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DV 2020 AOS Only

skip1 said:
Quick update from me:
I have attended my expedited biometrics appointment this morning. As I mentioned before, it wasn't at my local ASC but at the USCIS federal building in Newark. As everyone described it's a pretty easy and straightforward process. They took 10 fingerprints+photo+signature. The whole thing lasted for maybe about 10 minutes. I was out of the building in 30 minutes.
Since this was expedited appointment, it was held on a different floor than the one where I had the interview - I think this is a place where infopass is usually done. One remark from my side: I was asked for a passport. Luckily I brought it with myself. So just a note for everyone who has yet to complete this: have a passport by yourself just in case.
Status in the system is still the same (Fingerprint fee was received). Hopefully, I will get approved soon. I'll update when that happens.
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Apologies but I can’t remember the details among all this sudden rush (yay!) of appointments- were you given your appointment over the phone? The bio letters tell you to bring government-issued identification. Or are you saying, you had a DL and they still specifically wanted your passport?

fyi this is what is on the bio letters:
PHOTO IDENTIFICATION. Naturalization applicants must bring their Alien Resident Card. All other applicants must bring a passport, driver’s license, national ID, military ID, or State-issued photo ID. If you appear without proper identification, you will not be fingerprinted.
 
SusieQQQ said:
Apologies but I can’t remember the details among all this sudden rush (yay!) of appointments- were you given your appointment over the phone? The bio letters tell you to bring government-issued identification. Or are you saying, you had a DL and they still specifically wanted your passport?

fyi this is what is on the bio letters:
PHOTO IDENTIFICATION. Naturalization applicants must bring their Alien Resident Card. All other applicants must bring a passport, driver’s license, national ID, military ID, or State-issued photo ID. If you appear without proper identification, you will not be fingerprinted.
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I was scheduled through email. Email itself didn't contain information what should I bring with myself, just the date and location.
I presented my DL when I entered, but when I went with immigration officer to actually do biometrics, I was specifically asked to give him a passport. Also he asked me to confirm to him that I was born in Montenegro and that I am citizen of Montenegro (my home country). I assume this was because on his laptop he had a form where he had to fill in information about my country of birth and residency. He also asked me about my height, weight and color of eyes and hair.
The reason for a different procedure may be because it was held in FO, not ASC.
 
skip1 said:
I was scheduled through email. Email itself didn't contain information what should I bring with myself, just the date and location.
I presented my DL when I entered, but when I went with immigration officer to actually do biometrics, I was specifically asked to give him a passport. Also he asked me to confirm to him that I was born in Montenegro and that I am citizen of Montenegro (my home country). I assume this was because on his laptop he had a form where he had to fill in information about my country of birth and residency. He also asked me about my height, weight and color of eyes and hair.
The reason for a different procedure may be because it was held in FO, not ASC.
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Ok, thanks for the clarification! I think that form is the same as the one usually filled out by the applicant on paper at ASCs.
 
skip1 said:
I was scheduled through email. Email itself didn't contain information what should I bring with myself, just the date and location.
I presented my DL when I entered, but when I went with immigration officer to actually do biometrics, I was specifically asked to give him a passport. Also he asked me to confirm to him that I was born in Montenegro and that I am citizen of Montenegro (my home country). I assume this was because on his laptop he had a form where he had to fill in information about my country of birth and residency. He also asked me about my height, weight and color of eyes and hair.
The reason for a different procedure may be because it was held in FO, not ASC.
Click to expand...

Even if you didn’t have your passport on hand when he asked for it, and you’re able to present some other form of government ID such as your driver’s license, there wouldn’t have been an issue.

And like Susie already responded, the questions asked are the same set of questions you would have had to fill out on the form they usually give out. I’m guessing they decided to same some poor tree by asking you the questions and filling them out on the form directly. They didn’t ask for your passport because they wanted to verify your place of birth or citizenship status.
 
Sm1smom said:
Even if you didn’t have your passport on hand when he asked for it, and you’re able to present some other form of government ID such as your driver’s license, there wouldn’t have been an issue.

