What the heck is a I-600A?

Warning: You will become a mailman stalker waiting for your I-600A form to arrive from USCIS.  It’s the luck of the draw on the timing of these little buggers.  The poor mailman has nothing to do with how fast or slow it is delivered to your mailbox!  You will need to contain yourself when you hear the familiar sounds of the truck approaching your home.  We don’t want you to earn the reputation of crazy mail chasing mom-to-be.  Personally, I was like a tail wagging, foaming at the mouth, crazed eyed puppy, waiting at the door for my I-600A to come.  It wasn’t pretty.

When you receive your I-600A in the mail…. celebrate!  This really is a big deal.  For us, it meant our dossier was complete and the wait for Zoie was really on.  I will never forget the day it finally came in the mail, 3.5 months after submitting our forms to MO USCIS.  I was so overjoyed, I called Roger and told him we were going out to party hard with burgers and shakes!  I announced to the waitress and humiliated my kids simultaneously, that I was now officially pregnant and due hopefully in less than 12 months.

I received this hilarious letter from an adoption newbie… I-600A form. What the heck? I still don’t think I have an understanding for when I am supposed to send this thing in or when we get our fingerprints, etc.  It might be helpful to step us through that.  I do know that there are new mailing instructions as of 10/09 – once we have our I-600A and whatever documents go with it, it gets mailed to a ‘central lock-box’ in TX.  Then at some point we’ll get a receipt that it was received, and once processed I think we get a fingerprint card.  I don’t know about fingerprint appts or anything like that. (Thanks Jamey!)

OK, what the heck is this thing? Here is the official adoption definition: