We're Heading Home for America

Alex and I are back in Kyiv as of Tuesday. It has been a long time since I posted anything of significance so I thought I would write about the process of finalizing custody, getting the birth certificate, obtaining a Ukrainian passport, traveling back to Kyiv and finally getting Alex's U.S. Visa. I also updated the "Photo Log", which the link to is on the right, with a lot of new photos. Read on if interested in the adventures, but the bottom line is that as of yesterday (Wednesday) Alex has a U.S. Visa and when we touch down in Minneapolis he will be officially a citizen of the United States of America!

As you know, the end of the 10 day waiting period was on the 15th. A rational person would think that from there it is a matter of simply getting some paper work finalized (which as you already know was a mountain's worth) and picking up Alex..... WRONG. The following is a real account of what happened when we finished the waiting period and woke up on that Tuesday morning.

Tuesday, April 15th: I met the coordinator and driver at 9:00 a.m. We went to the court house to pick up final decree. Got another draft of the final and then went to get 10 copies notarized. We then headed to our next stop which was the town of Bakhchysaray where Alex was born. When we called ahead to let them know we were on the way, the person in the Vital Records authority said that we needed something additional in the decree that was not there. They wanted a statement of our marriage date which was in the official marriage license provided. Apparently this is not usual. We had to then turn around and go back to the court house and beg the judge to change the decree. When we spoke to him he seemed irritated at this person who wanted this change. The decree is written from an official template so it has been used for years. He said some not so nice things about these people and told us to wait. Our coordinator called the office in Kyiv and spoke with the person she knows there and they said we did not need it either. Then after a few more calls and an hour burned in the court house, the person in the Bakhchysaray Vital Records office (VRO) decided to let it slide. One thing you should note is that everybody here seems to make up the process at they go along. Then we drove 40 minutes to Bakhchysaray. When we got to the VRO, we had to go behind the building and up some rickety old stairs to enter. When we got there, we were told we would have to wait because the power was out. Two hours passed and we had a nice lunch (really good middle eastern) at the establishment next door.

Side note on Bakhchysaray: This town is not where Alex is "from". It is where he was born. This town is the old capital where the Khan for the region ruled. There is an old Turkish style palace that is still in tact and a popular attraction.

We received a phone call and this was our signal that the power was on and to return. They had some papers for me to sign and we received a new birth certificate with Alex's new full name, an adoption certificate with the new name and a copy of his personal ID number (like our Social Security number). We then left and drove back to Simferopol to get the Ukrainian passport process started and change his ID number. With the birth certificate in hand, we went to two passport offices and also a bank to make the official government payment for the passport. After that we went to another office which was about to close and got a woman to help us to change his ID number to reflect his new name. It was the end of the day and she was kind enough to help us so we were able to get this done. There were some other stops in there to make copies, get notarizations. By the time all of this was complete, it was 6:00 and too late to get the final paperwork done at the orphanage to pick up Alex. Alex would have to wait another day.

Wednesday, April 16th: Much of this is running together, but we first went to another passport related office. Then we went to several banks to try to make the official government payments and get a receipt. The third bank decided to help us and took the payment. Then we went to pick up Alex and take him to get a passport photo at the passport office. This is where the trouble started. We were supposed to be at the office by 11:00 a.m. but with all the stops we had to make to get the payment done, we were late. The woman who ran things there, got really irate and we had to beg. Then when she allowed us into the building (you have to wait outside) she made Alex cry with what she was saying. We sat Alex in front of the camera, got him to settle down, and they snapped the photo. She then informed us that she would take the full week allowed to process the passport! I do not have kind words for her as you can imagine, but held my tongue. This process usually only takes two or three days. She had us over a barrel and knew it. Let's just say she was corrupt and would require an "expediting fee". Basically, she kicked us out after that. The possibility of returning to Kyiv in time to make our flight was held in the palms of this person's hands. Bummer. We had no idea what to expect. We returned with Alex and dropped him off for his lunch and nap. We then did the paperwork necessary to take him from the orphanage. We received our "get out of the baby house" card and took our coordinator to the train station. She wanted to go back to Kyiv to try to facilitate the process back there. My driver and I went to get a photo for the orphanage's records developed from my camera. Then we went back around 4:00 to pick up Alex. No problems with the orphanage. The care takers are really great people who seem to care a lot about these kids. They took off his clothes, I put on his new ones and off we went! Just in time for dinner.

After that, the passport office in Kyiv sent their end of the passport paperwork via train on Friday night to Simferopol. We were told by the old battle axe to call at noon on Monday. At noon, she told us to be there at 5:00. Before that, my driver took me to the train station to get our tickets for the train to Kyiv. We were at the passport office 40 minutes early. The woman came out a little early (my coordinator was not there but had given me instructions) and waved me in. She was pleasant this time, gave me the passport. It all checked out OK. I left the building and headed to the train station with Alex for our 6:30 train.

The train ride was nice. Alex had not taken a nap, so he was tired. We booked a first class birth for the two of us. Much more comfortable with better bathrooms and amenities. Alex really enjoyed looking out the windows and bouncing around. He fell asleep (passed out) around 8:00 and did not wake up until 7:00 the next morning. Photos are in the photo log.

Back in Kyiv 17 hours later at 11:30 in the morning, we went directly to the hospital to have the required physical done on Alex. The doctor said he was in great shape and did not display any of the delay kids can have that come from these institutions. I could have told her that myself, but was glad to get a professional opinion from someone who meets a lot of these kids. That only took 45 minutes, so we went to the U.S. Embassy to get the ball rolling on the visa. Did some paperwork, paid my $400 and that was it for the day. We were told to come back the next day at 2:00 for the "interview" (which turned out to be nothing) and pick up the visa. The next day it took longer to get to the embassy than to do the interview and get the visa.

One more day and we will be on a flight and back in the U.S.A.!