Once you have your dossier completed, they go to the state for State Stamps. Basically you just take them to the Secretary of your State and they will stamp the documents for you. Before you go, make sure that ALL notaries are the same date as the date on the documents. Also, make sure the notaries' licenses do not expire until at least 6 months AFTER you are to travel.

Once your papers are approved by your state, they must be approved by your Federal district...with one exception. The Ukraine Embassy in Chicago does not require the Federal approval. If you are in Chicago's district, you will not need the Federal stamps. In any case, you must send your dossier to a courier in the appropriate district. The courier will get the Federal stamps if necessary, take the dossier to the Ukraine Embassy, pick up the approved dossier from the Embassy, and FedEx the dossier to Ukraine.

At some point earlier, you should mail a request to the Ukraine Embassy with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for your visa applications. You must submit your visa applications, the application fee, your passports, and a request for an invitation to travel from Ukraine. These will be processed by the Ukraine Embassy and the visa will be included within your passports.

Once you receive your Invitation, you can apply to the Ukrainian Embassy for a visa. You will need to include a letter requesting a couple of visa applications, they will not accept copies of the applications, only originals. You will also need to include the Invitation to travel with this in order to get it.

The charges for the stamps and approvals change depending on your state and district. The rates are based on a per document basis, so the more documents you have, the more it will cost. The Ukraine Embassy charges $40 per document. The cost to have your dossier FedEx'ed to Ukraine is $75.00.

When the Adoption Center receives your dossier, they will contact your facilitator. Your facilitator will then pick up the dossier and translate it. Once translated, he will submit it to the Adoption Center for approval. Within ten days after the Adoption Center receives the translated dossier, you will receive approval from the Adoption Center and may travel at any time.