Hi everyone,
I went for I-551 stamping today in Miami, and the following is a description of what happened:
First of all, the Immigration Information Office (Customer Service) Department is no longer located at Biscayne and 79th Street. It is now located a few blocks south of there, on 7th Ave., in a large, completely open hall in the American Legion building.
You CANNOT enter without an Infopass appointment for any reason. I arrived 90 minutes prior to my appointment, because I read when they were located in the old building, an Infopass appointment was not required. It is now. The security guards check your appointment sheet and will not even let you wait in line without it.
My appointment was for 10:00 a.m. I got in line at 9:45, showed my appointment sheet and began to wait. Little by little, groups of 4-5 people were let in. As you enter, you pass through security and then check in at the front desk. Here, your appointment sheet is scanned and you are then given a computer-generated number. Different services are given different numerical sequences. (i.e., EADs D-xxx, ADIT processing C-XXX, etc.)
Each wall of the hall is lined with cubicles, with an officer seated in each cubicle, of course. The numbers that are currently being served are illuminated in a display over each cubicle. There must have been 25-30 cubicles, but I am not sure. The center of the room is lined with rows and rows of chairs where everone waits.
You then wait for your number to be displayed and take a seat with the officer. There were only 3 people ahead of me for ADIT processing, so I only waited 10-15 minutes before my number was called. The officer was very friendly and we talked small talk the whole time. He took my appointment sheet, 797-C 485 Approval Notice, my I-94 with parole stamp, and the photos. He said he didn’t need the AP and the EAD wasn’t brought up so I kept it. He took my index finger print and had me sign two forms and then stamped my passport. He told me that it would take anywhere from 1 month to a year to receive the card. He said to be sure to check the online status of the 485 for notification when the card was mailed, and that if I didn’t receive it after it was mailed to initiate an inquiry. He shook my hand and bid me farewell.
All in all, it was very painless.
I went for I-551 stamping today in Miami, and the following is a description of what happened:
First of all, the Immigration Information Office (Customer Service) Department is no longer located at Biscayne and 79th Street. It is now located a few blocks south of there, on 7th Ave., in a large, completely open hall in the American Legion building.
You CANNOT enter without an Infopass appointment for any reason. I arrived 90 minutes prior to my appointment, because I read when they were located in the old building, an Infopass appointment was not required. It is now. The security guards check your appointment sheet and will not even let you wait in line without it.
My appointment was for 10:00 a.m. I got in line at 9:45, showed my appointment sheet and began to wait. Little by little, groups of 4-5 people were let in. As you enter, you pass through security and then check in at the front desk. Here, your appointment sheet is scanned and you are then given a computer-generated number. Different services are given different numerical sequences. (i.e., EADs D-xxx, ADIT processing C-XXX, etc.)
Each wall of the hall is lined with cubicles, with an officer seated in each cubicle, of course. The numbers that are currently being served are illuminated in a display over each cubicle. There must have been 25-30 cubicles, but I am not sure. The center of the room is lined with rows and rows of chairs where everone waits.
You then wait for your number to be displayed and take a seat with the officer. There were only 3 people ahead of me for ADIT processing, so I only waited 10-15 minutes before my number was called. The officer was very friendly and we talked small talk the whole time. He took my appointment sheet, 797-C 485 Approval Notice, my I-94 with parole stamp, and the photos. He said he didn’t need the AP and the EAD wasn’t brought up so I kept it. He took my index finger print and had me sign two forms and then stamped my passport. He told me that it would take anywhere from 1 month to a year to receive the card. He said to be sure to check the online status of the 485 for notification when the card was mailed, and that if I didn’t receive it after it was mailed to initiate an inquiry. He shook my hand and bid me farewell.
All in all, it was very painless.