USCIS Policy for Hague Transition Cases

USCIS has announced a policy for Hague transition cases. In the links provided below, USCIS states that they will allow families who have current/valid I600a approvals to continue to renew under the I600a application process until their adoption is completed or until the year 2014.

Therefore a family will apply for another I600a approval and pay the processing fee for a new I600a approval once the first free extension is about to expire. They will then be eligible for a free extension from that 2nd I600a approval and can continue to apply for I600a approvals up until time of referral or the year of 2014.

This policy does not apply to families who currently have or let their I600a approvals (I-171h or 797c) expire or families who are still in process after the year 2014. Families who have questions regarding if their family will be grandfathered in under China’s old requirements when filing an I800a should refer to America World’s blog post on October 12th “I600A/800A Questions and Hague Processing†for further clarification.

Families with further questions on this new policy can refer to these links to the USCIS announcements:

USCIS Announces Adoption Policy for Hague Transition Cases

Frequently Asked Questions: Grandfathered Form I-600A Processing for Prospective Adoptive Parents

Families are responsible for keeping track of their expiration dates and will also continue to receive the Renewal Guidelines from their Family Coordinator 4 months prior to the expiration of the I-171h/797c. It is important for families to carefully review the details and complete the necessary paperwork in order to renew the approval prior to the expiration date.