Friday, January 22, 2010

Addendum VS Update

Okay, so your address changed, or your job, or you switched to SN, or your referred child is a boy and you initially requested a girl, what do you do when changes occur and you're trying to maintain your I600A/I-171H status?
You do a Homestudy Addendum.
A homestudy addendum is different from a homestudy update.
HOMESTUDY UPDATE:
  1. Costs a lot of money (the same as you usually pay for a homestudy because each time your file a new I600A that's what you have to get, a HS UPDATE.)
  2. Requires you collect all that stuff again, physicals, etc. for the Social Worker
  3. Requires that you refile your I600A, even if the I-171H attached to it is still valid, which includes paying all the fees to USCIS that may apply to such a filing, and switching to I800A if you're out of I600A renewals
  4. And is titled UPDATE

You don't want to do a HS Update when all you need is to report changes. You do that with a:

HOMESTUDY ADDENDUM:

(which...)

  1. Is an add-on to your most recent homestudy
  2. Costs a lot less (for us it was a $150 addendum VS a $600 Update)
  3. Does not require you to collect anything (no forms, fingerprints, letters, etc.)
  4. Does not require you to refile anything with USCIS. You simply hand it in and they process it (send it to your consulate office, which, for China adoptions, is Guangzhou, China) for free.
  5. And is titled ADDENDUM

Make sure you know which one you need because your HS agency will give you what you ask for (because it's more $ for them), but they fully understand the difference and should be able to do both an UPDATE and the ADDENDUM. Make sure that your HS agency titles the addendum as ADDDENDUM or you will have trouble with USCIS.

Try to hand in your addendum at least a month before you leave the US on your adoption trip.

Make sure to impress upon USCIS that they need to forward this update on to your consulate office.

Also, if you request a child 2-4 years old (for example) and you accept a referral of a child who is just 4 at the time of referral, you will need an addendum to state that you can handle a child from 2-5 years old, or USCIS will not let you travel. Nit-picky to the end!

Good luck, and post any questions to the comments.

:+)

Di

5 comments:

chad-roscoe said...

Either your SW or you can send you addendum to the same office that your I600A went to. I took mine in, because I'm just that way, and I love close.

cpd said...

OUr social worker titled the letter to change our age range Home Study Update- is this going to be a problem? Should I have it changed to addendum?
Thanks again.

chad-roscoe said...

From what I was told, yes. A HS Update will require a new I600A, with all the associated costs thereof, or a switch to the I800 process if your I600s are used up. Addendums are for this in particular:
I just got my referral and I realize that my child(ren) is(are) different from what my HS says because the age is outside of what I asked for, or gender, or needs are diff. than originally stated in my HS.
or:
I just got my referral, and we just moved, so my new address is_____.
I just got my referral, and we just changed jobs/ we adopted/ we got pregnant/ and etc.
Small things that happen inbetween your last filing of the I600A and your TA that basically require you to notify USCIS that you're still okay with your HS agency in light of those changes.
If you're renewing the I600A, it doesn't matter; it's all the same kettle of fish. But if you're not, and you want to keep using the current one, then it is an addendum.
:+)

Ashley said...

What if you want to increase the # of children approved on the CIS from 1 child to 2 Children?--does that still qualify as an addendum?

We already used the extension once for our 2nd adoption (we were approved for 2, came home with one; 3 months later filed for adoption #2 on same CIS approval since there was still technically 1 child left).

But NOW we want to increase to 2 children---still addendum?

AAHHHHK

chad-roscoe said...

Hi Ashley~
My understanding is that yes, that would still be an addendum. Approach your agency or SW as if you know it is an addendum, and see what they say.
What you are watching out for by doing this is being over-charged for the HS, since it's not a whole HS, just a change to the one that is current. Some HS agencies were charging for a do-over when you just want an add-in.
Plus, if you do a new HS, then you have extra USCIS fees. Blech!
I'm not a SW, so it just may be that this situation requires a whole do-over, but I'm guessing not. So, if it was me, I would say "This only requires and addendum, right?" and have them be in the position to justify why it's not.
Does that make sense as I wrote it?
Good luck! Would you post again to let us know if it was addendum or do-over?