We got an email last night from FHG's director, containing our Haitian Adoption Decrees. We are praising God for this EXCELLENT news! We knew we had legal and final adoption decrees from spring 2009, but we didn't know if our processor had a copy of them, or if he would be able to get the originals from the rubble of the MOI building in Port-au-Prince. I'm so happy we now have a copy of them. This means that we have
proof that we are the legal parents of our Haitian babes and they have our last name This also means that, for their Humanitarian Parole status, their immigration/citizinship will be finalized under "Category 1", which is much less involved than "Category 2" which is for families without adoption decrees.
So, what are our next steps?
- I'm going to have to get the adoption decrees, along with E&J's Haitian birth certificates translated from French into English. I've created my own (very rough) translations just from Google Translate, but it's not all quite right, and they require certified translations anyway.
- We need to have our I-600s approved by USCIS. We originally filed these in July 2008 when I traveled to Haiti, so I'm going to email to find out how we do this without having to refile and repay the filing fees. Our fingerprints are valid, and we had renewed our deadline every three months as requested, so I'm hoping we don't have any issues with this.
- We will need to file the I-485. I still have several questions about how to go about this. These forms generally require a hefty filing fee, but it's unclear even how we go about filing this, so I'm holding off on this part for a little bit anyway, until we have more clear direction from USCIS. We had heard that USCIS was working on some updated information, so hopefully we hear about that soon as well.
This also means good news for our taxes. We should be able to include Elijah & Josephine as our dependents for 2009, and also receive the adoption tax credit. This is great news, however, we likely don't have time to apply for tax ID numbers for them before the filing deadline. So we'll probably be completing our taxes without them included, and then go back and amend the return later. It will kind of be a pain, but we'll make it work.
4 comments:
That is great! You may be able to file for an extension. We have had a terrible time getting SS numbers and the boys have been home much longer. So that is what we have to do anyway. Good luck!
I just put an asterik on the tax form for Kenson (last year's taxes) and put a note that said a ss # had not yet been issued. Don't know that it's legal but it's what I did. I hadn't thought about ammending it. Maybe I should do that? On the flip side of what Julie said, we had no problems getting a ss#. It was easy and painless.
Julie - what were the issues you had with the SS numbers? We've heard warnings to wait to get the SS#s and just getting tax ID #s because they had trouble after they did their kids' name changes. Haven't really had a chance to look into it yet though, which is why I thought I'd just file and then go back with the amendment - don't think I'll try until I have it all figured out.
Lisa - it would be easier to do an extension than to do an amendment. Amy
Post a Comment