got to the INS building around 7.45 a.m. as many people have mentioned in this forum, if your approval notice says Wed 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. then use the back /side entrance to the building. there weren\'t too many people in the queue so i was hoping it would be quick. only when i got inside did i realize that they had been probably allowing people inside in batches and aroung 60 people were ahead of me.
after they let us enter the building, a security guard made us form a queue with repeated reminders to take everything out of our pockets and put it into our bags and to remove our jackets and switch off cell phones. according to her it interfered with the computers, always thought it was only true for aviation / navigational systems. but then the INS is the INS. everything had to go through the xray machine. once we passed thru we entered the first room on the right where the officer at the counter asked for the approval notice, photos, AP and EAD cards. she put all the stuff into an envelope and stapled a number to the approval form. she took our signatures and fingerprints on a form and off we went to room 1022 on the 10th floor. there we waited and waited and waited .....
the numbers issued by the ins wrap around ie. i had 359 so after they got to 399 they started again with 300. if there were 2 people with 359 in the room how do they know who came first you ask. well, they use a highly advanced method viz. draw a red line under the number to indicate that that person is in the second batch of 100 people, someone with 2 red lines is in the third batch and so on. and oh, by the way they supposedly have a different color for each day of the week.
when we finally got to the counter around 11, the whole process took less than 10 minutes. the only question she asked us was if we still were at the same address. she then proceeded to stamp out passports with an ordinary looking stamp with the date until which the stamp was valid i.e. for 1 year. she said that the actual card would arrive in 6-10 months and that the stamp was good enough for work and travel.
that was it,
heading home, hungry enough to eat a horse. got home, stuffed our faces and wondered for a brief moment as to why there was no jumping for joy kind of feeling. all i felt deep down was a sense of relief that this process had finally had a happy ending.
good luck all, i honestly believe that this country has the most generous immigration policy and will welcome each one of us.
-- CitySage
after they let us enter the building, a security guard made us form a queue with repeated reminders to take everything out of our pockets and put it into our bags and to remove our jackets and switch off cell phones. according to her it interfered with the computers, always thought it was only true for aviation / navigational systems. but then the INS is the INS. everything had to go through the xray machine. once we passed thru we entered the first room on the right where the officer at the counter asked for the approval notice, photos, AP and EAD cards. she put all the stuff into an envelope and stapled a number to the approval form. she took our signatures and fingerprints on a form and off we went to room 1022 on the 10th floor. there we waited and waited and waited .....
the numbers issued by the ins wrap around ie. i had 359 so after they got to 399 they started again with 300. if there were 2 people with 359 in the room how do they know who came first you ask. well, they use a highly advanced method viz. draw a red line under the number to indicate that that person is in the second batch of 100 people, someone with 2 red lines is in the third batch and so on. and oh, by the way they supposedly have a different color for each day of the week.
when we finally got to the counter around 11, the whole process took less than 10 minutes. the only question she asked us was if we still were at the same address. she then proceeded to stamp out passports with an ordinary looking stamp with the date until which the stamp was valid i.e. for 1 year. she said that the actual card would arrive in 6-10 months and that the stamp was good enough for work and travel.
that was it,
heading home, hungry enough to eat a horse. got home, stuffed our faces and wondered for a brief moment as to why there was no jumping for joy kind of feeling. all i felt deep down was a sense of relief that this process had finally had a happy ending.
good luck all, i honestly believe that this country has the most generous immigration policy and will welcome each one of us.
-- CitySage