Hi !
After reading about other\'s trouble with the FP, I thought I will post my experiences. Hope this will help someone.
My RD is Jul 01 and ND is Sept. 01. I did not receive my FP notice till about 2 weeks ago. My wife got her FP notice in December but for some reason my FP notice did not arrive.
I did the following things :
1. I went to the Oakland office where my wife\'s FP was scheduled and tried to get my FP done saying that I havent got mine. No luck there.
2. I contacted my office HR and asked them about it who in turn(slowly) contacted my company lawyers(to whom I have no direct access). My lawyers insisted that they will enquire in January.
3. I called the INS CSC number and got through after around 200 tries. The officer there said that they can see my FP was ordered but dont know why the notice was not printed out and sent to me. They said they cannot help me anymore and suggested that my lawyer follow up with fax enquiries.
3. I went to the INS office twice in January and asked the INS officers what I could do. They checked and basically said the same thing but told me they could not give me a FP notice. The 2nd officer said that they wrre doing it at one point of time but had their hands slapped by the office in Laguna Niguel and hence are not issuing FP notices anymore for GC through job.(I think they might issue it for other criteria such as marriage etc.)
4. Okay - so back to square one. All I could do was wait for my lawyers to get through to someone at INS. Finally, they got a reply from INS saying that it was too early to ask for an enquiry and that I could do so only after 4 months though I had waited more than 8 months. How do you react when people do not know whether 4 or 8 is greater ?
5. After still more follow-ups by my lawyer, I finally got my FP notice but with an appointment date towards the end of June.
6. I went to the Oakland office and to the San Francisco office and they absolutely totally refused to do an early FP.
I had become totally fed-up in this entire process that I stopped looking at this forum. Anyhow, I posted once more and PCee(and a couple of others - thanks), suggested that I go to
San Jose. I really did not want to try it since my office HR was basically saying that I should go on the appointment date or if there is any problem, I was on my own.
Well - I did go last Saturday and I got my FP done. I do not know if things will proceed smoothly from here on and strangely, I dont think I care much anymore.
Only bit of advice :
1. I know that there are probably people who have waited for a lot more time than me and if you are one of those people(I wouldnt call unlucky) who havent got their GC in time, then try to change your method of thinking as to what are you going to do with a GC. It is not a race and hence if a 100 people in this forum have got a GC after you applied, so what ? If you are in a stable job, it really doesn\'t matter if you get your card in 6 months or 1 year or whatever. On the other hand, even if you lose your job, the economy is such that regardless of whether you have a GC, you cannot survive without a salary. Having the GC though gives you at least an option. But not having one is not an unsurmountable difficulty.
What ARE you going to do with the GC ? I think probably 90% of the people who do get a GC continue on the same job for atleast another 2 years.(at least in this economy).
Anyway, I think this mail has become 2 big - so I will stop now.
Bottom line - If you have no FP -
1. Ask your lawyers to keep contacting INS.
2. Stop losing sleep over a silly card.
3. Dont keep checking each and every message in this forum.
4. Stop checking the INS status line every day.
5. Dont pester the lawyer to keep sending fax messages again and again.(that could have a negative impact).
6. After you have the FP notice, go to the San Jose office if you want to do an early FP. They are courteous, helpful and you will feel better.
After reading about other\'s trouble with the FP, I thought I will post my experiences. Hope this will help someone.
My RD is Jul 01 and ND is Sept. 01. I did not receive my FP notice till about 2 weeks ago. My wife got her FP notice in December but for some reason my FP notice did not arrive.
I did the following things :
1. I went to the Oakland office where my wife\'s FP was scheduled and tried to get my FP done saying that I havent got mine. No luck there.
2. I contacted my office HR and asked them about it who in turn(slowly) contacted my company lawyers(to whom I have no direct access). My lawyers insisted that they will enquire in January.
3. I called the INS CSC number and got through after around 200 tries. The officer there said that they can see my FP was ordered but dont know why the notice was not printed out and sent to me. They said they cannot help me anymore and suggested that my lawyer follow up with fax enquiries.
3. I went to the INS office twice in January and asked the INS officers what I could do. They checked and basically said the same thing but told me they could not give me a FP notice. The 2nd officer said that they wrre doing it at one point of time but had their hands slapped by the office in Laguna Niguel and hence are not issuing FP notices anymore for GC through job.(I think they might issue it for other criteria such as marriage etc.)
4. Okay - so back to square one. All I could do was wait for my lawyers to get through to someone at INS. Finally, they got a reply from INS saying that it was too early to ask for an enquiry and that I could do so only after 4 months though I had waited more than 8 months. How do you react when people do not know whether 4 or 8 is greater ?
5. After still more follow-ups by my lawyer, I finally got my FP notice but with an appointment date towards the end of June.
6. I went to the Oakland office and to the San Francisco office and they absolutely totally refused to do an early FP.
I had become totally fed-up in this entire process that I stopped looking at this forum. Anyhow, I posted once more and PCee(and a couple of others - thanks), suggested that I go to
San Jose. I really did not want to try it since my office HR was basically saying that I should go on the appointment date or if there is any problem, I was on my own.
Well - I did go last Saturday and I got my FP done. I do not know if things will proceed smoothly from here on and strangely, I dont think I care much anymore.
Only bit of advice :
1. I know that there are probably people who have waited for a lot more time than me and if you are one of those people(I wouldnt call unlucky) who havent got their GC in time, then try to change your method of thinking as to what are you going to do with a GC. It is not a race and hence if a 100 people in this forum have got a GC after you applied, so what ? If you are in a stable job, it really doesn\'t matter if you get your card in 6 months or 1 year or whatever. On the other hand, even if you lose your job, the economy is such that regardless of whether you have a GC, you cannot survive without a salary. Having the GC though gives you at least an option. But not having one is not an unsurmountable difficulty.
What ARE you going to do with the GC ? I think probably 90% of the people who do get a GC continue on the same job for atleast another 2 years.(at least in this economy).
Anyway, I think this mail has become 2 big - so I will stop now.
Bottom line - If you have no FP -
1. Ask your lawyers to keep contacting INS.
2. Stop losing sleep over a silly card.
3. Dont keep checking each and every message in this forum.
4. Stop checking the INS status line every day.
5. Dont pester the lawyer to keep sending fax messages again and again.(that could have a negative impact).
6. After you have the FP notice, go to the San Jose office if you want to do an early FP. They are courteous, helpful and you will feel better.