wentrealfast
Registered Users (C)
I wanted to post my experience for those of you who've been asking about EFiling your I-90. I live in the Los Angeles area.
First, my situation is as follows: I've had my green card for over 25 years (age 10 when I received it). As you all probably know, the card needs to be renewed once a person turns 14. Of course, my parents never initiated the renewal (did not know about it) and I had no clue either until I began my naturalization process. When my card was originally issued, my last name was butchered by the INS and up until now, it had never been corrected via I-90.
Up until my recent I-90 and N-400 filings, the only interaction that I had with INS involved my application for a Reentry Permit in the early 90's at which time I did request a Reentry Permit with the correct spelling of my name (which they issued).
In any event, I had erroneously presumed that if they issued my Reentry Permit using the proper spelling of my name, that somehow everything was ok.
So, I Efiled and requested a card replacement - because I had an older version of the card - on May 20, 2005 (paid $185). Once you EFile, you can immediately schedule an appointment with an ASC for fingerprinting. I called the number on my EFile receipt 2 days later and the person on the phone gave me a few options for dates/times to be fingerprinted.
My appointment was on the 25th and when I arrived, the line was a mile long and the security guards were quite frankly jerks. They refused to answer any questions and all they said was go to the back of the line, which I did. After a couple of hours of standing in line, it was my turn to go into the building and after checking my I-90 NOA, the security guard says, "sorry, our computers are down, you gotta come back tomorrow." I was livid and let the guard know that he could have offered me that advice 2 hours before - he then proceeded to tell me to come back the next day. I could not go on the 26th and ended up returning on May 27 to get the fingerprints done.
After being ushered into the building and filling out a single page form, I waited in line again and then when it was my turn, I walked up to the receptionist who looked at my drivers license, my NOA and then my green card. She immediately said, "Oh, you have to be fingerprinted." She pulled out some other form and began filling it out and unlike nearly everyone else who simply got a number to wait their turn to be fingerprinted, I was given both a number and a blue placard.
I took a seat and was chatting with a guy when one of the ASC employees who worked in the offices in the back of the room walked by and saw my blue placard. He said Im sitting in the wrong place and told me to go sit somewhere else and that he'd help me in a moment.
He came back after 5 minutes or so and proceeded to walk me straight into the fingerprinting area and told someone that I needed to have traditional fingerprints. Here is where all the fun stuff began...
The woman who was doing the fingerprints used the form I had filled out to enter information directly into the USCIS computer system. As she was filling it out, she realized that there was a discrepency between how I spell my name and how it was spelled on the Green Card. She entered the correct spelling of my name and after some consultation with someone else, she entered the incorrect spelling of my name in the "alias" section of the online form. Once this was done, she rolled my fingerprints.
After waiting a few minutes, the guy who brought me into the fingerprint room returned and these 2 spent a few minutes "discussing" what should have been entered into the computer - whether the correct spelling of my name was entered in the right place or not. The guy finally agreed with the woman and then verified that the prints were ok. He then made me return to the waiting area and said he'd be right back.
Once he returned, he took me into his office. By this time, he'd printed up a single page sheet which included info on my parents and myself and when we were admitted into the US as LPRs. He asked for my port of entry, which was Los Angeles. It was clear that he was having a problem figuring out what to do with the name change. I handed him my Reentry Permit and asked him why it was such a big deal since the name was properly spelled in the Reentry Permit. I got the impression that he wanted to make certain not to screw anything up. He took copies of my DL and the Reentry Permit and the Green Card ( he did not ask me for my green card - just took copies).
He then told me that he "cannot approve the green card himself and that it had to be sent to the DO." From this statement, my sense is that if one's green card is up for standard renewal, these guys are able to approve things on the spot.
At this point, it was time for me to get my biometrics/picture taken. I was told to return to the fingerprinting room and after a few minutes this part of the process was completed as well.
I've been checking my case status ever since, and no changes were made to my record until June 20 - where my LUD was modified. The same occurred on June 21. The status message still showed that it would take between 180-and 255 days for processing.
Today, I received about 10 email messages (I guess they are still working out the bugs) saying that my card was ordered.
All in all, I have to say that considering the less than straightforward nature of my application, USCIS came through and that the new EFile system worked as advertised.
