As you may already from my other post, the local office refused to stamp my passport. Here's what my lawyer has to say:
While there has been no official announcement from the CIS, we understand that individual's dealing with the Detroit office have encountered a similar situation and that this is not isolated to xxxx local office.
Apparently, the District Office has been instructed by the Regional USCIS Office to no longer issue I-551 Temporary Evidence stamps or cards now that the new rapid card production system is being used for NSC approvals. It appears that this will apply to cases where the approval notices do not instruct the alien to appear at the local USCIS office using INFOPASS for processing of the I-89 (old style approval notices). The new system now involves a second notice after the approval notice instructing the alien to appear at the ASC after the I-485 has been granted for processing of Biometrics, that is, picture, fingerprint and signature.
While there has been no official announcement from the CIS, we understand that individual's dealing with the Detroit office have encountered a similar situation and that this is not isolated to xxxx local office.
Apparently, the District Office has been instructed by the Regional USCIS Office to no longer issue I-551 Temporary Evidence stamps or cards now that the new rapid card production system is being used for NSC approvals. It appears that this will apply to cases where the approval notices do not instruct the alien to appear at the local USCIS office using INFOPASS for processing of the I-89 (old style approval notices). The new system now involves a second notice after the approval notice instructing the alien to appear at the ASC after the I-485 has been granted for processing of Biometrics, that is, picture, fingerprint and signature.