AOS Application Experience at Los Angeles INS on K-1 - Long
Feb 26th 2002, 1:25 pm
#1
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AOS Application Experience at Los Angeles INS on K-1 - Long
Hi, Newsgroupers,
An update for those using the INS office in Los Angeles, and especially for those
applying for adjustment of status. Here is our experience:
My husband (then fiance), Stephen, arrived from Australia on February 4, 2002. We
were married on February 16, 2002, went for a lovely though altogether-too-brief
honeymoon and returned to tackle the AOS, EAD and AP applications in Los Angeles --
the busiest INS office in the country. We live a far distance away from this office
and it was important to us to accomplish our filing as efficiently as possible. So we
took Alvena's as always terrific advice and elected to use the Los Angeles County Bar
Association (LACBA) Immigration Legal Assistance Project's services. Here's a link:
http://www.lacba.org/showpage.cfm?pageid=423
We arose on Monday, February 25th at 3:30 a.m., after 3 hours' sleep, and drove to
the nearest MetroLink station -- in our case, Moorpark. Believe me, this is the only
way to go to the INS office in Los Angeles, located at 300 N. Los Angeles Blvd. You
avoid all parking hassles, the cost works out to about the same as parking and the
INS office is roughly a 3 minute walk from the station. Take the train to Union
Station. Walk through the station out the front doors, cross the street directly in
front of you and bear left (this makes sense when you're there). After a couple of
blocks, after crossing over the 101, look to your left and you will see the INS
building. You can't miss it -- it's the one with the long lines all around.
We arrived at the building at around 7:20 a.m., and long lines had already formed. We
checked with a security person -- they are all very helpful -- and he directed us to
the appropriate line. We fretted about being too late, but we needn't have worried.
The INS personnel are extremely efficient, and we were inside the doors within 20
minutes of our arrival. At the door, they will check your ID and run your personal
effects through a metal detector. They are very concerned with keeping the lines
moving, so it's a good idea to have your ID out and in your hand before getting to
the doors. Also do leave any unintentional weapons (Swiss Army knives, etc.) at home.
We knew where we were headed, to Room 3107 on the third floor, where the LACBA is
housed. We were fourth in line and waited for about 15 minutes for the doors to open.
The LACBA's office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. They file AOS applications on Mondays and
Thursdays, and you must go in person for them to work on your behalf. They are
amazingly efficient. The receptionist will have you write your name down on a pad
and you will be called in order of your arrival. The office is small and seats
only about 12 people, so we were grateful to be there early enough to grab seats.
We were only seated for about 15 minutes, however, before we were called for a
consultation. The consultation fee is $20, and they require it up front and in
cash. In fact, everything you may need in the INS building requires cash. Credit
cards are worthless, so be sure to take lots of hard dollars.
After a brief consultation with an attorney, we were told that the cost for filing
AOS, EAD and AP applications with the INS would be $535.00. They require a money
order and LACBA did not want separate money orders for each application. The fee for
LACBA to file on your behalf is $210.00, and in our opinion it is money well spent.
We obtained a money order for that as well, although they may have accepted other
forms of payment. We didn't inquire. We were advised that EAD would take between 4-6
weeks to receive, AP between 3-4. AOS interviews are now running 8 months from date
of filing. (!!!) LACBA takes care of everything and you do not need to return to pick
up EAD. They will mail it to you directly.
We were sent away to obtain some copies of things (the only ones we didn't have were
of Stephen's passport and I-94 card -- which turned out to be the most important
little stupid piece of paper he received coming through Customs at LAX! Who'd have
thought it?), and photos, 2 each for AOS and 2 each for AP. If you need copies, don't
use the crappy copy machine on the third floor. Go to the Federal Bankruptcy Court
records office on the second floor. They will make copies for you for 6 cents each.
If you need photos, there is a guy on the third floor who does them in about 5
minutes. His fee is $10 for 2, $18 for 4. Cash only, of course!
