Fingerprint appointment (for naturalization) question

K

kvps

Registered Users (C)
Guys,

We are planning on visiting India for few months after applying for naturalization and wondering if

1) We have to re-schedule appointment for fingerprint, how easy/hard would it be? (we heard that now they have made it simpler by giving a fixed day within 90 days window, after fingerprinting appointment date, to get fingerprinting done from service center, is that correct?) If someone could post the language from their fingerprint appointment letter, that would be great help.

2) Just in case, if we travel before our actual eligibility date and ask someone to mail our applications for naturalization on or after our eligibility date, would it cause any problems/issues? If some one has already done it and could share their experience, it will help us follow the model.

Thanks in advance
 
You may want to check timelines in the appropriate tracker thread to see what average FP appointment schedule is running for your service center. Many of them appear to be issuing appointments around a month or so.

There is some flexibility with going to your FP appointment, but I've not seen anything suggesting you can go anytime in a 90 day window! More likely you could get away with a week or so either side, but more than that will be pushing your luck.
 
For NSC the FP appointment is typically in about 2 weeks from Receipt Date, I suggest to postpone your travel date by a couple of weeks and get the Finger print done and then travel. If for any reason the FP date is more than a 2 weeks, you could still go the Immigration office and have your finger print done ahead of time, as long as you got your FP appointment letter with you.
 
Thanks boatbod and gabbar007 for quick responses.

Just wondering about 2nd question, what if we mail our applications from india through courier service or ask someone in USA to mail it on our behalf?
 
I think posting from India may not be a good idea, but having a friend to post might be OK. Having said that, what is the Hurry, why not just visit India, come back and apply, under any case during interview you would have to mention this India Trip, too on your application.

BTW, which Service Center do you come under, did you check the typical timeline? Keep this in mind the USCIS mail is not forwarded, so in your absence you would need to have a friend/neighbor keep checking your mail box.
 
gabbar007 said:
I think posting from India may not be a good idea, but having a friend to post might be OK. Having said that, what is the Hurry, why not just visit India, come back and apply, under any case during interview you would have to mention this India Trip, too on your application.

BTW, which Service Center do you come under, did you check the typical timeline? Keep this in mind the USCIS mail is not forwarded, so in your absence you would need to have a friend/neighbor keep checking your mail box.
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We fall under California Service Center and San Diego District Office.

We are trying to put our conscious efforts not to delay this process unless required and that is why we are trying to get the best out of naturalization regulations and our specifics.

Coming back to your point about india trip, If we are in india at the time of mailing application, how would we show the last trip and how would we calculate days based on unfinished trip? yes, I am refering to Part 7.A and Part 7.C. Any Ideas/Suggestions?

Thanks again in advance.
 
Can I go for FP with original letter, but without any appointment?

Hi Folks:

We applied for citizenship at Nebraska Service center in early October. Within 2 weeks we received letter for fingerprint appointment at Naperville, IL on 10/31/06 (We must have been crazy! but) due to circumstances at that time, we had to request a “rescheduling” for the appointment. We did it as soon as we received the notice.

Well, that was it. Since then 75 days have passed and we have not heard anything from USCIS or Naperville, IL ASC. I called USCIS number 3 times and each time I heard a different answer. One says too early to inquire; the other one said use InfoPASS and speak to an immigration officer and the third one said wait for a total of 180 days.

I suspect the FP notice has either been sitting in USCIS files or gone missing. I was wondering whether anyone experienced similar situation and how you solved it.

I get InfoPASS appointment to speak to an immigration officer in Chicago. That would ruin whole day. And, even if I went there, what would happen? Would the immigration officer simply tell me what is going on with FP? Or would he allow fingerprinting right there, if I have my letter with me?

(As Gabbar007 has suggested) Has anyone simply walked in to Naperville, IL ASC (or your nearby ASC) with original FP appointment letter without any appointment?

I fear if I wait as USCIS tells me, I would simply be waiting forever and must do something to find out what is going and also get FP done.

Your help would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
 
ajax_ct said:
Hi Folks:

We applied for citizenship at Nebraska Service center in early October. Within 2 weeks we received letter for fingerprint appointment at Naperville, IL on 10/31/06 (We must have been crazy! but) due to circumstances at that time, we had to request a “rescheduling” for the appointment. We did it as soon as we received the notice.

Well, that was it. Since then 75 days have passed and we have not heard anything from USCIS or Naperville, IL ASC. I called USCIS number 3 times and each time I heard a different answer. One says too early to inquire; the other one said use InfoPASS and speak to an immigration officer and the third one said wait for a total of 180 days.

I suspect the FP notice has either been sitting in USCIS files or gone missing. I was wondering whether anyone experienced similar situation and how you solved it.

I get InfoPASS appointment to speak to an immigration officer in Chicago. That would ruin whole day. And, even if I went there, what would happen? Would the immigration officer simply tell me what is going on with FP? Or would he allow fingerprinting right there, if I have my letter with me?

(As Gabbar007 has suggested) Has anyone simply walked in to Naperville, IL ASC (or your nearby ASC) with original FP appointment letter without any appointment?

I fear if I wait as USCIS tells me, I would simply be waiting forever and must do something to find out what is going and also get FP done.

Your help would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
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Do walk-in to the nearest ASC ASAP. My impression is 90 days window from the scheduled appointment date so still you have time.

Also don't forget to post your experience.

Good Luck
 
Thanks, KVPS.

That was a quick reply. I would try my luck (hopefully this week itself) and post the experience.
 
kvps said:
Coming back to your point about india trip, If we are in india at the time of mailing application, how would we show the last trip and how would we calculate days based on unfinished trip? yes, I am refering to Part 7.A and Part 7.C. Any Ideas/Suggestions?

