appointment this week: how to ensure a succesful fingerprinting?

T

TwoScoops

New Member
I almost can't believe it.... my FP letter showed up last week. It was dated the first week of April. Don't know who goofed, the post office or the service center? I'm going to say it's the post office....

Anyway, my FP appointment is this week!

Since I do not want to cause any delays, like a second
fingerprinting appointment, what are the steps that I
should take to ensure everything will go smoothly?

Should I wash my hands(like how surgeons do it) just
before showing up at the ASC?

There's a recent 5mm scar in the center of my index
finger, as a result of a papercut. The scar has not
completely healed yet... Will it affect the way the
computer reads my fingerprints?

Any other advice appreciated!

After the FP is done, I can finally post my dates! L'Chayim!!! :)
 
Some people recommend using hand lotion regularly in the days up to the fingerprint, to ensure that the skin won't be cracked. Cuts, specially deep ones can be a bit of trouble. However, I doubt a papercut scar will be a problem. It all depends, now you have the letter, so if you want to go tomorrow, there is little that can be done to prepare. If the fingerprint techician is good he/she should be able to try and retry until the captured fingerprints are of good quality. They have controls to darken/lighten and can repeat the capture of a fingerprint. It will most likely be ok.

Good luck.
 
TwoScoops said:
THANKS! :) That's a great tip! My hands are usually very dry because of my enviroment. I'll use hand lotion on my hand every day this week until the morning of the FP appointment.
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Use hand lotion don’t use much soap on your hands and message your finger tips daily with oil. Ask the fingerprinting officer to use ridge builder solution if any problem. they keep the ridge builder solution.
 
At our FP appointment they sent two people home (manual laborers) because of dry hands. They told them to use lotion twice a day for a week and come back.

Dry hands are bad.
 
Flydog said:
At our FP appointment they sent two people home (manual laborers) because of dry hands. They told them to use lotion twice a day for a week and come back.

Dry hands are bad.
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ok... now you're scaring me... :(

I think I'll just soak my hands in a tub of lotion
for the rest of the week! :D
 
TwoScoops said:
ok... now you're scaring me... :(

I think I'll just soak my hands in a tub of lotion
for the rest of the week! :D
Click to expand...

I work with my hands and get lots of small cuts - had a nasty one on my left index finger during FP, but apparently it didn't cause a problem. The techs spray your fingers with a little water, wobble them around on the surface of the electronic reader and then you are done. Usually its pretty obvious immediately if something isn't coming out well - there is a large screen on each machine, so you too can see how its going.
 
I came in after work and got mine done. Never used lotion in my life. Hadn't washed my hands for a few hours before the FP anyways. As long as you can see your fingerprints then the machine will be able to read them.

Unless you're working in dirt all day long, you don't have to do anything but to show up with your letter and your green card and they'll take it from there...
 
I didn't mean to scare you. Probably 100 people walked through the door while I was sitting in the waiting room. The north Dallas ASC is in an extremely blue collar neighborhood. Of those hundred, the receptionist looked at 2 guys hands and recommended they come back.

We had no problems (well they re-did one of my fingers). It's pretty much a breeze.
 
Flydog said:
I didn't mean to scare you.
Click to expand...

Thanks! :D

I was just kidding... :)

Well.... I'm happy to report that I got fingerprinted this
morning! :)

Arrived waaaayyyy too early for my appointment, but the
lady at the desk didn't seem to mind. I filled out the
form and got a number ticket. I looked up on the wall and
noticed that there were only 2 numbers ahead of me,
despite the fact that there were at least 30 to 40 people
in the waiting area. I later realized that they were still in
their greencard process.

Me and the two people ahead of me were all getting
fingerprinted for the N400 process.

10 minutes later, my number was called. I was led to the
machine and told to relax my fingers. The process took
just under 3 minutes, no problems at all. From the time
I parked my car until the time I left the parking lot, it was
no more than 20 minutes! Very efficient!(or perhaps I just
came on a not-so-busy day)

Now the real waiting game can finally begin.... :D
 
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