Thinking out loud

So, the U.S. Department of State authentication goes:

Fees: The authentication fee is $8.00 per document...

Mail Service: The Authentication of documents takes approximately 5 business days to process from the time of receipt...

Mailing Address
U.S. Department of State Authentications Office
518 23rd Street, N.W. SA-1
Washington, D.C. 20520

The Authentication Office will mail documents directly to the Foreign Embassy or Consulates if provided with a transmittal letter, fee, and a pre-addressed stamped envelope. Please enclose an additional pre-addressed stamped envelope for the embassy or consulate to return the document.

Walk-in (Counter Service)
Open - 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Monday thru Friday except Federal Holidays
Each customer (company) is limited to 15 documents per day on a while-you-wait basis.

Location:
Authentications Office
Columbia Plaza Store Front
518 23rd Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20520

THEN
to the Ethiopian Embassy for Authentication -

Before any of the documents are sent to the Embassy, the following process must be completed:
1. The documents/s has/have to be authenticated by the Secretary of State of the state in which the organization exists or the individual lives.

2. The document has to be sent to and authenticated by the U.S. Department of State...
3. This authenticated document has to be sent to:

The Embassy of Ethiopia
3506 International Dr. NW
Washington DC 20008

You must include a payment of $94.80...
...and a self addressed envelope with pre paid postage for the return of your document

The Placement Agency navigates this process on our behalf. Radu said it takes 10 days to move thru the US part...and another 10 days to move thru the Ethiopian part. Then, I guess the document is mailed back to Radu (for final review), then forwarded to Ethiopia.

Expected time = about 3-4 weeks.

This process seemed faster for other people. I wonder if we (thru our agency) could have gotten someone to do the 'over the counter' service. That only takes half a day, and fedex is overnight. That makes the US part about 3 days. The Ethiopian Embassy website doesn't say how long their end of the process takes....but it seems that a courier could take the document by hand (like with the US Dept of State)...and our dossier's stay in Washington DC can be cut from 20 days to...about 3. With 2 days of mailing (overnight fedex), seems like our completed package could be back to the Placement Agency all authenticated in 1 week...and ready to head over to Ethiopia.

I think I'll email him and ask him if this is possible....

UPDATE:
Got a return email. He said that this process is actually done via hand courier, and isn't as 'simple' as it seems...which is why the agencies tend to do these steps. He confirmed that we aren't eligible for a referral until our documents arrive in Ethiopia. I guess he will let us know when they arrive...
...he approximates 3-4 months before getting a referral.