Stamping, SF, Mon 8/2

[wac-ed in CA]

Got stamped in SF this morning. Our approval notices had SF office instructions though we live in santa clara county, so we drove to SF office (Sansome St.).


Arrived: 6:15am
(About 50 people ahead of us, queue was moving already, security check opened at 6:15).
At security check 6:45am, it took us 10 minutes to get through. A lot of people had not thought that the security/x-ray would be similar to an airport check in so it was taking a few minutes per person.

Were given Tokens D-421/422. Apparently they give out tokens for each approval (A family of 4 in front of us were given 4 token numbers). They started calling around 6:50am,

Called to window: 8:10am
Provided all docs (photos, current EAD, all past APDs - 3 each, I-94) - officer looked relieved everything was organized neatly.
Signed and fingerprinted by 8:20am. Officer stamped passports with cheesy looking stamp and hand scrawled various things including

I485 approved. DOE 7-19-2004 (approval was 7/22 so i dunno why DOE is 7/19) and POE SFR. Stamp valid for 1 yr.

Officer said the card should arrive "within 40 to 60 days" and to go the San Jose office for any other immigration matters or card related matters since we were Santa Clara county residents.

Out at 8:30 for a semi-celebratory breakfast in Burlingame (Cafe Copenhagen) on the way back.

ok. done. now the cards should arrive and thats it. we wont be applying for citizenship so hopefully this is the end of the ins-related troubles for us other than re-entry permits at some point (gotta keep those lawyers gainfully employed...)

-WAC-02-223xxx, EB1b OR, 2 x AC-21 filings, no RFE. details elsewhere on this forum.

2nd FP 6/17
Approved 7/22

 

[kalmad]

congrats and need some advise.

i am planning to go tommorow morning for stamping.

iam planning to drive . is there a parking facility near by .

thanks

 

[cathyl]

Hi, wac-ed in CA, Thanks a lot for the detail! could you please help me on some questions? the assitant of my lawyer told me that the photo requirement has been changed just last week, it should be passport type(full face) rather than greencard type (3/4 face), to be safe, she asked us to prepare both. but in my letter the requirement still asked for greencard type, who should I listen to? which photo did you bring?

as I only had courtesy copy, the lawyer has not yet got the official one, but the assisant said the courtesy copy should be fine, is that true?



Thanks a lot !

Cathy

wac-02-280-5xxx
2nd FP June 16, approved on July 28th.

 

[max2k1]

Hi, wac-ed in CA, Thanks a lot for the detail! could you please help me on some questions? the assitant of my lawyer told me that the photo requirement has been changed just last week, it should be passport type(full face) rather than greencard type (3/4 face), to be safe, she asked us to prepare both. but in my letter the requirement still asked for greencard type, who should I listen to? which photo did you bring?

as I only had courtesy copy, the lawyer has not yet got the official one, but the assisant said the courtesy copy should be fine, is that true?



Thanks a lot !

Cathy

wac-02-280-5xxx
2nd FP June 16, approved on July 28th.

See this notice from USCIS ...

New photos effective from today ( Aug 2nd).
Also both types are acceptable till early Sep ... after that just the regular PP photos.

I would say, its best for you to have the new look PP photos - atleast your GC would look like everyone elses' in about 5 yrs time

 

[wac-ed in CA]

the officer did not say anything about the photos (ours were ADIT style). i think i read somewhere that the front-on passport style "will also be acceptable" .

we had original approval notices. when we were given the tokens, they scanned the bar-code on the lower right of the notices and later while stamping, i saw the officer pick up print-outs from the printer which had all the case detail on it (about half a page).

we parked in the Embarcadero center 1 parking lot underground ($28 max a day) - best parking option. there is a 11$ lot (you will have to leave the keys with them) with the narrowest parking spots i have seen and i didnt want any door dings on the new car. the embarcadero parking is 2 blocks from the buidling.

There are plenty of parking meters (they start at 7am) that you can use till you get in - i.e. park at the meter across from the entry on Washington, go in, get a token, then come out and park in a lot (if you get there by 6, you will likely be in by 7am). there are more parking options 3blocks away OR the market/montgomery BART station which is about 4 blocks away.