nononsense
Registered Users (C)
We took BART from the East Bay to get to INS SFO. Started out from home at about 6:30 AM and reached the Embarcadero station by 7:30 AM. It's just a few blocks from Embarcadero to Sansome Street, probably 7 min walk. If you are searching for the nearest BART station from Sansome Street try using Sansome Street and Clay Street intersection to find it instead of plugging in the 630 Sansome Stree address, that won't work.
So, we got into the appointment line like many folks do which was short and were redirected to the other entrance on Washington. Surprisingly the non-appointment queue was even shorter and we were ushered in quickly. Passed through security and to the line to receive our tickets. By 8 that was done. Our tickets said that it would take 2:30 hours before we would be called so we settled down on a couple of seats and started observing the display. The room was packed with people. I can only imagine the line before I got there. My number was 425 whereas the currently served number was 406 and at one point it looked like things were moving faster than expected till we reached 415. Then there was a pause for atleast an hour probably more.
So, we went for a snack. They have a small snack shop on the same floor where you can grab a bite. No seating space and you're not supposed to eat in the INS waiting area. So your only real choice is to eat your snack in the corridor. I did see many people exit the building for various things like getting a sandwich or to get ADIT photos. Fortunately all that is quite close by in case you need to.
Back to the waiting area and the 4** numbers started moving. We were excited but that was short lived another 2 hour pause happened at no. 421. After that they pretty much cut through the next 5 numbers in say 40 minutes.
We were called. We had pre-sorted the APs, EADs, ADIT photos with name and A# on the back and kept them in the passport. The man at the desk took those, quickly took our signature and fingerprint (index finger same as DMV) and sent us back to our seats in the waiting area. He said he'll complete the paper work and the stamping and call us. It took about 10 minutes for him to do that. We just went to the counter collected our passports. He said it would take 3 to 6 months to get the plastic card.
That's it.
So, we got into the appointment line like many folks do which was short and were redirected to the other entrance on Washington. Surprisingly the non-appointment queue was even shorter and we were ushered in quickly. Passed through security and to the line to receive our tickets. By 8 that was done. Our tickets said that it would take 2:30 hours before we would be called so we settled down on a couple of seats and started observing the display. The room was packed with people. I can only imagine the line before I got there. My number was 425 whereas the currently served number was 406 and at one point it looked like things were moving faster than expected till we reached 415. Then there was a pause for atleast an hour probably more.
So, we went for a snack. They have a small snack shop on the same floor where you can grab a bite. No seating space and you're not supposed to eat in the INS waiting area. So your only real choice is to eat your snack in the corridor. I did see many people exit the building for various things like getting a sandwich or to get ADIT photos. Fortunately all that is quite close by in case you need to.
Back to the waiting area and the 4** numbers started moving. We were excited but that was short lived another 2 hour pause happened at no. 421. After that they pretty much cut through the next 5 numbers in say 40 minutes.
We were called. We had pre-sorted the APs, EADs, ADIT photos with name and A# on the back and kept them in the passport. The man at the desk took those, quickly took our signature and fingerprint (index finger same as DMV) and sent us back to our seats in the waiting area. He said he'll complete the paper work and the stamping and call us. It took about 10 minutes for him to do that. We just went to the counter collected our passports. He said it would take 3 to 6 months to get the plastic card.
That's it.