We'd like to inform you that according to the current USCIS (formerly INS) regulations, the I-600 petition (filed at an overseas post for a specific child after the adoption has been completed abroad) can be approved only if the petitioners (and all other adult members of the household) have unexpired FBI fingerprint results. They are valid for 15 months and must be re-done after that period, if the parents apply for an immigrant visa after the expiration date.

We've been officially notified by the State Department that effective June 1, 2003 we have to implement that new regulation. Please make sure before traveling to a foreign country to adopt that your fingerprint results are still valid and will not expire before you come to file an I-600 petition and apply for a visa at our office. If your fingerprints are about to expire, please submit a new set to the FBI for clearance, before leaving the US. In case your fingerprints are not valid when you come to file the I-600 in Warsaw, we will have to take them here and send through the State Department to the FBI for check. That may prolong your stay in Warsaw for at least a few days.

American citizens services,
U.S. Embassy Kyiv, Ukraine.