You might be interested to know that we are STILL not done with Allie's adoption paperwork. We were surprised to find out how much more we had to do even after her "finalization" date in December. We had to apply for her Social Security card, in which she had to be listed as a "resident alien" since at the time we applied we did not have proof of her citizenship. We were supposed to get her Green Card shortly after she came home in June, but due to some fluke in Homeland Security we never got it. It was nearly impossible to get through to anyone who could figure out her case; we finally, miraculously received it in the mail! We can now go back and change her social security status. We also received her Ohio Birth Certificate, which states that we are her parents but she was born in Korea. Lately, we mailed our application for her Certificate of Citizenship. This was a lengthly application which required copies of all her official paperwork and pictures of her... seems a little silly to have to prove who she is all over again!! Once USCIS looks over our application, we'll be called in to their office for an interview!! Hopefully at that point we'll finally get her Certificate of Citizenship and we can officially be done with jumping through all the paperwork hoops. So these are what we consider her official paperwork:
- Korean Passport, which also has her Visa stamp on it
- Ohio Birth Certificate
- Adoption Decree (we received this from the court at her finalization in December)
- Social Security Card
- Green Card
- pending Certificate of Citizenship
All of this has got me thinking about her journey to us and how blessed we are to have her, paperwork and all. Our agency no longer facilitates Korean Adoptions, she was in one of the last groups to come home. We are so, so thankful for this little girl.. I finally figured out how to have her Homecoming Video permanently posted to the right of the blog; still makes me tear up!
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