mikechristina

Here's one that is more a rant than a question.....

My youngest arrived in August - we paid his fee for his Green Card as requested. Then received a letter for him to go to our local USCIS office (which is about 1 hour away) to do his Biometrics. This confused us because neither my husband nor my eldest had to do this before receiving their Green Card here.

The first letter had his appointment during school hours. This would mean my son would have to miss an entire day of school. Not happening. So I returned the letter as requested with a note explaining that I would not be pulling my son out of school for an entire day to have finger prints done.

Today, I received another letter with an appointment for 9AM on Nov 1st. AGAIN I called the "help" line (that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one) only to be met with a rep who can only manage to read me the rules, regulations and codes of procedures for rescheduling. So all I am left to do is return this appointment letter again with another note stating I WILL NOT be taking my son out of school for this and to please reschedule my appointment for after 2 PM.

There is no contact number for my local USCIS office, surely they have a phone in there!

~rant over ~ advice will be appreciated.

Noorah101

Is the appointment at the USCIS building, or an ASC service center? If you don't mind, can you tell us the location of the appointment?

Rene

Rete

Whatever is the big deal about missing a day of school? It isn't like he needs to be gone a week.

USCIS does not have to do things the way you want just so your son and you are not inconvenienced. When going through the green card processing, hubby had to lose more than one day of work for biometrics.

Have never heard of anyone having a phone number for a USCIS office. Again, you have to make an appointment online and then take time off from work to keep the appointment.

Your son is obtaining a benefit, not giving one.

mikechristina

Rene - Sorry for my delayed reply. It is the USCIS Tampa Field Office

mikechristina

Whatever is the big deal with someone's ability to read a request and provide a time within servicing hours to accommodate a request?

He's 16 and every day in school matters - My prerogative as his mother.

tom169

Sounds like it will be a case of accepting skipping a day of school.

Personally I'd value getting this immigration process sorted as a higher priority, but that's my opinion.

Could you not explain to the teachers and find out what would have been taught or some pages for your kid to read for the day missed?

ian-mstm

It seems you want USCIS to accommodate your request. I don't think it's an unreasonable request, but I'll point out that US immigration is not obligated to accommodate any request you make. FWIW, I agree with Rete on this issue... your son is receiving an immigration benefit.


Okay - he's 16. Perhaps you should consider asking him what he would prefer - after all, this affects him more than it does you!

Ian

MidAtlantic

I understand your frustration but I also think it is unrealistic to expect USCIS to make special arrangements for a large number of people with special requests. Not just not to miss school but to fit with work etc.

In my case I just had to take a day off work and accept that as part of the process to get the biometrics done.

Noorah101

Looking at their website, they do not have office hours listed, but it's entirely possible they might not be open later in the afternoon, and only schedule morning appointments. Our maybe they only do biometrics appointments in the morning.

Maybe you can schedule an Infopass appointment for one afternoon prior to the scheduled appointment and bring the biometrics letter to see if they can do it that way? Of course no guarantees.

What time does your son finish school for the day? With a 9 am appointment, you should be done by 10 and back home by 11 am, so he could still go to afternoon classes.

I also agree with the poster who said to get any assignments ahead of time for that day from the teachers, and take that morning off school.

USCIS rarely, if ever, cares about your own schedule.

Rene

celticgrid

Is it possible that if you keep repeating this process you will eventually get a date when he isn't in school anyway?

mrken30

I suggest he takes some school books to read or some homework with him to do while waiting to be seen. Speak with the teachers so maybe they can coordinate as much as they can for him not to miss key lessons.

My appointment took best part of 3 hours, because they were running behind and it worked on a ticketing system. The appointment time was just a time they wanted you to arrive.

mikechristina

I appreciate everyone replies... If my second request isn't accommodated then I will have to notify his teachers as suggested and at least it will be an excused absence. He is in school from 7AM to 1:35 PM - Our Field office closes at 4PM and it is an hour away from us. So as previously noted. It will remove him from the entire school day.

Thanks again.

So glad this is my third and FINAL family process.

mrken30

If it closes at 4PM and you get there at 2PM , you may be pushing it to get seen. I only did biometrics for citizenship which included photos, palm prints, finger prints and cant remember. I know I had to wait between each item. My green card they only took fingerprints with real ink.

mikechristina

Asking a 16 year old if he wants to miss an entire day off school...hmmm I already know the answer.

kirstyvw

When we got our biometrics appointments through over summer we were set to be away on holiday the day they gave us. Contacted our immigration lawyer who told us so long as we go to the centre anytime within the same month we would be ok. Didn't have to notify them - just told us to turn up. We ended up doing that - went in the week before our scheduled appointment fully expecting to be turned away when they saw our letter but they didn't bat an eyelid - just did the deed and we went on our way.