Medical Exam Day
The reason why all American families who adopt in China travel through Guangzhou (no matter where in China the child is adopted from) is because only one US Consulate in China handles immigrant visas for international adoptions and that consulate is in Guangzhou (as opposed to anyother US Consulate in China or the US Embassy in Beijing).
On Wednesday, we began the US immigrant visa application process.
On Wednesday morning beginning at 10 AM, our group walked across the street from the hotel to the photo shop to get passport photos for the babies. Three copies of the photos were needed. One for the medical exam and two for the US Consulate. Immediately after finishing up at the photo shop, our group went to the medical exam office (about a five minute walk). This office is approved by the US government to provide medical examinations for US visa applications. The medical exams were very brief. Each baby went to three stations to be measured and evaluated. Each baby spent maybe five minutes at each station. The medical exam is a requirement for the US visa application.
On Wednesday afternoon, we received our daughters’ Chinese passports from the Chinese government. These passports will be turned in with our paperwork to the US Consulate for the visa application.
This morning at 11 AM, our group had an appointment at the US Consulate for our babies’ visa applications. Only our adoption agency representative (Chris) attended the appointment to submit our applications. However, each family had to stay in their hotel rooms in case Chris had to call and ask us to clarify some data on our forms.
Tomorrow, all of the families will go to the US Consulate to pick up our daughters’ Chinese passports with attached US immigrant visas.
On Saturday, we fly home. Even through we’ll leave China on Saturday night, when we arrive in San Francisco it will be Saturday night.
Megan will not officially become a US citizen until she touches US soil. While traveling, she will flying using a Chinese passport with an American visa.