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Leningrad Region TRAVEL ITINERARY Following is a travel itinerary for all families adopting from the Leningrad region of Russia. Please review this itinerary before traveling, so that any questions you have can be addressed with your consultant to your satisfaction. Note: Leningrad region is the territory surrounding St.Petersburg. Children available for adoption in the Leningrad region live in orphanages located in small towns around St.Petersburg (usually within 1-3 hours drive from St.Petersburg City). A. The First Trip. 1. You arrive in St. Petersburg. 2. AAI regional representative or interpreter and driver will meet you at the airport and bring you to the hotel. The person meeting you will be holding a sign with your names on it. 3. Same afternoon or next morning, depending on the time of your arrival, your regional representative will call or meet with you at the hotel and brief you on the program. The representative will arrange all scheduling of adoption related appointments and transportation during your stay. 4. You will first visit the Committee of Education to whom you must give copies of your visas and copies of all your airline tickets. The Committee of Education will then give you written permission to see a child or children at the orphanage. Either the same day or the following day you will visit the orphanage, depending on the time and orphanage location. 5. Your regional representative will accompany you to the orphanage to visit with the child(ren). You should ask the doctors questions about the child's medical condition at this time. On this first trip, it's extremely important to do the following:
You may inquire at the facility if you will be permitted to take either photographs or video of the child. This will be entirely up to the orphanage authorities and handled on a case by case basis. 6. You will have the opportunity to see the child 2-3 times during this first visit. At the end of the trip you will have to sign the document stating your decision and the court petition. 7. After signing the documents you will depart the country. You will not need to go to the American Embassy at this time. 8. After your first trip the Committee of Education sends request letter to Moscow to begin the process toward a court date. 9. Once home, you will wait for the region to receive an approval letter from Moscow, followed by the scheduling of your court date. Usually this will take no more than six to eight weeks. When you receive your court date, you will return to Russia. B. The Second Trip. 1. When you receive your court date you will return to Russia. You may book your tickets arriving in St. Petersburg and going back home from Moscow. During your stay in Moscow, AAI Moscow representative will assist you. 2. You must arrange your arrival in St.Petersburg at least one business day prior to your appearance in court to see the child and visit the Committee of Education. The regional representative will schedule these visits and accompany you. 3. You will represent yourself in court but will be well prepared by your regional representative for this event. You should dress with some formality for this occasion (men should wear a nice shirt & tie and women a nice dress). Typically court can take between one to two hours. 4. A court decision will be rendered at the end of this proceeding. It has been our experience that judges in this region usually waive the ten day waiting period, however, there is no guarantee of this. It is a Federal law of Russia that there is a ten day waiting period after all court decisions. It is entirely up to the judge's discretion to waive these days. If the ten day waiting period is waived, the written court decision is usually issued the same day or following morning. If the ten day period is not waived, then you will only receive the written court decision 10 days after the court hearing. 5. Once the written court decision is issued you will need to then go to two offices in order to obtain a birth certificate, an adoption certificate, and a travel passport for the child. Depending on the day of the week, you can usually complete these tasks in two - three days. 6. You will then travel to Moscow where you will complete the U.S. Embassy process, including having your child examined by the Medical Center recognized by the US Embassy. The Moscow coordinator will make the appointments and accompany you and your child. The Medical Center charges approximately $100 for the service (if they find that your child needs some additional tests or vaccinations, you will be charged for that separately). Generally, this is a very brief examination and is not intended to provide you with significant information about your child's health. 7. Embassy appointment - see the list of documents listed in the Russian travel packet. The purpose of the interview is obtaining the visa for your adopted child to enter the USA. You will then be given a sealed envelope containing the information you will need to present to the U.S. Immigration upon your return to the USA. 8. Moscow coordinator will also arrange the registration of your adopted child with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A final note: The cities where you will be are normally safe cities where you may walk comfortably in the daytime. However, at night we prefer that you be accompanied by one of our overseas partners or their staff. Also, you can expect that people who you will meet on your trip will be nice and friendly, and they will do their best to make you feel comfortable.
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Travel Itinerary |
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