Plastic card screw-up by INS

K

kkumar

Registered Users (C)
Folks,
 Just letting you all know and alert if there are folks like me waiting for the plastic card.
 I had my CP done in mid sept 2001. I entered the US via JFK in early OCT. The INS
 officer at the airport did the needy. But the person was very lethargic and non-professional.

 My wife received her card early Dec 2001. I never received mine. Finally, after a 4 month
 wait, i gathered the momentum to call TSC.
 Since the TSC fax lines are either busy or never connects to a fax, i mailed them a letter over a month
 ago and no response yet.When i finally did call, I was in the phone system for almost 3 hours
 and eventually did speak to a IIO. I was told that i had to provide 2 new photos. I was amazed,
 since the Consulate was OK with the picture. I guess probably the INS lost it or so.
The irony is that they never communicated this by a letter in about over 5 months.

 So i went to the local INS office and spent 1/2 a day. I was asked to provide new photos.
 They redid the fingerprinting and signature card. My wife is non indian. So my guess is
 either that it was a case of poor handling at INS or a case of profiling. So in short, i had
 to go thru this mess again.

 I am letting you folks know , so that you all don\'t wait for 6 months to find out about this.
 No big deal. But better not to wait till its about a year and then rush again to get the
 temp I-551 again. INS is a mess. I hope they send the card this time, so that i don\'t have
 to go there for 10years. God bless those folks who are still in the loop with either their
 H1\'s/140\'s etc.

thanks
krish
 
got my card; waiting for spouse card :(

Thanks.. for your posting... it is informative.
DOE:19th Feb 02, Got my card on March 2nd 2002.
and still waiting for spouse card.
I see from the postings that there has been a delay for about a few days or a week or 10 days at max, between the cards arriving for the family members. But in our case, the gap is increasing...

Wondering why the delay..

I am trying to call the TX number 214.. but it is always engaged or maybe connected to FAX... how else can they be reached ? any ideas ?
 
Here is how i called TSC

All times are EST.
The phone lines get busy after 7:30 am.
I had my cordless phone fully charged overnight.
I called at 7:25am and kept hitting the * key every 35 seconds,
 to stay in the system. At about 9:05 am, i think i selected \'0\' to get
 transferred to an IIO. From that point on, i was able to talk to
a IIO after 45 minutes. See what a waste of time. Perhaps, you can
try to get transferred to an IIO much ahead of the 9:00am. Looks like
 the phone system will start queuing you a few minutes ahead of the
 9:00 am ( 8:00 am CST). So you stand a chance to get ahead in the
 queue. Even if the system says that the office is closed and we cannot
 get you in, you can still press the * and stay in the system. Just
 experiment and you will know.

 I hate to call INS and i had deferred it for the fear of this very same hassle.
 But i like calling this way, because it is deterministic in the sense that i know that
 once i am in, i will be able to get hold of someone rather than keep trying
 to redial for 30 mins or so and not getting in. So hope that works for you.

 What a mess.

 good luck
 krish
 
Good that you discovered where the problem is and inching

closer to the card, which you should otherwise have got it long time back. I do agree that INS is a real mess.

BTW, looking at the description you sounded like my friend Krishna (at cisco). I am sure you are. I just want to confirm. This is Rao. Talk to you later.

Good luck
 
krish, I will try your suggestion

I will try queing up as you have suggested. Thanks for the info. I feel dizzy thinking of the process... but guess i have to be determined and patient ... i sincerely hope for the best and dont want to delay any further to get hold of somebody to talk to...

Thanks.. again.
 
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