Finally . . . the Court Order!

We finally have the Permanent Guardianship Court Order!!! It is officially official!

Yeah!!! Yippee-Skippee!!!

We were sitting on pins-n-needles ALL day today - - - waiting, waiting and more waiting for the judge to issue the order. That was the absolute priority task of the day! Our "# in line" or "case to be heard" number was #82 and if you have been following along with the Pakistani court system, that is an "iffy" line-up number to make it into the day's cases to be heard. But . . . at around 4:50 p.m. (court closes at 5:00 p.m.) the judge finally decided that he would issue the order. Nothing like making us wait until the Last Minute!!! Yes, from 3:00 - 5:00 we were on "pins-n-needles"!!!

If the order wasn't issued today . . . there was a certainty that we probably would have not been able to make our return flights home on Thursday (10/15/09).

So, all we have to do now is visit the US Embassy tomorrow (10/13/09) and get Sweet Pea's visa issued! I have to tell you, I'm so glad we are finally almost there. We are hoping that the visa can be issued tomorrow, which is Tuesday or hopefully no later than Wednesday. Then, Thursday, we are on our way HOME! There is still a slight chance that the US Embassy will not be able to issue the visa in 1-2 days time, but we are going to try our best to make it all happen! Sweet Pea will bat those pretty brown eyes . . .

I'm so excited!!! Not that I haven't had a wonderful time in Pakistan, but I am just so ready to GO HOME!

We do have a little administrative task to do first thing in the morning - - we have to attest (certify) the copies of the court order for the US Embassy. That should be done around 9:00 a.m. Then we will leave for the US Embassy at 11:00 a.m. There is heightened security this week due to the recent current events in Pakistan, so we cannot be taken directly to the security gate at the US Embassy. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the shuttle station. We will have to go through a security checkpoint at the shuttle station, then ride a shuttle bus for 1 hour and be dropped off at the security gate of the US Embassy. Then we will have to go through another 20-30 minutes of security before being able to enter the US Embassy American Citizens Services Unit, hopefully making it by the 1:00 p.m. Adoption Interview appointment.

There we will present our final documents: Permanent Guardianship Court Order, I-864 form - Affidavit of Support for a US Permanent Resident and I-600 form - Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative. And then . . . Sweet Pea's Visa!!!

I promise, promise I will post pictures as soon as I can, but the next 2 days are jammed packed full of last minutes "tasks" before we leave. I am in the process of trying to decide on my favorites to post to the blog (it will be hard because there are sooo many!). And . . . honestly today was so stressful that I couldn't think of anything but the court order! I'm exhausted!

. . . But here is a "teaser" to hold you over! The "back" of my sweet baby's head! LOL!

Love to ALL . . . from Pakistan!

~Hugs

Mama, Uppa D & Sweet Pea

Received Visas . . .

I received our visas today! Right on schedule.

I used a really neat on-line site called http://www.visahq.com/. The process is very simple & easy. You can follow along the process from application - through consulate approval - to issue. They also have a wonderful on-line chat line that you can instant message through & get immediate answers to your questions. Very, very helpful when traveling to a country that you have never traveled to & don't know anyone that has!

The only document I waiting on is my I-171H with country change from Russia to Pakistan. According to the USCIS office, I should have it within 10 business days.

One more step closer . . . to my daughter!

The Swine Flu & Visa Issue?

Some have been wondering how I came out on the issue of needing a swine flu (H1N1) clearance for the visa.

Well, this is what has happened. Recently, there was a new (3rd) requirement for applying for a visa for Pakistan, a swine flu (H1N1) clearance. Literally, it wasn't there one day and then the next day when I went to finish the on-line applications, it was there, listed as a new 3rd required document! You can find this now listed on many website visa services. All that is stated is "a swine clearance is required". So this was the information I was initially going on. It wasn't much and didn't give any kind of directions on what the clearance needed to say or what to include. I called my doctor to find out what it would take to be "cleared" of the swine flu/H1N1. I panicked a little when he told me it takes 10 days for the test results! I knew we couldn't wait 10 days before applying for the visas. My doctor wasn't comfortable just writing a statement without the tests and without some kind of report template to use. The instructions on how to do this were so very, very vague . . . so I just got on the phone with Washington, D.C.!

After a day of phone calls to Washington, D.C. and an on-line chat with a visa official, I found out that the swine flue clearance is only required for entry into the country of Pakistan, not for issuing a visa. (I don't know why they don't spell that out in the visa application instructions!) Anyway, what that meant for us is we didn't have to race to find a doctor & take a physical/test & have a report written giving us swine flu clearance so this 3rd document could be enclosed with the other 2 documents (original passports/2 passport photos) needed for the visa application. Our visa were not delayed at all! Yeah! Very important, since we would like our visas by 8/15!

However, we will still have to make a doctor's appointment & take physicals/tests & have reports written up that gives us swine flu clearance just before we travel. We will need to hand carry it with us for entry into the country.

Just a little interesting information for those of you who want to travel to Pakistan these days!

The online visa service I used is really cool (VisaHQ.com). They give you automatic email updates on your visa as it moves through the process. According to the update email I received today, we are currently waiting to be approved at the Consulate's office. Once that step is finished, we are in the completed phase! Then the visas will be issued and sent to us. Right on schedule!

:)