Thanks again in advance.
Click to expand...
My suggestion, sign it and date it before you leave, and then have your friend mail it to the USCIS while you are away. Then everything is ok (i.e., you are not lying about anything - all the information is correct relative to the date you signed and dated the document).

No one in the USCIS will notice that it took a long time from when you signed it until the PD - time is a flexible thing in USCIS-land.
 
Ajax,

Your FP probably didn't get lost, especially if they were read electronically on the "big photocopier" type machine. More likely your application has not cleared namecheck yet - typically you won't hear anything now until your case is ready for interview after namecheck is complete.
 
boatbod,
Ajax has not yet had his fingerprints done.


Ajax, I would think you should go for a walk-in ASAP and try your luck, if not take an infopass appointment.

-g
 
Oops, I just re-read ajax's post a little more thoroughly. Yes, probably a good idea to go see someone asap. Either take an Infopass or perhaps go see an ASC employee, although frankly I doubt the latter can do much without an appointment being generated from your service center.
 
Yes, I went to the nearby ASC..

Yes, guys. I went to the nearby ASC (still 2.5 hrs non-stop drive). Thank you for your replies.

The check-in person asked the supervisor. And, the supervisor was really mean. She first spent a lot of time gathering our info. That part I understand. She would not listen to me at all! To keep, Mr Khanna’s thread civil, I would use mild words and just say that she heaped a lot of non-sense and rubbish. I could see a lot many things were at play – hidden biases, education level, race, abuse of power etc.

[The place seemed to be her kingdom and 90-days windows thing would not have worked.]

At 3:00 PM, there were no more applicants to be fingerprinted. And, the center is open till 4 PM. So, she let us get the fingerprinted. (Till then we did not know). But, we were neither happy nor relieved. [They could easily take 10 more people for fingerprinting.]

If there were more applicants to be fingerprinted, I am 100% sure she would not have allowed us to be fingerprinted. We were also not given customer feedback forms lest we mention the verbal abuse!

If it were not for cranky and sleep-deprived small kids; I would not put up with such behavior. I understand it would be an inconvenience for them, but she could have simply said No instead of telling me a lot of non-sense. In the worst case, FP appointment would come after 6 months or I would have to go to Chicago to speak with an immigration officer and it might have taken 6-12 months more to become citizen. I could live with that.

Lessons learned:
- Do not reschedule.
- Do not call USCIS 800 number. Waste of time.
- At the same time if one does not receive FP notice, one needs to speak to an immigration officer in person.
- If there is a complaint against a USCIS employee, one can provide feedback at USCIS-COMPLAINT@DHS.GOV . [http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/us...nel=52a46c854523d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD]

It would help applicants if there were a phone number to call and schedule an appointment (or a web option for fingerprinting through Infopass); rather than being given a date/time.

Amen!
 
It is possible that different service centers and may be even different ASCs have different practices regarding taking FP on a date different from the official FP appointment date.

For example, in my case I filed N-400 with NSC in December and received an FP appointment for January 11 at the Indianapolis CIS office.
I did keep this appointment and had my fingerprints taken then.

My FP notice says:

"If you are unable to appear at this time, you may go on any following Wednesday at the same time noted below [10am in my case], as long as you appear before 04/05/2007."

The difference between Jan 11 and April 5 is slightly less than 90 days...
 
Interesting and perhaps somewhat surprising. I missed by FP appointment in San Antonio because I was clueless as to how fast USCIS can work !!!!! I tried a walk-in the following week. The check-in clerk had a mild dose of power-complex but only for a couple of minutes. He accepted my request. From then on, everybody was super-pleasant and I was out of there in 45 minutes or so. Having said that, it was almost five months ago. Let's hope it worked !!!!!!
 
Any one with recent FP appointment letter in CSC area???

Thanks ajax_ct for posting your experience. I feel sorry for the nuckle-heads you and your family had to put up with. Again it seems, 90 days window is becoming more official with the mention of the specific in FP appointment scheduleing letter (see posting from baikal3 on this thread). I think, it could a part of their efforts to leveling out people experiences and setting expectations from their field offices.
Anyways good thing came out of it - Now you will not have to live in anxiety any more. Good Luck with rest of the process!!!

Thanks baikal3 for posting language from your appointment letter. It seems recently they changed it to the one as shown on your FP appointment letter. It will be a great help for our filing in couple months. Thanks again.

Guys, if someone in CSC area could confirm the same language on their Fingerprint Appointment Scheduling letter, it would be highly appreciated.
 
Our FP notices said something to the effect of "if you can't make the appointment, mail this notice back with an explanation and a suggested time".

We did just that with our daughter's GC renewal FP notice. A week later we got the notice back with a handwritten note given us an appointment on the first day we suggested

(Dallas DO, ASC on Northwest Highway near Love Field)
 
Fingerprint notification at Albany, NY & N-400 applied in Vermont center.

We filed our N-400 application on Jan 4th, 2007 and Jan 8th is our priority date. Fingerprint appointment is scheduled for end of Jan.

Here is the snipet from Fingerprint Notification:

To process your application, USCIS must take your fingerprints and have them cleared by the FBI. PLEASE APPEAR AT THE BELOW APPLICATION SUPPORT CENTER AT THE APPOINTED DATE AND TIME TO HAVE YOUR FINGERPRINTS TAKEN. If you are unable to appear at this time, you may go on any following Wednesday at the same time noted below, as long as you appear before 04/25/2007. If you do not have your fingerprints taken by that date, your application will be considered abandoned.
 
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