The countdown is on ... or is it?? (2007-09-18)

(Originally posted on 18 September 2007.)

The Ethiopian court date, at which Poppet officially became my son, was on July 13, 2007. At that time, I was informed that it would take about 13 weeks for his Canadian immigration visa to be processed and arrive in Addis Ababa from Nairobi (which handles all visa matters for the horn of Africa).

Last Friday, 14 September, was week 9 – two months. So the visa could arrive in just another four weeks.

Or then again, it might not.

One key piece of paper is the medical form. An official immigration medical form must be sent from the Canadian consulate in Nairobi to the Canadian Embassy in Addis, where it is picked up by the agency’s in-country reps. Then Poppet is taken to an approved doctor for his medical check-up, the form returned to Nairobi, and final visa processing takes place. From the time the medical form is received in sent back to Nairobi until the visa arrives in Addis is estimated to be 3 weeks. Or 4. Or 6. Depending.

In any case, Poppet’s form hasn’t arrived in Addis yet. A couple of families with similar court dates received theirs at the end of the first week in September, but ours wasn’t in that batch. Last week, normal work days were interrupted by the Ethiopian millenium celebrations, so no diplomatic pouch was sent to Addis. (#$%@!) This week… we’ll see. (The pouch normally arrives on Fridays.)

It looks like my original expected timelines are about to start slipping. All along I’ve been aiming for October travel, and so far things have worked out just dandy for that to happen. Every other time when the agency quoted me a timeline, things ended up happening faster (as in, “you’ll get a referral in 2-3 months” and it came in 3 weeks). But now we’re in the hands of Canadian immigration, bless them. (Or not.)

A few families on the chat groups are at weeks 16+ of waiting. Some of these delays are owing to “significant demand for visas over the summer peak holiday season” – or so we have been informed.

I think it rankles in particular because in a few more months, this last phase of waiting won’t be required. The Canadian government passed legislation in spring doing away with the need for internationally adopted children to enter Canada on a permanent resident visa. But it will take a few more months for the legislation to take effect and the new procedures to be set (which will likely be a requirement for the parents to have applied for Canadian citizenship, or some such thing). So in the meantime, all us PAPs (prospective adoptive parents) have to work with the old procedures. Which, by the time things are said and done, will have meant three or four “extra” months.

All along I’ve been patient and accepting of the various processes and all the mountains of paperwork. I’ve met with several other Ethiopian PAPs, read the blogs, followed some Ethiopia news, visited Ethiopian restaurants. All the stuff we PAPs are advised to do.

But enough already. C’mon, CIC!! Get your butts in gear and get those visas processed! We want to fly!!!