I got my passport stamped today. My experience can be summed
up in two words: "INS Sucks."
I got to the INS office in San Jose around 4:00am and got out by
about 12:30pm. By the time I arrived to the office, more than
100 or so people were already waiting in line. Those folks
multiplied faster than rabits by the time it was 6:30. The number
must\'ve been close to 200 by the time the doors opened at 7:00am.
Processing itself took about 10 minutes. The officer asked me a
couple of questions about my address, place of work, did my
fingerprinting, and took my EAD and AP. The officer was kind of
a moron and he really ticked me off. At some point after he took
my papers, he said: "This is NOT your A#. This A# belongs to
someone else." My heart really sank at this point. A minute
later, he said: "Oh, yeah... This is your number." Kind of
weird. He was a real idiot.
To back up a little...
Once the doors openend, the guards were letting in 5-10 people at
a time. From there and after the metal detector check, the line
formed again to speak with the information desk which assinged
numbers. The numbers were divided into three differnt categories:
A. x + 0: This seemed like a agenera category
C. x + 300: This is the GC/GC renewal category
F. x + 600: Not sure what this is either. Very few people were
called in this category by the time I left.
They kept letting people in until about 10:00am. I\'m not sure if
they had time to process all cases by close of business since the
office was packed.
The office has about 12 windows, but only 4-6 officers served at a
time even though many others were clearly available. The processing
seemd slow as several of the officers were taking frequent breaks.
One particular officer took about 12 breaks since I got it. He was
kind of a freak also as I noticed he sprayed his little area after
every immigrant. Kind of strange to watch, but had nothing else to
do really.
The processor of the different categories seemed random. Early on,
category A was being processor more frequently. Three of the six
windows were processing A category cases. Toward the end of my
wait, mostly category C cases were being processed. There was no
disernable pattern at all. Just like everything else the INS does.
Here are some additional commments/tips:
1. Parking is not a problem at all. The parking lot is huge and doesn\'t
seem to fill up at all.
2. Bring warm clothes, something to read, a beach chair that you can throw
away, and a mug that keeps things warm.
3. You can go in and out after you get your number so you can potentially go out to breakfast, ran some errands, or just wait outside until you think
your number gets close.
4. The officer didn\'t ask for my ticket when I got to the window. Kind of
interesting since about 15 cases befor mine, in the same category, one
officer called a particular number that no one responded to. I was tempted
to walk up to the window and just get my processing done. I didn\'t do it
and now I regret it, but I didn\'t know. It would\'ve saved me a good couple
of hours.
Ciba, please add me to the plastic card tracking list.
Good luck to all.
up in two words: "INS Sucks."
I got to the INS office in San Jose around 4:00am and got out by
about 12:30pm. By the time I arrived to the office, more than
100 or so people were already waiting in line. Those folks
multiplied faster than rabits by the time it was 6:30. The number
must\'ve been close to 200 by the time the doors opened at 7:00am.
Processing itself took about 10 minutes. The officer asked me a
couple of questions about my address, place of work, did my
fingerprinting, and took my EAD and AP. The officer was kind of
a moron and he really ticked me off. At some point after he took
my papers, he said: "This is NOT your A#. This A# belongs to
someone else." My heart really sank at this point. A minute
later, he said: "Oh, yeah... This is your number." Kind of
weird. He was a real idiot.
To back up a little...
Once the doors openend, the guards were letting in 5-10 people at
a time. From there and after the metal detector check, the line
formed again to speak with the information desk which assinged
numbers. The numbers were divided into three differnt categories:
A. x + 0: This seemed like a agenera category
C. x + 300: This is the GC/GC renewal category
F. x + 600: Not sure what this is either. Very few people were
called in this category by the time I left.
They kept letting people in until about 10:00am. I\'m not sure if
they had time to process all cases by close of business since the
office was packed.
The office has about 12 windows, but only 4-6 officers served at a
time even though many others were clearly available. The processing
seemd slow as several of the officers were taking frequent breaks.
One particular officer took about 12 breaks since I got it. He was
kind of a freak also as I noticed he sprayed his little area after
every immigrant. Kind of strange to watch, but had nothing else to
do really.
The processor of the different categories seemed random. Early on,
category A was being processor more frequently. Three of the six
windows were processing A category cases. Toward the end of my
wait, mostly category C cases were being processed. There was no
disernable pattern at all. Just like everything else the INS does.
Here are some additional commments/tips:
1. Parking is not a problem at all. The parking lot is huge and doesn\'t
seem to fill up at all.
2. Bring warm clothes, something to read, a beach chair that you can throw
away, and a mug that keeps things warm.
3. You can go in and out after you get your number so you can potentially go out to breakfast, ran some errands, or just wait outside until you think
your number gets close.
4. The officer didn\'t ask for my ticket when I got to the window. Kind of
interesting since about 15 cases befor mine, in the same category, one
officer called a particular number that no one responded to. I was tempted
to walk up to the window and just get my processing done. I didn\'t do it
and now I regret it, but I didn\'t know. It would\'ve saved me a good couple
of hours.
Ciba, please add me to the plastic card tracking list.
Good luck to all.