more detail as time goes by. The person making the post there says waiting parents who've already completed an I600 can get one (1) free renewal, which, given the current wait time, will probably be necessary.

But if you're not there yet, the price is jumping up to $750 + $80 for each person over 18 who lives in your house.

For those not actually in the paperchase business, the I600A form is the piece of paper you send to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, what was once the INS) to ask them, "Please may I bring a wickle child what has no legal parents into this country," (only one is well advised to do so not using a comedy British accent) and you send them your fingerprints (which is what they're calling "biometrics" on that pdf) and home study and cross your fingers and hope for the best.

It's officially called "Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative" and is six [expletive deleted] pages long. For almost all adoptions from China, you're actually using an I600A, which stands for "Advance" and, paradoxically, means you haven't actually met the prospective bundle of joy ahead of time. It's basically the same form.

Slightly more on this here, in the adoption.com glossary.

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As a side note that I figure will interest those of you who'd be reading this far - little birds have told me that officials from the CCAA will be touring American adoption agencies over the next couple of months. I'll share more details as I get 'em, but if you haven't heard from yer agency about some kind of event already, maybe you will in days to come. I'm thinking there'll be plenty of public events, because (my impression is) that's what these administrators are here for - checking out the agencies and their clientele.