I have been in this board since the I-140 days, around August of 2000. This board was very informative and supportive. Today I got my passport stamped at Newark NJ. I will describe my experiences so that others may benefit from this.
Since the appointment was for Wednesday, but since I expect cold and snow/rain conditions tomorrow and I have a three yr old child to take with, I decided on the spur of the moment to go today with my spouse and kids. I drove to INS and reached around 10.00 am. ( NJTP to exit 13A, to 1-9 N to 21 (McCarter Hwy) and follow signs to Broad Street, OR get off a E.Kinney St ). I parked at the lot in E.Kinney St. who charges a max of 8.95. The INS office (Peter J Rodino Bldg is right behind the parking lot). There are two entrances. One taks you to the General Enquiry Rm 136 and the other takes you to other floors. By accident I went to the first one, which I beleive is correct for non-appointment days ONLY. The staff are not rude but not friendly either. They expect you to wwait outside till the people standing in line to enter go through the metal and Xray detectors. So you wait outside the closed blackened glass door, till security calls you inside to form a line. Next we were instructed to empty our pockets completely and put it into our coats/jackets and take off the jackets. We were warned that cell phones must be OFF otherwise we will be sent home.
We went inside to Rm 136, where there were 4 or 5 lines to the Gen Enquiry counter. Not sude whether this was the correct place, I asked my wife to stand in the line and went exploring and saw a door marked "To Rm 334".Knowing this was the rrom marked in my approval notice, I opened it and went inside and came to hall. When I asked security I was asked to go back to Rm 136. However I could not go back through that door as it NOENTRY from this side and I had to go out and back of the building and stand in a line again. PEOPLE BEWARE!!
The security looked at me curiously and I I explained to him the situation and was let in again. Stod in a line in Rm 136 for 40 minutes and I reached the counter. The lady took my notices and did not ask me why I cmae today. She took all our EADS, I-94\'s and asked for two forms of ID (passport + DL)
She then tooks the photographs of each person, and put it in a tranlucent white envelope and stapled it with 4 token numbers and asked me to go to Rm 1022.
This time I went through the door marked "To 334" and took th eelevator to 10th Flr. There is a huge hall and a lady sits in the entrance and she checked the stapled forms and token number.
There are 4 main Displays displaying numbers. EVen though my tokens said "Watch Display C" there seem sto be no display marked C. When I asked the lady in the reception, she said that any display should do. Mind you they are very curt. We sat down and my daughter became restless and wanted to eat something we had got with us. She started screaming and crying and the lady in the reception said, "no eating here". However my wife hid the food and fed her quietly, as we did not want to go down. Mind you if you donot go to the counter when the number is called, they will then call the next number and they will not entertain you when you come, but force you to wait till somebody else does not respond to the number call. AGAIN, PEOPLE BE WARNED!
Fiannly our numbers came. The lady at the counter grumled that this was for Wednesday, but I told her that I have a meeting and could not come.
She took ecah person and processed them one by one. We did not fill any form. We had to sign our name and put our index finger print on two sides of a paper which I belive is I-89. EVEN my 8 yr son and 3 year daughter WAS FINGERPRINTED! When I asked her about it she said that it is necessary. I did not argue.
Then she gave all our PPs back and congratulated us on our Permanet residency. She informed us that our cards will arrive within 6-12 months and in the interim, the stamp on the passports serves
Since the appointment was for Wednesday, but since I expect cold and snow/rain conditions tomorrow and I have a three yr old child to take with, I decided on the spur of the moment to go today with my spouse and kids. I drove to INS and reached around 10.00 am. ( NJTP to exit 13A, to 1-9 N to 21 (McCarter Hwy) and follow signs to Broad Street, OR get off a E.Kinney St ). I parked at the lot in E.Kinney St. who charges a max of 8.95. The INS office (Peter J Rodino Bldg is right behind the parking lot). There are two entrances. One taks you to the General Enquiry Rm 136 and the other takes you to other floors. By accident I went to the first one, which I beleive is correct for non-appointment days ONLY. The staff are not rude but not friendly either. They expect you to wwait outside till the people standing in line to enter go through the metal and Xray detectors. So you wait outside the closed blackened glass door, till security calls you inside to form a line. Next we were instructed to empty our pockets completely and put it into our coats/jackets and take off the jackets. We were warned that cell phones must be OFF otherwise we will be sent home.
We went inside to Rm 136, where there were 4 or 5 lines to the Gen Enquiry counter. Not sude whether this was the correct place, I asked my wife to stand in the line and went exploring and saw a door marked "To Rm 334".Knowing this was the rrom marked in my approval notice, I opened it and went inside and came to hall. When I asked security I was asked to go back to Rm 136. However I could not go back through that door as it NOENTRY from this side and I had to go out and back of the building and stand in a line again. PEOPLE BEWARE!!
The security looked at me curiously and I I explained to him the situation and was let in again. Stod in a line in Rm 136 for 40 minutes and I reached the counter. The lady took my notices and did not ask me why I cmae today. She took all our EADS, I-94\'s and asked for two forms of ID (passport + DL)
She then tooks the photographs of each person, and put it in a tranlucent white envelope and stapled it with 4 token numbers and asked me to go to Rm 1022.
This time I went through the door marked "To 334" and took th eelevator to 10th Flr. There is a huge hall and a lady sits in the entrance and she checked the stapled forms and token number.
There are 4 main Displays displaying numbers. EVen though my tokens said "Watch Display C" there seem sto be no display marked C. When I asked the lady in the reception, she said that any display should do. Mind you they are very curt. We sat down and my daughter became restless and wanted to eat something we had got with us. She started screaming and crying and the lady in the reception said, "no eating here". However my wife hid the food and fed her quietly, as we did not want to go down. Mind you if you donot go to the counter when the number is called, they will then call the next number and they will not entertain you when you come, but force you to wait till somebody else does not respond to the number call. AGAIN, PEOPLE BE WARNED!
Fiannly our numbers came. The lady at the counter grumled that this was for Wednesday, but I told her that I have a meeting and could not come.
She took ecah person and processed them one by one. We did not fill any form. We had to sign our name and put our index finger print on two sides of a paper which I belive is I-89. EVEN my 8 yr son and 3 year daughter WAS FINGERPRINTED! When I asked her about it she said that it is necessary. I did not argue.
Then she gave all our PPs back and congratulated us on our Permanet residency. She informed us that our cards will arrive within 6-12 months and in the interim, the stamp on the passports serves
