Getting Interim EAD Cards at SF - Ciba please add to Experience List

B

Bongo

Registered Users (C)
Today at SF INS, my wife and I received Interim EAD cards.
Interestingly, the cards are valid for 4 months, not
3 months.

RD 04/30/01
ND 06/29/01
WAC-01-223-xxxxx

We got to the INS office at 8:45am on 08/01/01. No one
was there. As I entered the building the first INS official
offered me a glass of lemonade and asked me how they could
help me. I said, "Give me an EAD card in two minutes or
else, and sing a song while your at it." The INS officials
all burst into an amazing rendition of "Hey Big Spender"
and I had the card in my hand (along with a chocolate mint)
in 1 minute and 40 seconds.

Then my wife woke me up and told me the line had finally
moved ... Now the real story.

We got to SF INS at 8:45am. There was a queue out the door
and nearly to the street corner.

I asked the security guard if this was a long queue. He said, not really
the ones on Monday and Friday are worse. He also suggested don\'t
come when the weather is good.

By 10:15am we had a ticket number, after we have showed our
EAD receipt (the case has been pending over 90 days).

By 10:30am our ticket had been called and it had been verified
that we could receive Interim
cards and we were told to go up stairs. The worker had verified
that my current EAD application had not been adjudicated and
there wasn\'t any RFE\'s.

Upstairs (Window 17) we placed our forms in the tray and
waited. The people who had entered just before and just after
us had just received their cards when at 11:30am the officers
announced they were going to lunch and we had to be back at
12:30pm.

We got back at 12:30pm, by 1:00pm we had our cards in our
hand, valid til 30/11/01.

Take home messages:

. According to the guard, don\'t come on Monday or Friday,
  the queue is very long.

. All I needed was EAD receipts, drivers licence (photo id)
  and a copy of a *filled* out EAD form (you don\'t actually
  need the form, only the information contained in it).

. If you get there after about 8:30am you won\'t get done by
  11:30am when the officers have lunch.

. The Vietnamese resteraunt (Sian?) on the next block is
   quite good food.

. It is an pacifying experience to stand in the queue and
  watch the plight of others. If you think your situation is bad
  then just watch some of these unfortunate folks. I saw men cry,
  woman with lips that could not stop shaking and people literally
  try to pull their hair out. It was both sad and placed my problems
  into perspective (so what if I get my Green card in December instead
  of October).
 
No Title

Forgot to add that the INS official told me the
criteria that SF uses to determine if they can give
you an interm EAD card:

a) You fall under their jursidiction
b) Your case has been pending for over 90 days from RD
c) There are no outstanding RFE\'s against the case.
 
Thanks !!

Thanks Dr. Bongo for insightful account here. Your efforts are truly appreciated.

BTW, are u from UK or one ( ex or otherise ) of the British colonies ?

Cheers
 
great.

We got a shorter line just because the weather was not good on that day (07/27, Fri)!
And luckily we didn\'t see too many miserable people around there. Actually the atmosphere was peaceful.
 
Wife Got SS Card as well

Guys,

My wife just went into the SS office
and they agreed to change her SS card.

They take the old one of you and mail
you a new one in a few weeks.

The overall INS experience at SF was
very good. The staff were busy but
professional. It was just said to
see these people who were under great
stress.
 
A nice experience

It is good to hear that your experience of the SF INS office was positive.
Myself, I do not quite agree on that the staff (I prefer to call them clerks, even if some people like to call them Officers) are behaving in a professional manner.

The first officer we met was not even trying to be nice, but she shut her mouth.
The second officer, that "greeted" us after a very long wait, did not even say hello, just took the papers. While he was busy removing the staple and replacing it with two new staples, a child started crying. It was probably hungry, after waiting for several hours, and eating was forbidden.
The officer shouted "Shut up!" and then "Damned spoiled brat!" to the child. What a way to treat people that have patiently been waiting for hours to get the staples in their papers replaced...!

In my homecountry, the officer would have been punished for behaving in this way.
Not to mention that insted of standing in line three times, the simple task could easily have been handled by one clerk... What a waste of resources.

I also have a trouble with understanding why it is forbidden to ask simple questions. Most people that have to appear at the INS office have many questions and would like some information. But if they try to ask a humble question, they get shouted at and treated with disrespect.
We have all the right in the world to ask questions and get decent answers. We are paying the salaries of these people with our fees, and tax money. Yet they treat us like shit.
If I had a job like that and every day treated people in this very rude manner, I would be scared of walking to my car at night. I would look over my shoulder in every dark place and wonder if someone wanted to "talk" to me. To get some information.
Still, we are all very patient and the only thing we want is to get our papers processed without any trouble. We have the patience of angels. Because what else could we do?
 
90 days count

How do they calculate the 90 days?
90 calendar days from from RD or 90 working days from RD?
Same question for the 180 days rule.
 
No Title

My wife\'s old SS card said
"Not valid for employment"

She needed to change it, just
incase some employers start to worry.
 
Calendar days from receipt date, always...

that is the law, but INS does not always seem to care about that, according to some postings I read on this forum....
 
No Title

Bongo,

Just to let you know that I have posted your message to the
webpage. Thanks so much for writing such an excellent
message. The paragragh immediately preceding "the wakeup
by your wife" is especially funny. I was laughing while
reading it.

ciba
 
No Title

Bongo,

Just to let you know that I have posted your message to the
webpage. Thanks so much for writing such an excellent
message. The paragragh immediately preceding "the wakeup
by your wife" is especially funny. I was laughing while
reading it.

ciba
 
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