And like Susie already responded, the questions asked are the same set of questions you would have had to fill out on the form they usually give out. I’m guessing they decided to same some poor tree by asking you the questions and filling them out on the form directly. They didn’t ask for your passport because they wanted to verify your place of birth or citizenship status.
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Form at ASC is paper based or electronic?
This was electronic, filled by the officer, and it seemed to me that it was part of the software workflow - after he filled that info, then it opened up the window with fingerprints.
I agree with you that I would probably be OK with other form of government ID. My thought is just that since this might not be the usual procedure, maybe even the officer was confused or not sure about it - hence the reason why he asked.
 
aussie expat said:
Thanks Mom! Will do. I guess I am worried that it's assumed with AOS that you already have a job when you get the card.
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Why will they assume that, or what made you think they’ll assume that? Remember several people with student status, with no work experience talk-less of current employment, go through the AOS process successfully.

Like I already stated, just be yourself and answer all questions truthfully. Don’t try to second guess your IO, don’t assume they're expecting specific answers to the questions they’re asking, answer the questions asked directly as pertain to you, don’t volunteer unsolicited information. Keep calm!
 
skip1 said:
Form at ASC is paper based or electronic?
This was electronic, filled by the officer, and it seemed to me that it was part of the software workflow - after he filled that info, then it opened up the window with fingerprints.
I agree with you that I would probably be OK with other form of government ID. My thought is just that since this might not be the usual procedure, maybe even the officer was confused or not sure about it - hence the reason why he asked.
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It’s still more or less the same.
Typical process - present form of ID with bio notice upon arrival, receive a form which you’re asked to fill out, submit the form, get called by the person conducting your bio processing who may or may not ask for picture ID again (depending on how busy the ASC is and how frazzled the person is), get asked a couple of questions while the person types away, get positioned for picture and fingerprints capture.

More or less the same process you went through with the exception of asking you to first fill out the form, which is why I stated they decided to save some poor tree. He could have said picture ID, could have said passport, - maybe he assumed as a non-immigrant, your readily available picture ID is a passport. No need speculating or reading meanings to the exact use of the word “Passport”. Nothing extraordinary about it.
 
Sm1smom said:
It’s still more or less the same.
Typical process - present form of ID with bio notice upon arrival, receive a form which you’re asked to fill out, submit the form, get called by the person conducting your bio processing who may or may not ask for picture ID again (depending on how busy the ASC is and how frazzled the person is), get asked a couple of questions while the person types away, get positioned for picture and fingerprints capture.

More or less the same process you went through with the exception of asking you to first fill out the form, which is why I stated they decided to save some poor tree. He could have said picture ID, could have said passport, - maybe he assumed as a non-immigrant, your readily available picture ID is a passport. No need speculating or reading meanings to the exact use of the word “Passport”. Nothing extraordinary about it.
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In my case, the bio metric appointment letter has 3 pages.
Page 1 I-797C notice for appointment, date, time and ID to bring with you.
Page 2 Attention for appointment and entry due to covid-19
Page 3 Application information work sheet(AIW), applicant's name, height, weight, eye color, DOB, nationality, race, gender to be filled out by Applicant.
 
txoutback said:
In my case, the bio metric appointment letter has 3 pages.
Page 1 I-797C notice for appointment, date, time and ID to bring with you.
Page 2 Attention for appointment and entry due to covid-19
Page 3 Application information work sheet(AIW), applicant's name, height, weight, eye color, DOB, nationality, race, gender to be filled out by Applicant.
Click to expand...
Oh that’s interesting- I guess they want to minimize contact and that’s why you got the AIW with the letter rather than being handed it at the ASC (And sharing a box of pencils with all and sundry)
Seems to me a process they could keep even when/if this is all over.
 
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txoutback said:
In my case, the bio metric appointment letter has 3 pages.
Page 1 I-797C notice for appointment, date, time and ID to bring with you.
Page 2 Attention for appointment and entry due to covid-19
Page 3 Application information work sheet(AIW), applicant's name, height, weight, eye color, DOB, nationality, race, gender to be filled out by Applicant.
Click to expand...

