We received a reply from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today. Unfortunately, they did not issue Will and Jake citizenship as we had hoped, citing the fact that we do not reside in the US as the reason for this refusal. They suggested we apply for the boys’ citizenship by filing an N-600K form for each of the boys, submitting $1,170 along with each form. Then we will wait for some months to hear back from USCIS with an interview date in the US a few weeks later, necessitating another costly trip for the four of us.   

This seems like a colossal waste of time and money from our perspective. We are also concerned about the timing since the boys’ US visas in their Guinean passports are only valid for one year from the date when we entered the US with them, which was Feb. 28., and we have heard that the estimated time it takes for USCIS to process this kind of application averages 9 months. It is particularly frustrating that the US Embassy in Dakar did not put us on this path in the first place.

But while we were reading USCIS’ letter and researching the process before us, the boys were giggling and wrestling on the floor with their sisters… and I was reminded that they have been part of our family for over a year. They are not orphans living in an institution, begging for someone to hold them, play with them, give them attention… They have a mom and a dad who will fly across the world for them (again!) because we love them, and because they are our sons. This is what parents do. Our heavenly Father has done a lot more for us! So, we are grateful, and we press on.

Pray with us:

• for the peace of the Lord to rule in our hearts and minds
• for His provision of the time and money needed for this process
• for this process to go quickly enough that the boys’ citizenship papers are issued before their visas expire at the end of February, or wisdom about applying for another visa if it isn’t going to happen in time. This is the part we have a lot of questions about…
• for stamina to persevere through the red tape, and joy despite this circumstance
• that this process will be completely 100% over and finished forever soon!