Approved (Welcome notice) and San Jose Stamping experience

N

ngadhia

Registered Users (C)
Hi Friends,

First of all I thanks everybody in this Forum , specially Kashmir, Silly Man, 140_takes_4ever,desi-bartender, Funnywait,Mazdur_Desi and many others who kept this Forum live with excellent information for current and future applicants. Thanks to Rajeev Khanna and his staff for all things they have done for this forum.

I got my approval letter yesterday (07/8/2004) with Notice Type : Welcome Notice. Although having this approval notice in hand , I was not very happy as there was some notices sent out by mistake and was wondering am I one of the victim of such an error by USCIS. But today I had been for Stamping at San Jose Local USCIS office ( Monteray), and it turned out that this is a valid approval notice, and got our (me and my wife's) passport stamped.

San Jose Stamping Experience

Reached USCIS Local office at Monteray street , San Jose at 5:50 am. At 6:45 a seciurity officer read some rules, one of which was ADIT processing people should not stand in Appointment line, no food ..blah ..blah...blah..

Entered the Hall at 8:45, got a tocken from the front counter. Waited for 5 painfull hours to get my turn. Then was called by IO asked for the following
for me and my wife.

1. Approval Notice (I-797)
2. EAD
3. AP, I94 if any
4. Passport
5. 2 photographs.

Returned the passport with stamp valid upto 1 year.( hand written I485 approved).
Got out of the premises at 1:15 pm. Seven Painfull hours.. But I am very happy today.

For those who received this Welcome Notice, with information describing "You will receive the Permenant Green Card in 3 weeks time". This information is incorrect as per the IO in San Jose. She informed it me will take 6-10 months for me to receive the Plastic Card. She then mentioned the information in the receipt is not possible, as they don't have Budget (man power) to complete the plastic card stuff in 3 weeks.

Our Passport stamp is valid for 1 year.

thank you all and Good Luck.

Eb3
RD 28th June 2002
ND 1st July 2002
2 EAD's, 2AP, applied for 3rd
2FP
AC21 ( informed BCIS).
LUD 08/21/2002->05/04/2004->06/09/2004->06-22->06-23->06-24->07/05
Approved Notice Date July 2nd 2004.
Received approval Notice by Mail July 8th 2004.
Passport Stamped July 9th 2004.
 
ngadhia
Good to see you having gotten your stamp
Did you show the IIO the text of your approval notice? Did he specifically confirm that you were approved?
My lawyer advised me against speaking to the IIO on any count. So I just kept my mouth shut throughout the process. Thanks for posting your experience
 
well i did the same

"Even a fish wouldn't bring any difificulty if it keeps its mouth shut"

I keep mum until she stamped our passports. The IO seemed to be new , and that she read the notice and filled out a form and had me signed. I did not think it was worth asking her this question and creating more confusions for her and me.
End Result matters.
 
Adding my stamping experience to that of nagdhia's
Reached at 5:00 am on Thursday. Took folding chairs along. No point in standing for several hours. I actually enjoyed the wait since I rarely see the sun rise. There were several people who were lying down using their sleeping bags. During my earlier visits to Monterey office, I could always get in after reaching the office by 7:00. This time around it seems that due to the spate of approvals, the lines are much longer.
The van that sells snacks/ coffee comes was there when I reached (5:00 am). It left around 6:30 am.
There is a portable restroom but I was told that it is very dirty, so I instead drove down south a few blocks and used a 711 store.
They don't allow the use of cellphone inside but once you take a token, you can come outside and make calls if necessary.
They hoist the US flag at around 6:30 and make everyone stand.
Got inside at around 8:30 am. Stayed until 12 pm. Came outside for breakfast and phone calls.Got stamping without any issue. Gave my personal PO Box address instead of street address for I 551 to avoid stuck in one apartment while waiting for plastic card.
Good luck to everyone. Maybe we should also think about lobbying for better infrastructure for people who are waiting. In case you are thinking of citizenship - be preapred to wait again at least a couple of times.

Also, it seems that the authentic notice says that the stamping can be done from Monday - Thursday but as ngadhia's post suggests (and from experiences of other acquaintances), stamping can also be done on Fridays.
 
