Went to the San Francisco office yesterday for passport stamping.
Arrived 7 a.m. and parked in garage nearby (queue went round the first corner from the 444 Washington entrance). Got though security in about 1 hour.
No line for initial screening - but then the two and a half hour wait to be seen (the tickets handed out indicated half of that).
The IIO was very pleasant once we got called. My wife had a different letter (with action code 39 for spouse of primary applicant on it) which indicated that she didn't need to go for stamping and that the GC would just appear (the letter started "Welcome to the USA"). If you get one of these (or your spouse does) DO go and have your passport stamped, finger prints taken and I-89 processed - you may wait for your Green Card for ever otherwise. The text is obviously wrong on the spouse letter. My sons had code 30 (derivatives of primary applicant), I had 37 (primary applicant). The 30 and 37 code letters look almost identical. These codes are entered into your passport when stamped for approval.
Processing was painless - signatures and FPs done, taking our two ADIT photos to attach to the forms sent back for processing. The IIO took our Courtesy letters (I-485 approvals), APs (only the latest ones), EAD cards and left us with only the original I-485 approval letters ("for our records") plus the precious stamps in our passports. Green Cards "to follow in 1 - 3 months" so the IIO said. Temporary passport stamps valid for one year.
Out into the sunlight just after 11 a.m. Line at 444 was still aound the corner.
By the way, an IIO said that even if the day's tickets for the Center have been used up, they will still process your I-485 stamping that day because they "need to honor the content of the approval letters" - as long as you arrive before 2 p.m. (approval letters said 8 - 2). We didn't test this theory !
Good luck to all of you still waiting.
Londoner
WAC 02 059 5XXXX
Arrived 7 a.m. and parked in garage nearby (queue went round the first corner from the 444 Washington entrance). Got though security in about 1 hour.
No line for initial screening - but then the two and a half hour wait to be seen (the tickets handed out indicated half of that).
The IIO was very pleasant once we got called. My wife had a different letter (with action code 39 for spouse of primary applicant on it) which indicated that she didn't need to go for stamping and that the GC would just appear (the letter started "Welcome to the USA"). If you get one of these (or your spouse does) DO go and have your passport stamped, finger prints taken and I-89 processed - you may wait for your Green Card for ever otherwise. The text is obviously wrong on the spouse letter. My sons had code 30 (derivatives of primary applicant), I had 37 (primary applicant). The 30 and 37 code letters look almost identical. These codes are entered into your passport when stamped for approval.
Processing was painless - signatures and FPs done, taking our two ADIT photos to attach to the forms sent back for processing. The IIO took our Courtesy letters (I-485 approvals), APs (only the latest ones), EAD cards and left us with only the original I-485 approval letters ("for our records") plus the precious stamps in our passports. Green Cards "to follow in 1 - 3 months" so the IIO said. Temporary passport stamps valid for one year.
Out into the sunlight just after 11 a.m. Line at 444 was still aound the corner.
By the way, an IIO said that even if the day's tickets for the Center have been used up, they will still process your I-485 stamping that day because they "need to honor the content of the approval letters" - as long as you arrive before 2 p.m. (approval letters said 8 - 2). We didn't test this theory !
Good luck to all of you still waiting.
Londoner
WAC 02 059 5XXXX
And we should be worried only after 1000 days - not before that.