Passport Stamping Experience and Tips

[jpol]

Our passport stamping was done at the San Jose office on Monday June 25th . We went there at 8PM on Sunday evening and were fourth in the queue. We had dinner under the stars, in the moonlight and had a lot of fun. At about 5:15AM there were about 250 people in line. At 7:15 we were let into the office and the stamping was done at 7:45. They took our EADs, Advance Parole documents and two photos. We were out by 8:00AM after exactly 12 hours.

I would recommend anyone going for Monday stamping to go well in advance, the line builds up fast. Take sleeping bags, sweaters and comforters as it gets chilly. One family actually pitched a tent there. Food vans come in the morning. The portable restrooms are really bad so make alternative plans. If you have kids then its better for one person to stay the night and the rest to come early in the morning. Some people will try to jump the line or sneak in through the doors so keep an eye out for such individuals. Go well prepared with the documents and if you are going with your spouse keep the documents separately as you will not go together. Finally enjoy your day of freedom!

Can people who have received their plastic cards recently post how long it took from the day of stamping? Does San Jose office send the details back to VSC for the processing of the card?

 

[jpol]

No Title

dgapall, Congrats on your approval.
Your lawyer gets receives the original approval notices and you get the courtsey copies (which we gave for stamping).

Here are the documents you would need:

- Current and Old EADs
- Current and Old Advance Parole docs
- I-94s + current H1B incase you\'ve had an H1B extension and not traveled lately therefore your I-94 would be out-dated.
- 2 INS-type photos

We had to surrender all of the above. You will also need the passport of course. We also took other docs like marriage certificates, old H1-Bs etc but they were not needed.

jpol

 

[jpol]

No Title

We were not asked any questions. There is no problem going with the courtsey copy. Some other center may refuse to do your stamping but you can try your luck.