MarDae

Anthony and I ventured to Philly yesterday on the off chance that he might be able to obtain a work authorization stamp at our local district office in Philly. We started the morning at 4am and after a coffee and breakfast sandwich stop at Sheets we were officially on the road at 5am. Luckily due to the time we didn’t encounter much traffic on our two-hour journey until we approached Philly. Even there it wasn’t too bad and we were within the city only about a half hour after getting off the turnpike. We had no trouble finding the building using the directions from the USCIS website and there was convenient, reasonable parking nearby. We got to the front of the Philly USCIS office at about 7am and were the first ones there. Within about 10 minutes a decent line had started to form so we were glad that we got there early. At about 7:35am we were finally allowed to enter the building and go through security after our ID’s were checked. We then went to a general intake woman where we asked about getting the 90 day work authorization stamp. She told us we would have to file the I-765 with Vermont. We didn’t like that answer and pushed a little further, she repeated her previous response. I then asked if we would be required to pay the $120 filing fee since there was no waiver listed in the instructions for people applying under category (a)(6). The woman told us that no, we were not required to pay the fee, but that we did have to file with Vermont. Still not satisfied we told her we wanted to speak to someone else and she gave us a ticket with a number on it.

We waited a few minutes and were called to another window. There the woman told us the same story. She said that they never issued stamps at the Philly office although they did used to issue an actual temporary card but that they stopped doing that. She said that our only recourse was to file with Vermont but that it wasn’t worth it since it was taking them 90 days to process the apps and that the temp work authorization would be expired before he ever got it. She told him that he should have just gotten the stamp at his POE. When he told her his POE was Dublin she basically said that he was lying because you can’t go through US immigration outside the US. We told her this was wrong and that Dublin was his POE. That and the immigration officer there had never even heard of a temporary work authorization stamp, let alone was able to issue one. We also told her that the immigration officer at JFK told him to go to Philly and get his work auth there. She said he shouldn’t have done that because Philly doesn’t issue temp work auth…same old run around. It was only after Anthony showed her his passport with the US Immigration Dublin stamp that she believed him. Her advice was that we get married very quickly and file for AOS and his EAD at the same time…I didn’t like a government employee telling me when I needed to get married. I know her advice was legitimate but I still didn’t like it all the same. She did reiterate that we wouldn’t need to pay the $120 filing fee if we did decide to take the chance and apply for the temp work auth.

All in all we left very disheartened…it looks like Anthony won’t be able to work (or drive, you need an EAD to apply for a PA license and he doesn’t have an international license) until sometime in April at the earliest. Now we know officially…Philly will not issue temp work authorization. We were back in Harrisburg by 9:30am. It was a very full morning. At least now we know where we are going when it’s time to apply for AOS in a couple weeks. We’ll probably try to get there around the same time.

Just a little FYI for everyone.

MarDae

Pallyn

Thank you for posting and sorry for not seeing it sooner. The ticket lady is a piece of work - I think her job is to determine the question being asked, not to try to answer it. Everytime we went she attempted the same thing with us.
I am sorry they have changed procedure. I also know how it felt to have to schedule a marriage based on governmental procedures and economic necessity. Not much I can say about that.

sibsie

He should be able to drive for at least 90 days on his Irish licence. Can't he do that?

MarDae

He never received an Irish license. He only ever had a learner's permit. He applied for a driver's test in February 2003 and as of when he came in Jan 2004 he still hadn't been scheduled for an appointment!

MarDae

jeffreyhy

sibsie,

Pennsylvania seems to have some complex and perverse requirements for foreigners moving into the state.

<http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/pdotforms/misc/Pub_195.pdf>

After a quick reveiw, I would have to say that MarDae is correct - Anthony won't be driving for a while.

Regards, JEff

bequibar

Even when you go back thre to file for AOS, he will have to wait 3-6 months for his EAD, they don't give them out on the spot... I filed in november and I won't see mine till spring/summer.

Have you applied for SSN yet? That's another fine example of incompetence...

MarDae

It used to be worse, Pallyn told me that when her husband applied you needed to have completed your AOS. At least you don't have to do that anymore!!

MarDae

mcjimbo

Right,

My POE will be JFK, and hearing your story worrys me. This Work Authorisation stamp seems to be a rariety to say the least?

Can someone who has successfully recieved a work authorisation stamp at JFK or any other airport please describe your experience. How you got it, who you had to see, what you had to say.

Does the customs officer do it when they ask you why your entering the United States? Is that the point you say i'm immigrating on a K-1 and I would like a 90 work authorisation stamp?

The more of these unsuccessful stories I read the more paranoid I become.

Thanks in advance

James

MarDae

Technically Anthony's POE was Dublin...that's where the breakdown occured. If he had been flying in from the UK he wouldn't have had a problem getting the stamp from the person he talked to at JFK.

MarDae

ccalgreen

Bad luck...

katina

Oh no... that sucks. I hope his 1-year EAD is processed in record time!!

mcjimbo

Fair enough, but I would still like to hear from someone who's successfully got a work authorisation stamp from any U.S. POE, and how they went about it!

katina

After you posted earlier I sent you a PM with a link to my husband's post about his POE experience at JFK -- he got the 90-day stamp there in 2003.

mcjimbo

Thanks Katina,

Sorry I didn't notice, this forum used to notify you with a little window when you had a PM.

Cheers

James

GiveMeStrength

James,
Can you post the info you got from Katina...I think there's more than a few of us that are interested in getting that elusive stamp. Maybe this is worthy of a new thread?

-Deanna