Wednesday, March 12th, 2003

FBI Fingerprint Directive

Currently, adoptive parents do not know exactly when their fingerprint documents will expire. However, they can assume that if 15 months have passed since they were fingerprinted, they will probably expire shortly. • Adoptive parents who plan to file the I-600 abroad, should be fingerprinted prior to departure. While they can be fingerprinted at the post overseas, it will add time to their trip as the cards need to be shipped stateside for FBI processing. • Adoptive parents who have an approved I-600A, an approved I-600 and are getting ready to travel to bring the child home do not need to be re- fingerprinted. • Adoptive parents who think they require re-fingerprinting should contact their local district office to be scheduled at the ASC. They will need to submit the fingerprinting fee. State Department Field Offices By now most district officers are aware of this memo, HOWEVER, it is recommended that adoptive parents bring a copy of the memo (link below) when being re-fingerprinted. It is also suggested that adoptive parents who are just starting the adoption process wait to be fingerprinted until their completed home study is ready for submission. Adoptive parents who submit a Form I-600A and get fingerprinted without submitting the completed home study until a year later, are much more likely to require re-fingerprinting when they are ready to file the I-600. Read the Memo Here

Info-Update Archive           Sign up for Info-Updates

Questions, contact Susan Cox at (541)687-2202 or susanc@holtinternational.org Get Adobe Acrobat Reader if you cannot read the document on this page.