Since we were running out of cash, we were happy to learn there is an ATM on the
first floor of the building, and they don't even gouge you too badly. Additional
fee to obtain cash from a strange ATM was $1.00. When we went to obtain money
orders at the post office housed inside the building, we were dismayed to learn
that they do not accept credit cards there, either. We fandangoed around with our
debit cards (we had just paid for a big wedding, after all!) and coughed up the
requisite funds in cash.
The only service we were unable to locate in the INS building itself was a notary,
but there is one located across the street in a small mall. We dreaded leaving the
building and the prospect of standing in the ever-growing line a second time, but
ultimately felt we had no choice. The second time through the line, it was twice as
long and took about 35 minutes to gain access back inside. We later learned that we
needn't have gone to the trouble, as the form we needed to have notarized -- the
Affidavit of Support -- was done by the LACBA after they had prepared all the forms.
Now armed with all we thought we needed, we returned to the LACBA offices at around
11:15 a.m. They were waiting for us, took all our completed forms and copies and
entered everything into their computer. We were then shuttled into a back office by
one of the volunteers to review each form for accuracy. After everyone agreed they
were perfect, we handed over our money orders and that was that. We were out of the
building for good by noon, with no need to return until the AOS interview. We'd have
been out of there by 10:30 a.m. had we not blundered over the notarization. A good
half-day's work, indeed, and it wasn't nearly as bad as we were expecting.
We were less prepared than we had hoped to be, and we would suggest that you get all
your forms completed, copies and photos done before you embark on your AOS/EAD/AP
quest. Had we done that, we'd have been finished and out the door by 9:30 a.m. at the
absolute latest. But if like us, you don't, everything you need is there.
One final and interesting note: The volunteer we were working with at LACBA shared
with us that INS is building a new service center in Ventura County, which they hope
to have completed within a couple of years. For those of us who live on the Central
Coast, this was welcome news, indeed. Not sure of what the new area of coverage is
expected to be, but it can only be good.
Good luck to all working with Los Angeles INS!
Rae
P. S. Rita, we will post this experience on kamya as soon as we have received EAD and
AP, and obtained an interview date. See what a good nag will do?
An update for those using the INS office in Los Angeles, and especially for those
applying for adjustment of status. Here is our experience:
My husband (then fiance), Stephen, arrived from Australia on February 4, 2002. We
were married on February 16, 2002, went for a lovely though altogether-too-brief
honeymoon and returned to tackle the AOS, EAD and AP applications in Los Angeles --
the busiest INS office in the country. We live a far distance away from this office
and it was important to us to accomplish our filing as efficiently as possible. So we
took Alvena's as always terrific advice and elected to use the Los Angeles County Bar
Association (LACBA) Immigration Legal Assistance Project's services. Here's a link:
http://www.lacba.org/showpage.cfm?pageid=423
We arose on Monday, February 25th at 3:30 a.m., after 3 hours' sleep, and drove to
the nearest MetroLink station -- in our case, Moorpark. Believe me, this is the only
way to go to the INS office in Los Angeles, located at 300 N. Los Angeles Blvd. You
avoid all parking hassles, the cost works out to about the same as parking and the
INS office is roughly a 3 minute walk from the station. Take the train to Union
Station. Walk through the station out the front doors, cross the street directly in
front of you and bear left (this makes sense when you're there). After a couple of
blocks, after crossing over the 101, look to your left and you will see the INS
building. You can't miss it -- it's the one with the long lines all around.
We arrived at the building at around 7:20 a.m., and long lines had already formed. We
checked with a security person -- they are all very helpful -- and he directed us to
the appropriate line. We fretted about being too late, but we needn't have worried.
The INS personnel are extremely efficient, and we were inside the doors within 20
minutes of our arrival. At the door, they will check your ID and run your personal
effects through a metal detector. They are very concerned with keeping the lines
moving, so it's a good idea to have your ID out and in your hand before getting to
the doors. Also do leave any unintentional weapons (Swiss Army knives, etc.) at home.
