Reached the INS at Newark at 6:45 AM. There were few people in front of us. At 7:15 AM they opened the doors and we went through the metal detectors and got in to another line. An officer asembled the papers and gave two tokens for me and my wife. Went to room 135 and waited for our turn. Went to an officer who took the signature and the finger print on I-551. They called us around 8:45 AM for stamping. We were called to two separate counters as we had two tokens with us. Took the EAD, AP, I94 and two photographs and stamped the passports and were out of the room by 9:05 AM.
Recommendations:
*Go early. Better to be there before 7:00 AM
*We took our photographs at photoloft at Broad Street on last Friday, therefore we didn\'t have to wait till they open the shop at 7:00 AM on Wednesday.
*Join the line on Orchard Street at the back of the building.
*Go to separate counters when your tokens are called. This will help in many ways. They may not make a mistake and swap the A numbers on the passports as the officer will be handling only one case at a time. And your spouce will be stamped by another officer at another counter. Also if you go to the same counter, your second token number will be called and there will be a few minutes of discomfort as they will repetadly call the token number.
*Use the courtesy copy for stamping and keep the original approval with you until you get the card, in case you need it at an airport to enter the country. I saw a posting on this site, where somebody was questioned and taken to a room at Newark Airport to verify the authenticity of the stamp and they were satisfied when the person showed the 485 approval letter.
Recommendations:
*Go early. Better to be there before 7:00 AM
*We took our photographs at photoloft at Broad Street on last Friday, therefore we didn\'t have to wait till they open the shop at 7:00 AM on Wednesday.
*Join the line on Orchard Street at the back of the building.
*Go to separate counters when your tokens are called. This will help in many ways. They may not make a mistake and swap the A numbers on the passports as the officer will be handling only one case at a time. And your spouce will be stamped by another officer at another counter. Also if you go to the same counter, your second token number will be called and there will be a few minutes of discomfort as they will repetadly call the token number.
*Use the courtesy copy for stamping and keep the original approval with you until you get the card, in case you need it at an airport to enter the country. I saw a posting on this site, where somebody was questioned and taken to a room at Newark Airport to verify the authenticity of the stamp and they were satisfied when the person showed the 485 approval letter.