Here is the summary of my timeline:
I-90 EFile Date: May 20, 2005
Fingerprint Appt: May 25, 2005
Actual Fingerprint Date: May 27, 2005
Online Updates Made by USCIS: June 20, 2005 and June 21, 2005
Card Ordered Notice: June 24, 2005
First, my situation is as follows: I've had my green card for over 25 years (age 10 when I received it). As you all probably know, the card needs to be renewed once a person turns 14. Of course, my parents never initiated the renewal (did not know about it) and I had no clue either until I began my naturalization process. When my card was originally issued, my last name was butchered by the INS and up until now, it had never been corrected via I-90.
Up until my recent I-90 and N-400 filings, the only interaction that I had with INS involved my application for a Reentry Permit in the early 90's at which time I did request a Reentry Permit with the correct spelling of my name (which they issued).
In any event, I had erroneously presumed that if they issued my Reentry Permit using the proper spelling of my name, that somehow everything was ok.
So, I Efiled and requested a card replacement - because I had an older version of the card - on May 20, 2005 (paid $185). Once you EFile, you can immediately schedule an appointment with an ASC for fingerprinting. I called the number on my EFile receipt 2 days later and the person on the phone gave me a few options for dates/times to be fingerprinted.
My appointment was on the 25th and when I arrived, the line was a mile long and the security guards were quite frankly jerks. They refused to answer any questions and all they said was go to the back of the line, which I did. After a couple of hours of standing in line, it was my turn to go into the building and after checking my I-90 NOA, the security guard says, "sorry, our computers are down, you gotta come back tomorrow." I was livid and let the guard know that he could have offered me that advice 2 hours before - he then proceeded to tell me to come back the next day. I could not go on the 26th and ended up returning on May 27 to get the fingerprints done.
After being ushered into the building and filling out a single page form, I waited in line again and then when it was my turn, I walked up to the receptionist who looked at my drivers license, my NOA and then my green card. She immediately said, "Oh, you have to be fingerprinted." She pulled out some other form and began filling it out and unlike nearly everyone else who simply got a number to wait their turn to be fingerprinted, I was given both a number and a blue placard.
I took a seat and was chatting with a guy when one of the ASC employees who worked in the offices in the back of the room walked by and saw my blue placard. He said Im sitting in the wrong place and told me to go sit somewhere else and that he'd help me in a moment.
He came back after 5 minutes or so and proceeded to walk me straight into the fingerprinting area and told someone that I needed to have traditional fingerprints. Here is where all the fun stuff began...
The woman who was doing the fingerprints used the form I had filled out to enter information directly into the USCIS computer system. As she was filling it out, she realized that there was a discrepency between how I spell my name and how it was spelled on the Green Card. She entered the correct spelling of my name and after some consultation with someone else, she entered the incorrect spelling of my name in the "alias" section of the online form. Once this was done, she rolled my fingerprints.
After waiting a few minutes, the guy who brought me into the fingerprint room returned and these 2 spent a few minutes "discussing" what should have been entered into the computer - whether the correct spelling of my name was entered in the right place or not. The guy finally agreed with the woman and then verified that the prints were ok. He then made me return to the waiting area and said he'd be right back.
Once he returned, he took me into his office. By this time, he'd printed up a single page sheet which included info on my parents and myself and when we were admitted into the US as LPRs. He asked for my port of entry, which was Los Angeles. It was clear that he was having a problem figuring out what to do with the name change. I handed him my Reentry Permit and asked him why it was such a big deal since the name was properly spelled in the Reentry Permit. I got the impression that he wanted to make certain not to screw anything up. He took copies of my DL and the Reentry Permit and the Green Card ( he did not ask me for my green card - just took copies).
He then told me that he "cannot approve the green card himself and that it had to be sent to the DO." From this statement, my sense is that if one's green card is up for standard renewal, these guys are able to approve things on the spot.
At this point, it was time for me to get my biometrics/picture taken. I was told to return to the fingerprinting room and after a few minutes this part of the process was completed as well.
I've been checking my case status ever since, and no changes were made to my record until June 20 - where my LUD was modified. The same occurred on June 21. The status message still showed that it would take between 180-and 255 days for processing.
Today, I received about 10 email messages (I guess they are still working out the bugs) saying that my card was ordered.
All in all, I have to say that considering the less than straightforward nature of my application, USCIS came through and that the new EFile system worked as advertised.
Here is the summary of my timeline:
I-90 EFile Date: May 20, 2005
Fingerprint Appt: May 25, 2005
Actual Fingerprint Date: May 27, 2005
Online Updates Made by USCIS: June 20, 2005 and June 21, 2005
Card Ordered Notice: June 24, 2005
