Below posting may be useful
http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=105110
Courtesy : jigesh
Fingerprinting related FAQs
There has been a lot of anxiety over the fingerprinting issues lately. I compiled following questions from various FAQs of this website. The answers are sometimes CSC-centric, but hopefully will be informative to others as well.
Q-1:What if I have been scheduled but my spouse and/or children have not been scheduled?
The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (“BCIS”, the new name for INS) uses a national scheduler computer generated system to schedule fingerprint appointments and it is possible that not all family members will be scheduled at the same time. We recommend that you wait and see if the appointment notices for your spouse and /or child(ren) arrive in the mail before your appointment date. If they do not, we suggest that your family members accompany you to the appointment. It is possible that the BCIS Application Support Center (ASC) will agree to take their fingerprints on the same day even though they do not have appointment notices. Be sure to take the I-485 receipt notices, photo identification (e.g., passports) and evidence of relationship (e.g., birth or marriage certificate) for family dependents with you. If ASC refuses to take the prints and/or your family members have still not received appointment notices for their own fingerprints, please contact our office and we will begin the inquiry process to have them scheduled.
Q-2:I have been scheduled for another fingerprint appointment although I have already had my fingerprints taken, do I still have to appear?
The BCIS notice indicates that you can disregard this appointment notice if you were fingerprinted within the last 90 days. Based on our experience, we believe that you should not disregard this notice even if you were recently fingerprinted. The BCIS uses a national scheduling system for fingerprint appointments and often times there are problems with the system. There have also been occasions when the FBI results were not properly relayed to your file with the BCIS. Therefore, it is better to return to the ASC to determine if your prints have “cleared” or if new prints are required.
Q-3:Can I go in and have my fingerprints taken before the date specified on my appointment notice?
You can try, but the ASC may refuse because normally they only fingerprint individuals who have appointments at the specified appointment time. However, some of our clients have been successful in being fingerprinted earlier than their scheduled appointment. Please note that the BCIS may not fingerprint you and if they do not, you will have wasted several hours at the ASC. Therefore, we recommend that you appear only on your scheduled appointment date and time.
Q-4:If I am unable to appear at the ASC assigned, can I go to another one? If so, how do I locate another ASC nearest my residence?
BCIS prefers that you to appear at the ASC which has been assigned to you. However, you may try to be fingerprinted at another ASC. Although the alternative ASC may not accept you, we have had clients who have successfully managed to have their fingerprints taken at an ASC which was different from the one listed on the fingerprint notice.
Q-5:I have been scheduled for another fingerprint appointment although I have already had my fingerprints taken, do I still have to appear?
The BCIS notice indicates that you can disregard this appointment notice if you were fingerprinted within the last 90 days. Based on our experience, we believe that you should not disregard this notice even if you were recently fingerprinted. The BCIS uses a national scheduling system for fingerprint appointments and often times there are problems with the system. There have also been occasions when the FBI results were not properly relayed to your file with the BCIS. Therefore, it is better to return to the ASC to determine if your prints have “cleared” or if new prints are required.
Q-6:For how long are fingerprints valid?
Fingerprints are valid for 15 months. If an I-485 application is pending beyond this period, BCIS will issue a new notice for the applicant to appear at an Application Support Center (ASC) office to be fingerprinted.
Q-7:If my fingerprints expire, can you contact the Service Center and ask them to reschedule me for new fingerprints?
The BCIS has advised us that this will be in the hands of the officer assigned to adjudicate your application and that we cannot request a new fingerprinting appointment. If the adjudication officer determines that the fingerprints have expired, s/he will order that a date be set to schedule a new fingerprint appointment. On a system-wide level, the CSC has stated that it is working on identifying applicants with expired fingerprints in order to schedule new fingerprint appointments. However, there is no guarantee that this will happen. Please note that there is currently no mechanism for attorneys or their clients to alert the CSC and request new fingerprint appointments. None of the other Service Centers have indicated that they will take any such action.
Last edited by jigesh on 24th November 2003 at 01:50 PM
Thank you jigesh for your excellent inputs
I would like to share some information about fingerprint quoted from the I-485 Standard Operating Procedure (09/28/01). This is not to be taken as an authoratative statement. But I advise people be cautious about the time frame of appearing for FP.
Quote:
Fingerprints are a requirement for all applicants 14 through 79 years old to determine if they have criminal histories.
Fingerprint Response Purge: The INS has established a 120-day waiting period from the date of the fingerprint scheduling to allow applicants to submit fingerprints. When an applicant fails to appear for fingerprinting or a response is not received within that 120-day period, and the applicant has otherwise not advised of INS of a change of address or requested that he be rescheduled, the case must be denied for abandonment.
At the time of adjudication, the file will contain a screen print of either FBI Query or the CLAIMS-based MRD Fingerprint Tracking System to indicate the present status of the fingerprint checks. .. The response is valid for 15 months from the date the FBI processed the fingerprints. A definitive response from the FBI regarding fingerprint clearances is required before the application can be approved or transferred to the local office for interview.
FBI response description:
If the FBI Response Description is
NON-IDENT or IDENT 1) and the (FP) date processed by FBI is less than 12 months old, route the file to Work Load Distribution; 2) and the (FP) date processed by FBI is more than 12 months but less than 15 months, route the file to INS and process as an expedite; 3) and the (FP) date processed by FBI is more than 15 months, annotate the worksheet and return the file to the monthly hold shelf for rescheduling.
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Lowell
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RD March 2002
