Stamping at SFO - Experience Pls

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AllForGC

Registered Users (C)
I am new to this forum and got approved on -5/14 NSC (yet to receive my notice). But I live in Bay Area and will have to go for stamping @ San Francisco as per my address. It would be great if somebody can post their experience.

Do they give any fixed time to go for stamping?
Can I go to San Jose instead of SF for stamping? Any issues?

Thanx in advance

My Details :

I 485 RD/ND Nebraska - Feb 02
1st FP - Apr 02
2nd FP- Dec 03
RFE - 03/29/04
RFE Recvd - 04/23/04
Approved - 05/14/04
 
Congratulations! You just follow what your approval notice says. It is a good idea to get infopass appointment before going for stamping. You may find some threads regarding infopass and stamping. Good luck!
 
Thanx gcusa99.

What is infopass??? how does it relate to stamping?

Please can sombody explain as I dont have much time because I will have to go on a business trip for 4 weeks and i do not want to postpone my stamping.
 
Its urgent and important to know

Could anyone please share their experience with the Stamping at San Fracisco.

I have a 2 month old baby boy and nobody to take care. Me and my wife both will have to go for stamping. Pls if somebody could share the exact experience then it would be great so that we will not waste anytime. My son is only on breastfeeding and you know how difficult it will be feed him among a huge crowd.

We would be highly oblidged by help and experience.
 
Possible Alternative help

AllForGC said:
My son is only on breastfeeding and you know how difficult it will be feed him among a huge crowd.
Click to expand...

You might want to talk to ur pediatrician or wife's doctor on how to save wife's milk for ur son. ( pls dont get me wrong I am not trying to be funny)
:eek:
 
Thanx Apun_ka_gc for your valuable input. Surely it will help although I am bit more worried as we have to go in Downtown San Francisco and go thru the hassle of parking and stuff.

Candyroy, thanx for ur suggestions too. But my son do not like to take feeding in bottle and hence the problem. But we will have to try some alternatives if its gonna be more 2-3 hours then.
 
Stamping experience at SFO

Hi,

I got approved about 2 weeks ago and went to the SF INS as soon as I got my approval notice.

I had to take my wife and one of my kids because they got approved as well.
We arrived about 10am. Make sure you take the right entry (there are 2). The line outside the building was very short (5 people, <5 minutes). But, I had to go back to my car to deposit my cell phone because it has a camera in it.

Then, we waited about 30 minutes inside in the line for a number.
After that, the loooong wait started. 4 hours until our number was called.
2 hours of that was lunch break, where the numbers didn't move at all!
Luckily, they have a little snack stand in there. Also, they have plenty of seats for everyone.

At 11am they also announced that they don't have any more numbers for today, except for appointments. They pointed out that an approval notice counts as appointment, even if you don't have a specific time printed on it! So a good strategy to minimize wait is
- either come very early (they open at 8)
- or come just before closing time at 2pm, because that should still get you a number if you have an approval notice.
- bring books!
- After you get your number, you can leave the building and come back later, but the numbers sometimes jumped very quickly so be careful

When our number was finally called, the officer was very friendly, and it took just 5 minutes. She apologized for the long wait, so maybe we just had a bad day (it was a Monday).

Hope this helps
Tarantoga
 
From the San Jose exp post

strategy might work, but may want to avoid Mondays. Goodluck :)

bigshot said:
I went to San Jose center on last thursday(05/13/04) at around 6:30AM in the morning and only 1 person was standing in the appointment line.

YES,you can stand in the appointment line.

IMPORTANT:Once you enter the building,you have to go thru the security like in airport,so don't have too many things because,after security if you take long time to put your belt,watch,shoes,etc...too many people will go before you to get the token.

You will quickly loose the advantage of entering thru the appointment line.

The key is NOT just entering the room but to get the token.

I advise people to go WITHOUT writst watches,belts if possible,NO shoes and JUST carry the docs mentioned in the 485 approval with a single folder and HAVE your wallet and key in hand to put it in the belt..

As soon as your stuff comes out of the security system and take,rush to the window to get the token.

I got the 2nd token and it took only 10mins to get the stamping. I entered the building around 7:20AM and came out at around 7:40AM.

So,try to be there around 6AM and stand in the appointment line.
Click to expand...

http://boards.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=126909
 
Thanx Tarantoga

Thanx very much for the detailed experience. Final two questions.

1) What did mean by "Make sure you take the right entry (there are 2) "

2) Where do we do the parking? Is it street or some paid parking? Is it nearby?
 
Parking & Entries

AllForGC said:
Thanx very much for the detailed experience. Final two questions.

1) What did mean by "Make sure you take the right entry (there are 2) "

2) Where do we do the parking? Is it street or some paid parking? Is it nearby?
Click to expand...

Entries: There are 2 entries to the same building, one on Sansome, one on Washington. The right entry is the one on Washington St. My lawyer told me this specifically because the notice had the wrong street on it.

Parking: There's a parking lot on Sansome, just across from the building. It's pretty expensive though ($28 per day if I remember right).

Tarantoga
 
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