Pre-Approval

Once the DNA test results are known, LabCorp sends the results by cable to the US Embassy in Guatemala. The next step is for the Embassy to issue Pre-Approval. The reason for this step is for the US government to assure the Guatemalan government that if the adoption is approved in Guatemala, that the US will issue a Visa for the baby to come to the US.

I'm not exactly sure what they are looking for. I know that they look over our paperwork and the DNA results to determine if everything looks ok. This step can take 2 weeks or 2 months (or longer). If the Embassy sees something that they don't like, they can issue a I-72 (I think that's the name of the form) for more information.

Once the Embassy has issued the Pre-Approval, they send an email to the petitioners (Jay and I), the adoption agency (AHH) and the attorney. It's not unusual for one or all of those emails to not make it. This can be because of mistyping of the address, spam software, etc.

You can check out these posts to see what happened to us.

http://questforalex.blogspot.com/2006/07/venting.html

http://questforalex.blogspot.com/2006/07/we-have-pre-approval.html