MOWA Approval

MOWA approval is a big step. Regardless of whether court has granted custody of the child to you, MOWA can deny it if they see a reason to do so. The court cannot overturn MOWA's decision.

Court closures do affect MOWA approvals as well. Approvals completed by MOWA cannot be processed during court closures. MOWA can give the approval, but the paper work and completion cannot happen if the court is not open. Court closed August 8.

We received news today that MOWA approved our file and it was finalized with the courts on the last day the courts were open.

We are incredibly blessed that we had our file finalized on August 8. We are truly blessed with God's timing.

So what's next?

A new birth certificate has to be issued naming us as parents, and a new passport is generated. Estimated time is 6-8 weeks, however it has been seen to happen quicker on occasion.

Documents are translated. This takes approximately 2 weeks.

Documents are put together and sent to Nairobi requesting a visa to be issued. Nairobi then sends a medical form back to Ethiopia requesting a medical be performed. The medical is done and the form is returned to Nairobi. Nairobi then issues the visa. CAFAC then informs us that the visa is on it's way to Ethiopia for Mihret and we can book our flights. This process takes anywhere from 2-10 weeks, sometimes even longer.  [Those doing the citizenship route do not have to do the medical form.  We chose the permanent residency route way back when we started because the citizenship route was too new and had glitches.]

In other words, we do not know when we can pick Mihret up. We will not know until it is time to do so. If, after a while, we get annoyed by the question "when", please forgive us. *smile*