Providing the form/worksheet ahead of time is quite a smart move on USCIS’s part.
 
udxyz said:
Just a quick update on my case. My congressman's office emailed me with the response to my inquiry. They said that my interview has been scheduled for 10 am on August 28 and I should get an official notice from uscis within the next week.
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Useless info without your data on the spreadsheet
 
Sm1smom said:
Even if you didn’t have your passport on hand when he asked for it, and you’re able to present some other form of government ID such as your driver’s license, there wouldn’t have been an issue.

And like Susie already responded, the questions asked are the same set of questions you would have had to fill out on the form they usually give out. I’m guessing they decided to same some poor tree by asking you the questions and filling them out on the form directly. They didn’t ask for your passport because they wanted to verify your place of birth or citizenship status.
Click to expand...
I believe, in some cases providing only driver’s license won’t work. In my case, for example, I’m F-2 and I have a NJ issued driver’s license in which it says “Not for Real ID purposes”.
The original foreign passport might be as a proof of the questions they’re filling out on their systems.
 
Sm1smom said:
Even if you didn’t have your passport on hand when he asked for it, and you’re able to present some other form of government ID such as your driver’s license, there wouldn’t have been an issue.

And like Susie already responded, the questions asked are the same set of questions you would have had to fill out on the form they usually give out. I’m guessing they decided to same some poor tree by asking you the questions and filling them out on the form directly. They didn’t ask for your passport because they wanted to verify your place of birth or citizenship status.
Click to expand...

We had a similar experience. First, we showed our DL but immediately she gave them back and requested our passports.
No idea why.
 
txoutback said:
In my case, the bio metric appointment letter has 3 pages.
Page 1 I-797C notice for appointment, date, time and ID to bring with you.
Page 2 Attention for appointment and entry due to covid-19
Page 3 Application information work sheet(AIW), applicant's name, height, weight, eye color, DOB, nationality, race, gender to be filled out by Applicant.
Click to expand...

Agree, I had the exact same 3 pages for my biometrics.
 
Lara1 said:
I believe, in some cases providing only driver’s license won’t work. In my case, for example, I’m F-2 and I have a NJ issued driver’s license in which it says “Not for Real ID purposes”.
The original foreign passport might be as a proof of the questions they’re filling out on their systems.
Click to expand...

Yes, if its not a REAL ID they won't accept it at Federal Facilities. I only showed my Drivers License which is the Real ID version and the ASC officer didn't ask for Passport.
 
asm_dv said:
Yes, if its not a REAL ID they won't accept it at Federal Facilities. I only showed my Drivers License which is the Real ID version and the ASC officer didn't ask for Passport.
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This wasn't the issue in my case. My ID was not real ID and I have attended for example the interview without any issues.
Today, the officer didn't even look at my US ID, he straight asked for the passport. So, I don't think that's related to real ID thing.
 
Lara1 said:
I believe, in some cases providing only driver’s license won’t work. In my case, for example, I’m F-2 and I have a NJ issued driver’s license in which it says “Not for Real ID purposes”.
The original foreign passport might be as a proof of the questions they’re filling out on their systems.
Click to expand...

Of course that is the exception. If your DL is not the Real ID DL, it cannot be used for identification purpose in government buildings, so yes your passport will be required in such case. This is not different from taking domestic flights where one is now required to use a Real ID designated DL or an international passport. A non-Real ID is not considered compliant in government buildings.
 
Anyway I’m not even sure why we’re going back on forth on this, when the USCIS website clearly confirms a DL on its own is enough for ID purpose. Any official that rejects or refuses to accept a compliant ID and is insisting on see an international Passport in its place is simply tripping.

What to Bring to Your ASC Appointment
Your attorney or an accredited representative does not need to go with you to the ASC, even if they submitted your application, petition, or request to USCIS. Your notice will provide specific instructions on what you should bring to your ASC appointment.
You must also bring:
  • Your ASC appointment notice (Form I-797C). If you received multiple biometrics appointment notices, please bring all notices to your appointment at the application support center; and
  • Valid photo identification (such as your Green Card, passport, or driver’s license)
We recommend that you print or save a copy of your completed application, petition, or request for your records. We also recommend that you review this copy before you come to your ASC appointment. We cannot provide you with a copy at your appointment.
 
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