Additional days in Ukraine

It looks like the number of days we need to spend in Ukraine is increasing in geometric progression. Well, maybe in arithmetic, not in geometric (it's the former math teacher in me talking :) Yesterday the American Embassy in Kiev announced that the procedure to get the visa for adopted children has changed. Previously the process was to have the medical exam and the visa interview in one day (most of the time). Sometimes the visa was ready at the same day, sometimes the next business day. Now the process is the following:

"Parents must drop off all required documents at the Consulate no later than 12:00 noon on the business day prior to day of the actual visa interview. No appointment is required to submit documents. Visa interviews will take place at 2:00 pm on the day designated, and can only take place if we have already received all the required documents. We will make every effort to issue the visa on the next working day. However, it is important to note that additional checks are required by law if the adopted child is 16 years or older. These checks delay visa issuance by up to 72 hours. Please plan your travel accordingly."

So it's one business days to drop off the documents, second day for the visa interview, third day (hopefully!) to get the visa, and on the fourth business day people can finally leave the country. Basically another week. On a top of 10 days mandatory wait for the court degree plus 10 days wait for the passport plus unknown number of days while waiting for the court date, it comes to a long time. If in the past adoptive parents stayed in Ukraine approximately 4-5 weeks, now it's more like 6-7-8 weeks. We are definitely thinking about 2 trips now, it will be much easier financially (less days without a paycheck) and emotionally (less days without our kids).

Today is 11th business days since our dossier was submitted. Hopefully we'll know our appointment date in a couple of weeks!