biometrics

[Son of Clyde]

I was told not to rely on USCIS to contact you about having the fingerprints done.

They are looking to us to contact them, so disregard what was printed on the notice. They will probably not contact you for fingerprints.

I am lucky to have a DHS office 20 minutes from home, some are not so fortunate.

[catzenmouse]

[user=130]Son of Clyde[/user] wrote:

I was told not to rely on USCIS to contact you about having the fingerprints done.

They are looking to us to contact them, so disregard what was printed on the notice. They will probably not contact you for fingerprints.

I am lucky to have a DHS office 20 minutes from home, some are not so fortunate.

We got a notice from USCIS to call them to schedule the appointment. It was part of some other papers stating that they got our AOS and AP package. This was this past Summer so the process may have changed a dozen times since then.

Ken

[Son of Clyde]

Ken, in 2 of our 5 receipt letters it was mentioned that we would be notified to schedule biometrics for EAD and AOS. On another board I was told not to rely on them to contact us.

[catzenmouse]

[user=130]Son of Clyde[/user] wrote:

Ken, in 2 of our 5 receipt letters it was mentioned that we would be notified to schedule biometrics for EAD and AOS. On another board I was told not to rely on them to contact us.

On this page they say to call to schedule the appointment. They also say that this depends on the form you are filing and how you file it.

http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/e-photo_schedule.htm

Ken

[Son of Clyde]

Ken I did not E file the forms. I need to read the letters when I get home but I am positive it was stated they would notify me to schedule an appointment.

Apparently Electronic filing is the way to go.

[catzenmouse]

[user=130]Son of Clyde[/user] wrote:

Ken I did not E file the forms. I need to read the letters when I get home but I am positive it was stated they would notify me to schedule an appointment.

Apparently Electronic filing is the way to go.

I've heard both good and bad about e-filing. One person filed twice and each time it vanished into the void. With as bad as they are normally at doing their jobs I have stuck with the priority mail with confirmation of delivery.

Ken

[Son of Clyde]

I called USCIS and was told to wait for a letter from them to schedule biometrics at the Federal (Fallon) Office Building. From the timelines it may take 179 days to the fingerprinting stage and only 23 days after that until the interview. The AOS is running about 210 days.

I need to find a way to have her EAD processed soon but that will take at least 90 days.

[catzenmouse]

[user=130]Son of Clyde[/user] wrote:

I called USCIS and was told to wait for a letter from them to schedule biometrics at the Federal (Fallon) Office Building. From the timelines it may take 179 days to the fingerprinting stage and only 23 days after that until the interview. The AOS is running about 210 days.

I need to find a way to have her EAD processed soon but that will take at least 90 days.

The only thing consistant abour USCIS is that they NEVER do anything the same way twice. From those timeline numbers we'll have our AOS interview sometime next Spring. Guess I should be happy with them that they do anything at all but I am not.

Ken

[Voyageur]

Clyde,

Since our timelines are similar, I just thought that I would tell you that we received in the mail yesterday, the notice for the biometerics appointment from the USCIS. The appointment is in about two week's time.

[Son of Clyde]

Iryna received her biometrics letter on Saturday but her son's was not delivered because his name is not on our mailbox. The postal service are not very bright seeing his mother's last name on our mailbox and not delivering his mail because of a slight variation in spelling of male and female surnames. There are exactly 2 Russian people on my street, both at my address. They delivered his receipt letters a few weeks ago with no questions asked. Maybe we had a different carrier on Saturday and they left their eyeglasses at home. She will have biometrics on November 21 and her son will be delayed up to 30 days. I spent 30 minutes on the phone last night with USCIS.

[jb]

but her son's was not delivered because his name is not on our mailbox.

WTF country do you live in Clyde?  No one should ever put their name on a mail box.  It is an invitation for thieves who can simply call 411 and get the phone number for the Clyde family at "xyz Maple St", Call your number from their cell phone as they park across the street if no one answers, they know it's safe to rip you off.

Her son's biometric invitation didn't arrive that day because it was prolly not mailed at the same time your wife's letter waa.  The USPS delivers mail to addresses, not names.  They don't care if there's a name on a mail box or not.  I don't know how that rumor got started.

The postal service are not very bright

They are a lot brighter than the folks at SSN, after all, people get a SSN only once in their life, people get mail everyday.

[Son of Clyde]

jb, I hear what you are talking about but don't forget this is the US government and the postal people apparently were told never to deliver SSA documents to a mailbox without a name on it. There is a lot of mail theft of SSA checks. Actually, thieves have been known to break into public mailboxes on the third of the month to steal SSA checks. Then SSA is forced to initiate "mass loss" procedures. It appears USCIS is instructing the postal service not to deliver to a mailbox having no name. I got this first hand from the clerk at USCIS. When the AOS is over I will remove their names from the mailbox until it is time to change their status to permanent US residents.

