Hi Guys,
I did my passport stamping at LA today (3/13).
Yesterday I went there at 7:15 am. The address on the approval notice says room 1001. Attorney told us to go to room 2050. She also has pointed to us the correct line in which we need to stand (facing the bldg from Los Angeles street, its the line on the RIGHT). There were about 100-150 people in the queue. They let you in from 7 am. So some more were already in. Our token was 50+. There were two officers. Donno whether they are just plain inefficient or the cases do take so much time to complete. But the token movement was minimal at best. At 11:30 one took off for lunch. At 12, the other left for the day. At 12:40 the first one comes back from lunch and says he can not process many of the cases and sent us back. They had processed until token 35 it seems until then. Dont know how many were sent back.
Today reached INS office at 5:30am. Only two people infront of us. Later a couple of handicapped persons joined us in front. Anyway we were one of the very first. So everything went alright and by 8:15 we were out with the stamp. The same two officers were doing the work. Their work is to get two prints of index finger and two signatures on each side of the I-551 form and fill a few things in the form (name, DOB, A# etc). It took about 15 minutes per person, which I thought was slow, since he was talking to us general stuffs for most of the time.
Only things asked -- Passport, I-94 and photos along with the approval notice. The stamp valid for one year. The guy said, it will take about 10 months to get the green card. I guess (hope) that happens only with some bad luck.
Among the two officers, one is older than the other. The older guy (we got him) is very slow. The other guy is a little faster and also he was seen (yday and today) giving instructions as to what the rights of the permanent residents are, what to do if you move etc. The older guys is only interested in where I worked before, is Bangalore a good place to live, trying to read our signatures etc..
If anybody is going to LA, make sure you stand in the RIGHT line (as mentioned above). There are plenty of parking around. You can park at LA Mall right across the bldg. I heard its expensive there; Moreoever, they were not allowing cars inside yday and today. A security guard was waving people away. There is one on the Temple street, if you take a left on it. Its $6.60 flat rate. But seems to open only after 6am. There is one two blocks down the LA street at 2nd street. $3.25 flat rate.
Now the wait for the Green Card stars. But, happy and very relieved.
I did my passport stamping at LA today (3/13).
Yesterday I went there at 7:15 am. The address on the approval notice says room 1001. Attorney told us to go to room 2050. She also has pointed to us the correct line in which we need to stand (facing the bldg from Los Angeles street, its the line on the RIGHT). There were about 100-150 people in the queue. They let you in from 7 am. So some more were already in. Our token was 50+. There were two officers. Donno whether they are just plain inefficient or the cases do take so much time to complete. But the token movement was minimal at best. At 11:30 one took off for lunch. At 12, the other left for the day. At 12:40 the first one comes back from lunch and says he can not process many of the cases and sent us back. They had processed until token 35 it seems until then. Dont know how many were sent back.
Today reached INS office at 5:30am. Only two people infront of us. Later a couple of handicapped persons joined us in front. Anyway we were one of the very first. So everything went alright and by 8:15 we were out with the stamp. The same two officers were doing the work. Their work is to get two prints of index finger and two signatures on each side of the I-551 form and fill a few things in the form (name, DOB, A# etc). It took about 15 minutes per person, which I thought was slow, since he was talking to us general stuffs for most of the time.
Only things asked -- Passport, I-94 and photos along with the approval notice. The stamp valid for one year. The guy said, it will take about 10 months to get the green card. I guess (hope) that happens only with some bad luck.
Among the two officers, one is older than the other. The older guy (we got him) is very slow. The other guy is a little faster and also he was seen (yday and today) giving instructions as to what the rights of the permanent residents are, what to do if you move etc. The older guys is only interested in where I worked before, is Bangalore a good place to live, trying to read our signatures etc..
If anybody is going to LA, make sure you stand in the RIGHT line (as mentioned above). There are plenty of parking around. You can park at LA Mall right across the bldg. I heard its expensive there; Moreoever, they were not allowing cars inside yday and today. A security guard was waving people away. There is one on the Temple street, if you take a left on it. Its $6.60 flat rate. But seems to open only after 6am. There is one two blocks down the LA street at 2nd street. $3.25 flat rate.
Now the wait for the Green Card stars. But, happy and very relieved.
