Visa Applications: Round Two

I was hoping to resubmit our visa applications this week. We have everything we need except one : FBI background checks for Ryan and me.

We submitted our fingerprints to the FBI at the beginning of May. They are supposed to take 5-6 weeks. For some reason, we have not received them. 

When doing an FBI Criminal History, there are two options: 1) submit your fingerprints directly to the FBI or 2) use an FBI approved "channeler" to do all the work for you.

Submitting directly to the FBI is apparently the less-than desirable choice. When I talked to the NZ consulate a few weeks ago, they said, "The Channelers only take a week to get a response." A week? WHAT?

We don't want to pour any more money into this since we are feeling slightly uncertain now about how it will turn out. Now we wait. . .for the FBI criminal history to show up on our door step.