AOS and EAD in Chicago - update
May 8th 2003, 10:32 am
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Joined: Jul 2002
Location: Collinsville, IL (from Scotland, UK)
Posts: 332
AOS and EAD in Chicago - update
Hello all,
Just to let anyone else going through Chicago know my updated timeline:
13 December 2002 - I come to the US with my K1 Fiance(e) Visa from London, UK
17 January 2003 - Sean and I get married!
12 March 2003 - Sent AOS package with EAD form and money orders off to Chicago BCIS via registered post, missing the brief lower fees period by a week...that'll teach us :-)
17 March 2003 - Received return receipt from BCIS
2 April 2003 - Received letter from BCIS in Chicago with yellow receipt for money orders and a green letter saying that their current timeline from receipt date to interview is 26 months. My official receipt date is March 26 2003 (I daren’t even count 26 months from there)
10 April 2003 - Received letter from BCIS in Chicago to give me an EAD appointment on 23rd April!
23 April 2003 - So we make the 6 hour drive to the Windy City and had a fantastic trip...Chicago is VERY cool and I wish we’d had more time to spend there. We showed our rural dimness by getting a $50 parking ticket for parking at a meter on State Street during rush hour...oops.
The INS office was a hectic place. I arrived at 8.30am and showed my letter to the doorman (you are allowed to go in to pick up forms but you’re only allowed to go upstairs if you have an appointment letter or a ticket), went through the x-ray machine, and started waiting at the EAD section on the 1st floor (2nd floor, sorry!). You should put your appointment letter in the tray on the front desk, and this denotes the order that your forms are processed in. There were about 100 people waiting there with me. They processed the EADs in lots of around 15 - you line up and have a fingerprint taken, show your ID and confirm your details, get your photograph taken (take your earrings out of your right ear), and then wait about 20 minutes for your card. I was in the second to last group, but I was only in the building for about an hour in total - much less than I had imagined. So everything was very easy, and the staff seemed nice...the fingerprint bloke was chatting all the girls up though so beware!
So we come home and I start applying for jobs in earnest. I have had one interview already and I have another tomorrow...wish me luck and the same to all waiting for progress.
Peace,
D.
Just to let anyone else going through Chicago know my updated timeline:
13 December 2002 - I come to the US with my K1 Fiance(e) Visa from London, UK
17 January 2003 - Sean and I get married!
12 March 2003 - Sent AOS package with EAD form and money orders off to Chicago BCIS via registered post, missing the brief lower fees period by a week...that'll teach us :-)
17 March 2003 - Received return receipt from BCIS
2 April 2003 - Received letter from BCIS in Chicago with yellow receipt for money orders and a green letter saying that their current timeline from receipt date to interview is 26 months. My official receipt date is March 26 2003 (I daren’t even count 26 months from there)
10 April 2003 - Received letter from BCIS in Chicago to give me an EAD appointment on 23rd April!
23 April 2003 - So we make the 6 hour drive to the Windy City and had a fantastic trip...Chicago is VERY cool and I wish we’d had more time to spend there. We showed our rural dimness by getting a $50 parking ticket for parking at a meter on State Street during rush hour...oops.
The INS office was a hectic place. I arrived at 8.30am and showed my letter to the doorman (you are allowed to go in to pick up forms but you’re only allowed to go upstairs if you have an appointment letter or a ticket), went through the x-ray machine, and started waiting at the EAD section on the 1st floor (2nd floor, sorry!). You should put your appointment letter in the tray on the front desk, and this denotes the order that your forms are processed in. There were about 100 people waiting there with me. They processed the EADs in lots of around 15 - you line up and have a fingerprint taken, show your ID and confirm your details, get your photograph taken (take your earrings out of your right ear), and then wait about 20 minutes for your card. I was in the second to last group, but I was only in the building for about an hour in total - much less than I had imagined. So everything was very easy, and the staff seemed nice...the fingerprint bloke was chatting all the girls up though so beware!
So we come home and I start applying for jobs in earnest. I have had one interview already and I have another tomorrow...wish me luck and the same to all waiting for progress.
Peace,
D.
