You know, when we began this adoption, there were things we didn't even know about, and in these last few months they have come to light and shown us how blessed we are in our timing.
For instance, there is that new Bill C-14 - this is the government bill which will allow our adopted children to be Canadian Citizens upon adoption and come home within about six weeks of referral. Not after four more months of paperwork, medicals, and visas - while they are virtually held hostage by bureaucracy. That is the way it presently is!
If a person lives in the States, they can travel to get their child about four weeks after their referral!! That is all it takes to get the court date. But for Canadians, we have to wait for an additional 12-18 weeks to get through bureaucratic red tape!
But thankfully, by December 22, of this year, that will change. Children will no longer need to wait those many weeks. We are not sure yet, how exactly it will change, but we do know it will be for the better.
The second thing that has been in our favour, timing-wise, is: the American Dollar. For the first time in over 30 years, the American dollar is actually worth less than the Canadian Dollar. Do you know how that makes us Canadians feel?!! I went to the bank today to pay $6500 for our Intercountry fee and expected to pay about $7000 with the exchange rate. What a pleasant and surreal experience to be told it would cost me $6418!!! That is the feeling the Americans live with everyday when they come to our country! What a bonus - I saved $82!! I was grinning!
And the third thing: Just this year the Canadian government has brought into our taxes an adoption deduction of over $10,100!!! That means that we will be able to claim $10,100 of our expenses on our income next year!!!
Timing is everything!!! We are truly blessed!
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5 comments:
Aren't these things fantastic?! I am looking so forward to seeing what this Bill C-14 is going to bring as well. Anything to shorten the wait times to our kids!!
And I am also REALLY enjoying the exchange rate too! FINALLY...its our turn to enjoy getting things for cheaper! :-P
Hey
Thats interesting that the tax credit has changed...how is it different than before???
Louise
C-14 was in the works last year, before it got passed over near election time to wait for the new government. The way I always understood it, it grants automatic citizenship to adopted children entering Canada. I don't see how this shortens the wait times for travel to pick up children after referral. Our wait to pick Mikiyas up had nothing to do with citizenship. The paper work that happens in Ethiopia post referral has nothing to do with citizenship so nothing should change there as a result of C-14.
Is there something I'm missing?
The reason that things are going to change is the following:
Right now, after the court date the families have to wait a subsequent 12-18 weeks for the medical and then the visa. These documents are required because the children are not Canadian citizens. When they are adopted under this new bill, they will be bypassing these two steps as they will not need the medical and visa.
I don't know how it worked before this; I just heard that this adoption tax credit was new this year. It's all news to me - just what I heard on the yahoo groups.
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