My passport stamping experience

[leeeleele]

My husband and I went to passport stamping this morning. It went very smooth. First, you only need one appointment for the whole family (you, spouse, kids, …). This is actually something officially stated when you make the appointment through INFOPASS on line. We made only one appointment and we were allowed in.

We brought everything – from approval notices, EAD, AP, to W2, marriage certificate. Even a recent mail with our names and current address. Turns out the officer (a nice lady) only looked at 485 related documents. She took away our 485 approval notices (the yellow courtesy copies), all EAD cards (including our practical training EADs when we were students), and all AP copies. She also took all our I-94 cards from either passport or from our H-1B approval notices. (She was rather surprised to see we had so many I-94s – I alone had two I-94s stapled in passport and three I-94s from my previous H-1B approval notices) With the 2 passport style pictures and EAD cards put in a plastic bag, she stapled all these documents together.

Then she asked me to sign on a blank form, front and back. And fingerprinted front and back as well. Then she stamped my passport with expiration date one year later, wrote down my WAC number, alien #, and something else she copied from the 485 notice. So my passport stamping was officially done. Same procedure went with my husband. And we are free (to go, and whatsoever if you know what I mean).

So here is something we learned:
1. Only one appointment is needed per family
2. Bring everything but only present 485 related documents (in order not to confuse the officer) until asked otherwise
3. You are free. "So what next? ... "

 

[outletvolt1]

Congratulations. Come to think of it you are not free anymore ;-) think think.

Well ... anyway. Why did they make you sign/fingerprint blank paper ? What's that all about ?

 

[xyr888]

Congratulation!

Congratulations to you and your family. Thank you for sharing your experience with us on stamping. I have one question. Did one CIS officer deal with you and your family, one by one OR different officers deal with your family respectively at the same time?

Thanks.

My husband and I went to passport stamping this morning. It went very smooth. First, you only need one appointment for the whole family (you, spouse, kids, …). This is actually something officially stated when you make the appointment through INFOPASS on line. We made only one appointment and we were allowed in.

We brought everything – from approval notices, EAD, AP, to W2, marriage certificate. Even a recent mail with our names and current address. Turns out the officer (a nice lady) only looked at 485 related documents. She took away our 485 approval notices (the yellow courtesy copies), all EAD cards (including our practical training EADs when we were students), and all AP copies. She also took all our I-94 cards from either passport or from our H-1B approval notices. (She was rather surprised to see we had so many I-94s – I alone had two I-94s stapled in passport and three I-94s from my previous H-1B approval notices) With the 2 passport style pictures and EAD cards put in a plastic bag, she stapled all these documents together.

Then she asked me to sign on a blank form, front and back. And fingerprinted front and back as well. Then she stamped my passport with expiration date one year later, wrote down my WAC number, alien #, and something else she copied from the 485 notice. So my passport stamping was officially done. Same procedure went with my husband. And we are free (to go, and whatsoever if you know what I mean).

So here is something we learned:
1. Only one appointment is needed per family
2. Bring everything but only present 485 related documents (in order not to confuse the officer) until asked otherwise
3. You are free. "So what next? ... "

 

[leeeleele]

To answer the two questions

First, it's not a blank paper (sorry for the confusion). It's some kind of double-sided form the officer used. The signature should be signed at the right bottom, fingerprint above it. She asked us to do it twice front and back, probably because then she would be able to pick the one fingerprint with best result. Then the officer would wrote down or copied down something (my name, Alien #, ... I suppose) in other parts of the form.

Second, only one officer handled one family, in our case. Based on our experience, it's a really simple procedure. No questions asked. The officer just asked for documents she needed. It only took about 15 minutes to complete both my husband's and my stamping.

 

[leeeleele]

Add something

I suppose the form with fingerprint and signature is for the formal green card processing. They need signature and fingerprint in our final green cards.