We received our 4 copies of the homestudy back from St. Mary's yesterday with instructions on how to fill out the I-800a form. Which I did sucessfully :-)
BUT, the instructions say to that a complete application includes "certified copies of dispositions regarding arrests" (FBI checks and child abuse clearances)
This did not come in the envelope from our homestudy agency nor St. Mary's. I e-mailed and got this response, "The home study’s supportive documents are not going together with the home study; the home study itself is the document you need."
I am soooo confused! I hate this feeling!
What goes with the I800a form other than the homestudy, birth/marriage certificates, and a check????
Then the other 3 copies of the homestudy... one is for us
the other 2 are part of the dossier...ok...but the police clearances and FBI clearance is supposed to be apstilled with the homestudy....
helpppppppppp
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I am pretty sure that you only send the I800a form, birth/marriage certificates and check. If you or your husband has any arrests you might have to write a letter explaining the arrest, if there are no arrests you should be alright with just the above papers. Your home study agency should have a copy of the police clearance (should include child abuse clearance) that they pulled on you, call them and make copies of it to get apostilled. You should have received a letter from the FBI stating that your record is clear, that needs to be copied and apostilled. Did Lina send you a list of everything that needs to be apostilled? If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call and I will try to talk you though it (989)450-4719. Some of the stuff was confusing to me also but Lina said everything was right, so I am willing to share what we did with you. Good Luck and just remember you are almost done, then the hard waiting starts!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure you got the correct info for your home study agency. Inside the home study they state that they seen the supporting documentation. USCIS site has instructions, this is the one thing that simple.
ReplyDeleteSo we have to send a copy of the birth certificate and marriage certificate with the I-800A? I wish we had been told that before we ordered our copies of them. Does it have to be a certified copy or can we photocopy one of the ones we already have?
ReplyDeleteHow long did it take for St. Mary's to review your homestudy? They have had ours for 1 1/2 weeks now and we were told it could be up to 4 weeks before our homestudy agency hears anything from them. I'm just curious how long it actually does take.
ReplyDeleteWe were told to get 4 copies of our birth/marriage certificates, but it turns out we needed 5: one to St. Mary's with the first application, one to our homestudy agency, 2 with the dossier, and one with the I-800a form.
ReplyDeleteSt. Msry's took 6 weeks to review, but really 4, because they didn't count the 2 weeks of Christmas break.
FYI- My homestudy agency sent the final approved by DCFS homestudy to St. Mary's on May 22...I suggest people e-mail to check on things that are just waiting for a signature, etc.
I have e-mailed my homestudy agency for the clearances...thanks for the advice everyone!
I have opened a FEDex account in order to arrange for the return postage for all the different places.
Oh, I was surprised that after I finish apstilling all this stuff in IL, I have to send the 2 homestudy copies to NC to be apstilled (where St. Mary's is located).
Thank you for the information. We also were told 4 copies for the same uses as the 4 you were told about. This is so different from when we adopted our daughter pre-hague treaty. I didn't know the homestudies had to be apostilled in in NC either. I assumed it would be done in GA where our homestudy agency is located.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you questions have been answered. Our child abuse clearance forms were only part of our dossier. With the i-800A we sent birth certificates and marriage certificates. Things may be different but we only apostilled our birth certificates in the states in which they were issued. We live in NC and the only thing we got apostilled here was our homestudy and that was because it was notarized by Lina. Most of our documents were apotilled in South Carolina because a friend at work (in SC did them for us....it was also only 2.00 per doc compared to 10.00 per doc in NC). I know this can be very confusing and some things are different in different states, but if you would like to talk PLEASE email me and I will send my phone number.
ReplyDeleteAs far as St. Mary's approving your homestudy's. Ours didn't take as long but that is because we live in NC and our social worker works for St. Mary's. She knew exactly how to do it so that it was done right the first time. When speaking with her she has said that it is a lot harder when it is done by another social worker (in terms of making sure everything is done correctly per the Hague).
With that said.....I KNOW how hard this is and that you just want everything done yesterday....I am still there waiting to go to Poland.
Once again I would be happy to talk to anyone!
Hang in there!
That would be really helpful if photocopies work Kara. Does anyone know if they do?
ReplyDelete