Friday, March 4, 2011

There's Always One...

It seems like there is always ONE dossier document that takes forever. For us it has been Rob's employment verification letter. It seems simple enough: A few sentences, on company letterhead, stating his annual salary, 6 month salary, date of employment, and that he is in "good standing". Signed by an employer representative and notarized. No big deal, right?

Ha.

It's become almost comical now, and I just laugh when we find something wrong with the latest "attempt".

Attempt #1: Letter arrives from Maryland (where their personnel office is located) but the notary's commission expired less than a year from the date of signing. That is a big no-no in the world of international adoption.

Attempt #2: The notary renews her commission (just for us!) and tries again. But this time we notice that the annual salary is the same as the six-month salary, and those should be different numbers.

Attempt #3: The numbers are fixed, everything looks good...until we realize that a Maryland notary needs a Maryland apostille, and a Maryland apostille needs a county certification. It is at this point that the notary realizes she renewed her commission in a different county than the stamp! And she can't do anything about it until her new stamp arrives.

It is decided that the letter will be signed by someone in Virginia (enter me singing "Hallelujah! No Maryland apostille!").

Attempt #4: This one came in on Wednesday. At first glance it looked great. But as I went to fax it to be checked over, I realized that the typed date of the letter was different from the dates of the signatures. Again, a big no-no. Then our state-side helper discovered that the notary had written her name on the line where the employer representative's name should have been.

Attempt #5: ...will hopefully come today. Let's hope 5th time's the charm! :)

1 comment:

CAH said...

If it makes you feel any better, you're not alone. We had to redo our employment letter 5 times on our first adoption from Reeces Rainbow. The 2nd adoption we only had to redo it twice.