Go-Cougars
Registered Users (C)
Folks,
I just came back from the Houston BCIS office after successfully completing my passport stamping. Here are the details for the benefit of others:
1st Try:
June 17, 2004.
Reached the office at 1:00PM and went inside and stood in the line on the right for a token. There were approximately 10 people in the line. I reached the window in 15 minutes and I was told that all the tokens for stamping were already distributed by 11:00AM.
2nd Try:
Monday, June 21, 2004.
Reached the office at 10:30AM and went inside and stood in the line on the right for token. There were about 20 people in front of me. After 30 minutes a couple of military dudes jumped in the line at the very front and they were taken care of for 15 minutes. I reached the token window at 11:30 AM and showed my approval notice (BTW the guy infront of me only had a photocopy of the approval notice and still they too care of his Green Card PP stamp). The officer called his supervisor to see if there are any tokens available. He gave me a token and told me that I almost didn't make it (My token # is 368). I realized that they gave only 3 more tokens after mine. My wait time on the token was 1 hr and 54 minutes.
I went to Whataburger and picked up some lunch and brought it back to the INS office. The security officers were joking and wanted a share of my french fries.
Between 12:00 noon and 1:00 PM there is only one counter working on Green card stamps.
I got to the window finally at 2:30 PM. The officer is a nice lady, but I think she is new to the green card stamp stuff. Gave me the impression that she didn't know what she was doing. So I made sure that she was writing all the stuff without any mistakes. She took my PP, I94, 2 ADIT photos, work permit card and APs. She also needed my drivers license. She finished the process within 10 minutes and gave my PP with a stamp and license back. She also reminded to take care of the social security card if "not valid for employment" was stamped on it.
Based on my experience here is my advice:
Get there by 8:00-9:00 AM. You may be done before lunch. Otherwise you have to wait through lunch.
It is true that the line for tokens is the shortest in afternoon. But these days, they are definitely running out of token before noon.
While the office is filling the application make sure she/he isn't making any typos. It could just be because of foreign names. You can look at most of the application while the officer is filling out. Pay attention to this process as it will save you a lot of headache later.
Well I can't think of anything else. Goodluck to everybody.
Go-Cougars
PD: OCT-97
ND:Aug 01
AD:May 04
Stamp:June 04.
I just came back from the Houston BCIS office after successfully completing my passport stamping. Here are the details for the benefit of others:
1st Try:
June 17, 2004.
Reached the office at 1:00PM and went inside and stood in the line on the right for a token. There were approximately 10 people in the line. I reached the window in 15 minutes and I was told that all the tokens for stamping were already distributed by 11:00AM.
2nd Try:
Monday, June 21, 2004.
Reached the office at 10:30AM and went inside and stood in the line on the right for token. There were about 20 people in front of me. After 30 minutes a couple of military dudes jumped in the line at the very front and they were taken care of for 15 minutes. I reached the token window at 11:30 AM and showed my approval notice (BTW the guy infront of me only had a photocopy of the approval notice and still they too care of his Green Card PP stamp). The officer called his supervisor to see if there are any tokens available. He gave me a token and told me that I almost didn't make it (My token # is 368). I realized that they gave only 3 more tokens after mine. My wait time on the token was 1 hr and 54 minutes.
I went to Whataburger and picked up some lunch and brought it back to the INS office. The security officers were joking and wanted a share of my french fries.
Between 12:00 noon and 1:00 PM there is only one counter working on Green card stamps.
I got to the window finally at 2:30 PM. The officer is a nice lady, but I think she is new to the green card stamp stuff. Gave me the impression that she didn't know what she was doing. So I made sure that she was writing all the stuff without any mistakes. She took my PP, I94, 2 ADIT photos, work permit card and APs. She also needed my drivers license. She finished the process within 10 minutes and gave my PP with a stamp and license back. She also reminded to take care of the social security card if "not valid for employment" was stamped on it.
Based on my experience here is my advice:
Get there by 8:00-9:00 AM. You may be done before lunch. Otherwise you have to wait through lunch.
It is true that the line for tokens is the shortest in afternoon. But these days, they are definitely running out of token before noon.
While the office is filling the application make sure she/he isn't making any typos. It could just be because of foreign names. You can look at most of the application while the officer is filling out. Pay attention to this process as it will save you a lot of headache later.
Well I can't think of anything else. Goodluck to everybody.
Go-Cougars
PD: OCT-97
ND:Aug 01
AD:May 04
Stamp:June 04.