We got our provisional approval!

We are one step closer to getting Lyric!  The next item we are waiting for is a letter from the National Visa Center that will confirm they also received our provisional approval.  We should get this next week. 

Since it is getting closer to the time we can travel, it is easier for me to post the rest of the steps we have to take before we get our travel approval:

We are now waiting for a letter from the National Visa Center - 1 to 1 1/2 weeks (by Sept 24th)
1 week for our agency to get our paperwork to China (by Oct 1st)
2 weeks for the Consulate to sign our Article 5 letter (by Oct 15th)
3 to 4 weeks for Travel Approval by (by Nov 12)
We will leave anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks after we get the Travel Approval (by Dec 17th!)

Not many steps left to the finish line!  I tried to be really conservative with the numbers because there are a lot of events/holidays that happen towards the end of the year in China that could slow down our travel.  Hopefully, I will be able to take off some weeks as time goes by.

For today, we are struggling with getting a passport-type photo of Lyric to send to our agency.  One photo is too big and another one has her hands in the photo.  We don't have many choices though.  Kevin is going to try to get it done today.  Then we can send in some forms with the photo to our agency and be ready when we get that letter from the National Visa Center, which we can just email a copy of to our agency.  I even heard of how some people have gotten the letter emailed to them and then they just forwarded it to their agency.  I'm going to look into this!

Talk to you soon,

Karen