Here are some information I collected from the old posts regarding passport stamping
at Newark, hope they are helpful.
**Stamping done at Newark without appointment
I wanted to share my passport stamping experience at Newark INS. My appointment was for Wednesday but I decided to go on monday because I had an important meeting scheduled for wednesday. I read on the board somewhere that you could get it stamped on any day.
I started from South jersey around 6:00 am and reached Newark 7:45. Took exit 13 A - 1& 9 North - McCarthur Hwy - left of E.kinney street and parked in the paking lot next to the INS buliding. If you go any other day other than your appointment day you need to stand in the non-appointment line which starts at the right of the small park opposite the building. It was a long line with about 150 people in it ( Around 8:00 AM). DONOT go and stand in any other line. You will only be wasting time. It took us about 2 hours to get into the building. We were given a blue slip and asked to go to room 200. When we went to the room there , we saw a huge line. Fortunatly a women announced that any one with approval letters can form a seperate line. We did and when we went upto the counter , The women grumbled that the appointment was for Wed. but did not say anything after I gave my explaination. She however said that there was a huge line infront of us and would take 4 hours and wanted to know if we still wanted to go ahead. We said yes and she gave us the tokens and asked us to go to room 1022. It said on the token to watch diplay C but there is no display C. Our number was 312 and the number on the display was 347. It goes to 399 and then starts from 301. We knew we were in for a long wait. We went down to cafeteria and had lunch and came back up and finally around 3:00 PM our number came up. She asked why we showed up today but did not say much. Took our signatues and finger prints and also the EAD , I-94 and advance parole documents and stamped our passports.
BOTTOM LINE : Unless you have a compelling reason , Go on your appointment day. You will get the stamping done but will take you a good 8 hours.
Hope this helps. The forums here have been very useful and I thank you all.
**Passport stamped this morning in Newark
The whole process took about 2 hours. We were first in a wrong line. The correct line is at the BACK of the buliding, not the side of buidling. The officer
(1) take the finger print for us.
(2) take EAD/AP/APPROVAL NOTICE/I94.
(3) stamp the passport.
It is easy. The I-94 is the little white card attached to your passport.
**pp stamped @ newark on 10/2
Wife & I reached INS office at 7:30 am. For those map-freaks like me, the office is located on Broad street between Walnut St and Kinney St, towards McCarter (Rt 21). Parked in the lot right behind the bldg. If you are traveling south on Broad, turn left onto Kinney and left onto Orchard. Parking lot is on Orchard. Parking for over 2 hrs is $8.95.
You'll see the line for pp stamping on Orchard St. Do not stand in the line on Walnut St. (a lot clearer than saying 'do not stand in the wrong line' )
Entered at 8:00 am and was directed to the 10th floor (Room for Information?). Was 32nd in line. We were called within 45 mins. Officer asked for I-94, AP, EAD, approval letters, photos, took signature and fingerprint, asked us to wait a few mins. After 15 mins, we were called again to the same counter for pp stamping. Officer congratulated us (monotonously!) on becoming permanent residents and said the card will arrive in 6-12 months. Walked out by 9:15 am.
Thought of changing SSN card clause right away. The SSA office is in the next room. Had to fill up a new form (Alien status change) and wait for 2 hrs. Officer took old SSN, gave a rcpt and said we'll have a new SSN card in 2 weeks.
Good luck to those still waiting for approval.
**My experience at the stamping office
I reached the Newak office at about 8.15 am. By 9:30 we were done stamping. Then I went to the SS office on the 10th floor of the same building applied for the new SSN card. I was out by 10:30 am doing that too.
Do not go early as suggested by many people. I think if one goes in time it serves the purpose.
Documents to take:
Passport
2 ADIT style photos
EAD
AP
I94
the new card is needed as the present one says .."Valid for Work with INS authorization only" - not a mandatory thing but better get it done since both offices are in the same building
Yes you do need to update SS records
The SS# will still remain the same
but they will take off the Restriction off your card
which reads "Valid for employment with INS authorisation only"
and SS will issue you a new card with same number but without the restriction.
Which allows you to work for any one without any restrictions, or you may even start your own business
**Documents required for stamping!!
Could some in this forum, let us know the documents required for stamping. My attorney suggested that just take my passport, photos and the approval letter. Is this sufficient or do we need to take something more. I had along with my AOS, applied for EAD and AP and have since received them. I also have a couple of I-94. Do we need to return them too? So when we return there does INS give us a receipt of items they have collected from us?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Apart from the documents listed in your approval notice, you need to carry the following:
original AP
EAD card
I-94's are supposed to be with your passport. So carrying your passport means carrying your I-94's too. If it's not with your passport, you need to take your I-94's too.
They don't give you any receipt so take photocopies of all your documents before you surrender.
