Ciba and I485 folks, it\'s my pleasure to share my experience with you and wish it helps like cobweb\'s experience did to me.
Thanks to Cobweb\'s information we didn\'t get up too early
We arrived at INS SF office at around 9 o\'clock. Not like I expected, it is just like an ordinary building, without square in front of it. Well, in San Francisco everything is compacted except the height of office buildings So INS building is right planted in the "concrete forest".
After being waiting for 20-30 minutes we reached the information counter. The Asian lady there was not that nice but fast. She didn\'t care too much for the orignial I-765 receipts and put lawyer\'s letter aside. Rather, she wanted the forms my lawyer prepared for us: copies of I-765 application forms, I-765 receipts and I-485 receipts. Later I got to know they\'ll keep the forms. She gave us an F number then we went into the waiting area.
The hall is filled with people but not bad, everybody has a seat. Our number is 20 some later than the one being served. We thought it won\'t take longer than one hour but actually we had been waiting for over 3 hours to get called. During the waiting time I talked to the guard in charge of inspection right inside the door. He told us he is surprised it\'s not as crowded as usual today. He said, normally at this time (around 10 am) the line is long, ending at the door, "and yesterday, the line went to the corner of the street!" He said.
Well, it\'s not bad waiting there. Like Cobweb said they even played soft music. Children running around, playing, and INS officer had to broadcast letting their parents take control of them. And the officers broadcast again and again, "do not interrupt officers, keep seated and wait, we know it is a long wait."
Most of the time we were waiting there was only one counter serving F numbers. The lady was slow, and she went for lunch at about 12:00. When she was back she was not serving F numbers anymore. Our number got called at around 12:45 by an Asian gentleman at another counter. Same, he ignored our original I765 receipts but took lawyer\'s forms. He asked NO QUESTION to us. Just checked the case status from his computer, filled a yellow form and stapled it with our forms and let us go to Room 200, saying "final decision will be made there and they will likely give you cards." We spent just one minute totally with him!
Room 200 is spacious. It\'s a hall indeed. Following Cobwebs\' information I found the file tray right across from the door and left the forms there. The girl in charge of EAD there are very professional, fast and nice (with INS & SF\'s standard). 30 minutes later we got our interim EAD cards, valid for only 3 months. Well, that\'s the disadvantage of SF. You get up later, you get EAD with shorter validity period
INS building is on the Northeast corner and there is a Vietnamese restaurant on Southwest corner of the intersection. Food there is good. I highly recommend folks waiting inside INS to have lunch there.
Thanks again, to Ciba, Cobwebs and other guys who shared with us their experience at Ciba\'s web page and here. Wish all of you my best!
Thanks to Cobweb\'s information we didn\'t get up too early
We arrived at INS SF office at around 9 o\'clock. Not like I expected, it is just like an ordinary building, without square in front of it. Well, in San Francisco everything is compacted except the height of office buildings So INS building is right planted in the "concrete forest".After being waiting for 20-30 minutes we reached the information counter. The Asian lady there was not that nice but fast. She didn\'t care too much for the orignial I-765 receipts and put lawyer\'s letter aside. Rather, she wanted the forms my lawyer prepared for us: copies of I-765 application forms, I-765 receipts and I-485 receipts. Later I got to know they\'ll keep the forms. She gave us an F number then we went into the waiting area.
The hall is filled with people but not bad, everybody has a seat. Our number is 20 some later than the one being served. We thought it won\'t take longer than one hour but actually we had been waiting for over 3 hours to get called. During the waiting time I talked to the guard in charge of inspection right inside the door. He told us he is surprised it\'s not as crowded as usual today. He said, normally at this time (around 10 am) the line is long, ending at the door, "and yesterday, the line went to the corner of the street!" He said.
Well, it\'s not bad waiting there. Like Cobweb said they even played soft music. Children running around, playing, and INS officer had to broadcast letting their parents take control of them. And the officers broadcast again and again, "do not interrupt officers, keep seated and wait, we know it is a long wait."
Most of the time we were waiting there was only one counter serving F numbers. The lady was slow, and she went for lunch at about 12:00. When she was back she was not serving F numbers anymore. Our number got called at around 12:45 by an Asian gentleman at another counter. Same, he ignored our original I765 receipts but took lawyer\'s forms. He asked NO QUESTION to us. Just checked the case status from his computer, filled a yellow form and stapled it with our forms and let us go to Room 200, saying "final decision will be made there and they will likely give you cards." We spent just one minute totally with him!
Room 200 is spacious. It\'s a hall indeed. Following Cobwebs\' information I found the file tray right across from the door and left the forms there. The girl in charge of EAD there are very professional, fast and nice (with INS & SF\'s standard). 30 minutes later we got our interim EAD cards, valid for only 3 months. Well, that\'s the disadvantage of SF. You get up later, you get EAD with shorter validity period
INS building is on the Northeast corner and there is a Vietnamese restaurant on Southwest corner of the intersection. Food there is good. I highly recommend folks waiting inside INS to have lunch there.
Thanks again, to Ciba, Cobwebs and other guys who shared with us their experience at Ciba\'s web page and here. Wish all of you my best!