Expired Fingerprints and Travel Approval

Did you know that your fingerprints expire?  According to the U.S. government, they're only good for 15 months.  Our fingerprints are scheduled to "expire" on February 4, yet we're looking at returning home on February 12.  That's that not going to work in the government's eyes.  So Chris and I showed up at the USCIS office at our designated appointment time and had our "biometrics" retaken.  It was a relief knowing that this is all a formality and this time around we're not waiting for any approval or clearance.  And unlike every other step in this process, it was free of charge!

The woman taking Chris's fingerprints asked him the ages of the children we're adopting.  He got the usual reaction we get when folks hear we're adopting a two-year-old and nearly three-year-old.  After patiently listening to how much work that age is, he waited for just the right moment to deliver the news that we're well-acquainted with the age group since we also have a three-year-old and a five-year-old at home.  "You're crazy!" she cried with both disbelief and enthusiasm.  Yes, perhaps we are.

Back at work, I finally received the exciting and very much anticipated confirmation that we received our Travel Approval (TA) from the Chinese government.  The document had arrived in our agency's office in Texas yesterday afternoon.  My China adoption Facebook groups have been abuzz since the day after Christmas with news of Travel Approvals being mailed out, but since our agency was closed that day, no one could confirm for me whether or not our TA had been issued and was on its way.  There are a couple of us on the exact same timeline as we come down the homestretch, and we celebrate each other's progress and lift each other up during set-backs.  The CCCWA had announced a month ago that they'd be shutting down their computer system the week after Christmas to complete a system upgrade and all of us waiting our Travel Approvals have been hoping the CCCWA employees would want to clear their desks before the big shut-down.  Miraculously, that seems to be what happened.

While it's super exciting to receive TA, the computer shut-down is putting a damper on us moving forward with travel plans.  We need to request not only a consulate appointment (CA), but also the dates in province when we pick up Matteo and Kiera.  The timing of all three appointments has to line up.  We can't request our provincial dates because of the shut-down, our agency said they wouldn't request our CA without the provincial dates confirmed and we can't book our flights until we have all these dates confirmed.  

I pushed back on my agency to at least schedule our consulate appointment.  That's what everyone else's agency is doing and I'm worried about getting an appointment on the day we want.  If not, we'll have to request one the following day, and if the not that, the next day and so on.  One woman got her third choice, which means an extra two days in China.  That's an extra two nights of hotel, two days of meals, two days of guide fees and so on.  Our agency is motivated to wait until they can schedule everything at once so they don't have to reschedule, but despite risking aggravating the people at our agency, I'm very motivated about saving money.  They relented and are requesting February 10, which will allow us to fly home on February 12.