USCIS Update #3: Request for Evidence

On Monday I felt uplifted.  Our social worker had followed up with the USCIS on our behalf and e-mailed us that our I-800A application had been forwarded to an immigration officer.  It had been 68 days of waiting.  I was feeling confident that our I-800A approval was imminent.  I couldn't fathom what they could find wrong with our application. 

I read the e-mail at my desk on Tuesday and let out an audible "No!"  The USCIS put a "Request for Evidence" on our application because they consider our nanny a household member and therefore requires her to undergo an interview with our social worker and biometrics with the USCIS.  The e-mail our social worker forwarded us from the immigration officer might as well have said, "Your adoption has been put on hold for the unforeseeable future."  I felt defeated as I thought about the few week's wait we had for the USCIS to issue the date for our biometrics appointment, the cold and snow that makes traversing the metro area for an in-person interview a nightmare and my nanny's new job where she had inflexible work hours and no leave yet accrued. 

I immediately called our social worker, but didn't reach her.  Then I noticed the immigration officer listed a phone number at the bottom of her e-mail, so I called her.  I explained that our nanny never lived with us and that she coincidentally no longer worked for us.  The officer said that by law, if a person provides childcare in your home, that person is considered a household member.  But if she no longer worked for us, we could send a letter explaining such and she'd accept a scanned copy of the letter.  However, since our home study mentioned the nanny, we need to have that amended.  Our social worker completed the amendment that afternoon, but the person who needs to sign off on it isn't back in the office until tomorrow.  Then it needs to be mailed to Chris and me, so we can sign it, mailed back to our agency and then back to the USCIS.  Which means it won't make it onto the immigration officer's desk until after Christmas.  Ugh. 

Other than shuffling a bunch of papers back and forth, and the waiting, the upside is upside is that this resolution requires little work on our part and doesn't inconvenience our former nanny.  Despite the low I felt yesterday, I'm now confident we'll have our I-800A approval around the start of the new year and we'll finally see the completion of our dossier.