Out of all the steps of international adoption, I dread this one the most. When we first began adopting, we had to travel two hours away to the sheriff’s office in our nearest big city. It was an inconvenience, but doable, and we ended up making a fun day out of it. The second time we adopted, we found out the sheriff’s office would no longer do the fingerprinting because it was too much hassle for too little money. We ended up having to travel two hours in the opposite direction to a tiny little town to have it done. This time, it was a pain, but it still took up only half a day and wasn’t the end of the world. Unfortunately, this adoption ended up taking so long that our prints expired and we had to travel back to the same little town to have them redone.

When it came time to adopt the third time, we tried to set up an appointment with the same office, only to learn that fingerprinting now ONLY took place at the USCIS office in our state. Our “local” USCIS is over 6 hours away, so Curtis took two days off of work and we packed up all the kids and drove there in one day and stayed overnight for our appointment the next morning. It was early October, and we ended up being caught in a freak snowstorm and didn’t arrive at our hotel until well after one in the morning. It was a nightmare! When we factored in the costs of gas, hotel, meals, and missed work, the trip was a huge burden on our family and one we dreaded having to repeat.

On Wednesday of this week, we get to relive this delightful experience (sans snow, with any luck) as we drive to our 11:00 biometrics appointment. We decided to leave the kids with friends this time and make the trip in one day, but when I think about the reality of 12+ hours in the car – all for a fifteen-MINUTE appointment – I feel like sobbing. It’s still going to cost us around $200 in gas, the money we’ll owe our babysitters, and most significantly, my husband’s missed work (he is self-employed, so there are no such things as “vacation days,” and it’s just going to be a royal pain in the rear.

What gets me about all of this is the idea that fingerprints “expire.” It only seems logical to me that if USCIS has digitally captured my fingerprints and stored them somehow, they should be able to re-access those prints for future adoptions. Barring freak accidents or rare skin problems, people’s fingerprints don’t change over time (and if they did, their use in the fight against crime would certainly be questionable). It just makes sense that when you send in your I600A, you should be able to check a box indicating you’ve been previously fingerprinted for a prior adoption. If they need to charge a fee for rechecking the prints – fine. But making me drive to the other side of the state to show off the same fingers you saw two years ago is just, well, stupid.

Cross your fingers that our prints aren’t rejected. I think I just may end up in the funny farm if I have to make this trip again.


For more information on the "hows, whys," and "wheres" on USCIS fingerprinting, please see this page.

Photo credit: WAPA