We knew where we were headed, to Room 3107 on the third floor, where the LACBA is
housed. We were fourth in line and waited for about 15 minutes for the doors to open.
The LACBA's office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. They file AOS applications on Mondays and
Thursdays, and you must go in person for them to work on your behalf. They are
amazingly efficient. The receptionist will have you write your name down on a pad
and you will be called in order of your arrival. The office is small and seats
only about 12 people, so we were grateful to be there early enough to grab seats.
We were only seated for about 15 minutes, however, before we were called for a
consultation. The consultation fee is $20, and they require it up front and in
cash. In fact, everything you may need in the INS building requires cash. Credit
cards are worthless, so be sure to take lots of hard dollars.
After a brief consultation with an attorney, we were told that the cost for filing
AOS, EAD and AP applications with the INS would be $535.00. They require a money
order and LACBA did not want separate money orders for each application. The fee for
LACBA to file on your behalf is $210.00, and in our opinion it is money well spent.
We obtained a money order for that as well, although they may have accepted other
forms of payment. We didn't inquire. We were advised that EAD would take between 4-6
weeks to receive, AP between 3-4. AOS interviews are now running 8 months from date
of filing. (!!!) LACBA takes care of everything and you do not need to return to pick
up EAD. They will mail it to you directly.
We were sent away to obtain some copies of things (the only ones we didn't have were
of Stephen's passport and I-94 card -- which turned out to be the most important
little stupid piece of paper he received coming through Customs at LAX! Who'd have
thought it?), and photos, 2 each for AOS and 2 each for AP. If you need copies, don't
use the crappy copy machine on the third floor. Go to the Federal Bankruptcy Court
records office on the second floor. They will make copies for you for 6 cents each.
If you need photos, there is a guy on the third floor who does them in about 5
minutes. His fee is $10 for 2, $18 for 4. Cash only, of course!
Since we were running out of cash, we were happy to learn there is an ATM on the
first floor of the building, and they don't even gouge you too badly. Additional
fee to obtain cash from a strange ATM was $1.00. When we went to obtain money
orders at the post office housed inside the building, we were dismayed to learn
that they do not accept credit cards there, either. We fandangoed around with our
debit cards (we had just paid for a big wedding, after all!) and coughed up the
requisite funds in cash.
The only service we were unable to locate in the INS building itself was a notary,
but there is one located across the street in a small mall. We dreaded leaving the
building and the prospect of standing in the ever-growing line a second time, but
ultimately felt we had no choice. The second time through the line, it was twice as
long and took about 35 minutes to gain access back inside. We later learned that we
needn't have gone to the trouble, as the form we needed to have notarized -- the
Affidavit of Support -- was done by the LACBA after they had prepared all the forms.
Now armed with all we thought we needed, we returned to the LACBA offices at around
11:15 a.m. They were waiting for us, took all our completed forms and copies and
entered everything into their computer. We were then shuttled into a back office by
one of the volunteers to review each form for accuracy. After everyone agreed they
were perfect, we handed over our money orders and that was that. We were out of the
building for good by noon, with no need to return until the AOS interview. We'd have
been out of there by 10:30 a.m. had we not blundered over the notarization. A good
half-day's work, indeed, and it wasn't nearly as bad as we were expecting.
We were less prepared than we had hoped to be, and we would suggest that you get all
your forms completed, copies and photos done before you embark on your AOS/EAD/AP
quest. Had we done that, we'd have been finished and out the door by 9:30 a.m. at the
absolute latest. But if like us, you don't, everything you need is there.
One final and interesting note: The volunteer we were working with at LACBA shared
with us that INS is building a new service center in Ventura County, which they hope
to have completed within a couple of years. For those of us who live on the Central
Coast, this was welcome news, indeed. Not sure of what the new area of coverage is
expected to be, but it can only be good.
Good luck to all working with Los Angeles INS!
Rae
P. S. Rita, we will post this experience on kamya as soon as we have received EAD and
AP, and obtained an interview date. See what a good nag will do?
