FBI Fingerprinting Appointment

We received our appointment notice in the mail today for our FBI fingerprinting.  The fingerprinting is required as part of the immigration process and is done through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  The fingerprinting is done at the FBI office in Omaha.

Fingerprinting of prospective adoptive parents is requested by filing form I-600A with the government.  Of course, when they receive your paperwork, they don't just call and say, "come on down."  They have to return a form back to you called Form I-797C, "Notice of Action, ASC Appointment Notice" from The United States of America.  It is all very formal sounding.  The Form I-797C tells you that you have an appointment, when the appointment is, where to go, and what to bring.  Of course, it is all done in a very cold and sterile manner using mainly sentences written in ALL CAPS and/or BOLD.  (Technically it is not a fingerprinting appointment, but rather the form states that it is an appointment for them to "capture our biometrics.")  Wow.  I don't think I've had my biometrics captured before.

The letter (Form I-797C) states, "PLEASE APPEAR AT THE BELOW APPLICATION SUPPORT CENTER AT THE DATE AND TIME SPECIFIED.  IF YOU FAIL TO APPEAR AS SCHEDULED, YOUR APPLICATION WILL BE CONSIDERED ABANDONED."  It is interesting that they used that last word in the context of someone who is applying through the USCIS for the purposes of adoption.

It is exciting to have received word of this appointment being scheduled.  It is really the last loose-end remaining in this country.  The rest will be handled in Ethiopia.

No further update on our waiting list status.  We expect to hear from Kiersten tomorrow or Wednesday on an update.