[jb]

Clyde,

Regardless of what some clerk at USCIS may have told you, the USPS delivers 95+% of all mail based on that funny little barcode located at the bottom of the envelope.  As long as the mail piece is correctly addresses, ie., typewritten or computer printed, the USPS has a machine called an OCR, (Optical Character Reader) that can read that address info and print the correct barcode on the letter face.  Only those letters which are addresses by cursive handwriting are rejected by the machine and are sorted visually by a postal clerk.

That barcode is an eleven digit modified binary info block containing your zip+4+2.  I'm sure you haven't thought too much about it before but,,, a 5 digit zip encompasses 100,000 (00000 - 99999) possible addresses within a city, the +4 represents  10,000 (0000-9999) possible addresses within the zip area, the 2 extra digits (00 - 99) represent 100 specific addresses within a +4 address span. The letters are then sorted by high speed automated barcode readers and are never looked at, or touched, by human hands from the time it enters into the system until the letter carrier actually arrives at your house the next day.   There is no way the USPS could devote the manpower or time to examining every letter/mail piece to see if the return address was from some government office.

Considering that the USPS handles a gazillion pieces of mail weekly, and manages to get it mostly delivered to the right house within 2-3 days from the time it was mailed, I'd say there were an awful lot of very bright people working at the USPS.  

The days of the Ben Franklin style Post Office are long gone.  For your general fund of knowledge, the USPS operates at a level of effiency and accuracy that other government agencies can only dream about.

 

 

[Admin]

jb,

You are absolutely correct about the practicality and the day-to-day operations of the USPS. However, I distinctly recall the instructions in one of the many packages received from the INS/BCIS which explicitly stated that the mailbox MUST have the names of the addressee printed on it, or the mailpiece would not be delivered. In fact, the instructions went on to provide suggestions as to where to place the printed name(s). I recall doing as Clyde is doing, and placing a card with the names on it inside the mailbox with tape, and then removing it after the desired documents had arrived.

It was with great relief that we received the blue passport last Friday - thus concluding our learning adventure with the INS/BCIS.

- Dan

[jb]

However, I distinctly recall the instructions in one of the many packages received from the INS/BCIS which explicitly stated that the mailbox MUST have the names of the addressee printed on it, or the mailpiece would not be delivered.

If the USCIS gave out such instructions, they overstepped their authority to intravene in the day-to-day operation of the USPS.  I have never had my name on my mailbox and all my correspondance from the USCIS has arrived just fine.  Further, Passports are issued from the US State Department, not from the USCIS, so there would be no connection there.

BTW, congrats on getting the Big Blue for your wife.

FWIW, I was at one time, in another life, a member of the technical team which developed the automated mail sorting equipment for the USPS, so I speak with some small degree of experience when I tell you how that cow ate the cabbage.

[Son of Clyde]

Sorry jb, I am not going to risk the next letter being sent back to the Post Office.

It is bad enough I will need to make a second trip for the fingerprints.

[jb]

Good for you, Clyde.... Have it as you wish.

To further add to your general fund of knowledge, if someone, anyone, places the price of postage on a letter and inserts it in a letter collection box anywhere in the country, the USPS is bound by law to make a good faith effort to deliver that piece of mail to the address on the mail piece. The postal service is our oldest government agency, (founded by Ben Franklin before George Washington was elected President), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is our nation's oldest, and most feared, law enforcement agency, more so than the FBI, a goodly number of inmates in the Federal pen are those who thought they could steal from the mail, or defraud by mail, or otherwise violate the sanctity of the mail.  There is a huge public trust involved when someone buys a stamp for 38 cents and puts it on a letter and sticks it in the box on the corner.  

There's a great deal more involved in getting a letter delivered across the country and into the right grandma's mailbox than you can imagine.

 

[Son of Clyde]

Sure, jb Dan and I were both wrong for not wanting our letters to be returned to the USPS. These are not letters that are delivered "first class" by courier that we must sign for. If the letter is shipped back to the USPS they do not hold them for us (as the USPS told me this morning) but deliver them back to USCIS.

I spent 30 minutes (much of it on hold) with USCIS last night and the clerk took all the information so the notice could be redelivered. She even notid that the address had not changed. I have lived in my place for 21 years and never before needed to put my name on the mailbox.

[Admin]

Probably time to give this topic a rest. It isn't among the top 10 issues (or probably even the top 100 issues) guys face in this pursuit.

- Dan

[jb]

Probably time to give this topic a rest. It isn't among the top 10 issues (or probably even the top 100 issues) guys face in this pursuit.

Probably,,, I've been at this so long I've forgotten what the problem was.  And when I do eventually get the answer, I won't remember the question.  Oh, yes~! the question was dealing with the USCIS... That's kinda like solving Catch 22, anytime you think you understand the game, they change the rules.

Suffice to say, the postman will deliver mail to your house tomorrow, regardless of your name being on the mailbox or not. It's the law.