Thanks for your response. I am a bit confused though
From these sentences
>>For those who received this Welcome Notice, with information >>describing "You will receive the Permenant Green Card in 3 weeks time". >>This information is incorrect as per the IO in San Jose.
It seems that you did make the IIO read the text of your notice. It thus implies that she would have realized that this notice is different from the usual ones and would have therefore commented on it.
However, the sentence in the next post
>>I did not think it was worth asking her this question and creating more >>confusions for her and me.
seem to imply that you did not discuss this.
The issue here is to ascertain if CSC database does indicate that our cases are approved. Since our cases are still missing - we have no way to ascertain that and more importantly, no way to track the progress of plastic card.
I don't want to get stuck in a position where there database do not indicate approval and I exit the country and then attempt to reenter on the basis of the stamp.
 
My lawyer, who works at jackson-hertogs told me that today she received a welcome notice for me, and she checked with CSC and find out that my case is still pending in stead of approved. I pointed out the web page at her firm website saying the notice has some meaning of approval till yesterday. But she reconfirmed this welcome notice does not give any meaning about approval anymore. I guess I have to wait till the real approval comes, in stead of using the welcome notice to get PP stamped.
 
Well this is pretty spooky.
rcen is your case missing from the CSC database also?
The fact that the lawyer is contradicting their own information on the website does not add to the firm's credibility. (Was it the lawyer or the paralegal who made this statement). I wonder who are the contacts within CSC that these lawyers have. I checked with different attorneys and all of them claimed that CSC does not have any formal relations with the attorneys.

if your case is not missing, you can always call CSC up. It will be helpful if you can post your 2nd FP / case missing or present/ LUD dates.
 
My case is missing since 7/5.
my information is:
WAC-02-110-*****
2FP scheduled on Jun 11, did it early on May21. the website updated on May 28 saying the FP result is received. Then on 6/11 CSC send me another FP notice asking me to do another FP scheduled on 7/29. I guess it is because the scheduled date was for the president Reagan's funeral, no government office is open, so they rescheduled my FP, but why they do not check my record??
LUD is 4/7/, 5/13, 5/28, then 7/5, the case is dissapeared on that LUD. No any other touch.




mazdur_desi said:
Well this is pretty spooky.
rcen is your case missing from the CSC database also?
The fact that the lawyer is contradicting their own information on the website does not add to the firm's credibility. (Was it the lawyer or the paralegal who made this statement). I wonder who are the contacts within CSC that these lawyers have. I checked with different attorneys and all of them claimed that CSC does not have any formal relations with the attorneys.

if your case is not missing, you can always call CSC up. It will be helpful if you can post your 2nd FP / case missing or present/ LUD dates.
Click to expand...
:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Status changed
My missing case just returned 6:55 pm. It was missing a minute ago.
I refreshed and double checked / cut and pasted in a mail

The text now says:
This case has been approved. On July 9, 2004, an approval notice was mailed. If 14 days have passed and you have not received this notice, you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

So I hope the journey is over.
rcen and ngadhia, please check your status and revert
 
rcen said:
My case is missing since 7/5.
my information is:
WAC-02-110-*****
2FP scheduled on Jun 11, did it early on May21. the website updated on May 28 saying the FP result is received. Then on 6/11 CSC send me another FP notice asking me to do another FP scheduled on 7/29. I guess it is because the scheduled date was for the president Reagan's funeral, no government office is open, so they rescheduled my FP, but why they do not check my record??
LUD is 4/7/, 5/13, 5/28, then 7/5, the case is dissapeared on that LUD. No any other touch.





:confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

You should receive an approval notice soon.. Hang on.
 
Congratulations! Glad to hear of your approval. :)

ngadhia said:
First of all I thanks everybody in this Forum , specially Kashmir, Silly Man, 140_takes_4ever
Click to expand...
No worries mate. Glad to have been of assistance.
 
mazdur_desi said:
Status changed
My missing case just returned 6:55 pm. It was missing a minute ago.
I refreshed and double checked / cut and pasted in a mail

The text now says:
This case has been approved. On July 9, 2004, an approval notice was mailed. If 14 days have passed and you have not received this notice, you may wish to verify or update your address. To update your address, please call the National Customer Service Center at (800) 375-5283.

So I hope the journey is over.
rcen and ngadhia, please check your status and revert
Click to expand...

Thanks. Mine is still missing. :). Hope tomorrow is a different day.
 
Congratulations !!

> First of all I thanks everybody in this Forum , specially Kashmir, ...

My pleasure, and enjoy your freedom,
-kashmir
 
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