British Expats - AOS/EAD update Kansas City

We filed the I485 and EAD in Kansas City on June 7 of this year. We were told the new office policy was to issue EAD's within 4-6 weeks (it used to be same day, but the LIFE act has swamped that office and they could no longer keep up).

We received notice in the mail on or around June 19 to come in to have my fingerprints taken as part of the AOS process. The letter simply stated to bring the letter and my passport in on July 30 to have the fingerprints taken. Nothing else was mentionned. Meanwhile time passed and I had yet to hear anything about the EAD, and it had been approximately 8 weeks since I filed.

We went down to Kansas City yesterday to get the fingerprints done, but also to maybe get an answer out of them as to what's delaying the EAD. Well when I got there they had me fill out a form, and asked me if I had filed for EAD and gotten it yet. I informed them that I was still waiting to hear about it, so they marked on the form that I needed the EAD.

I had my fingerprints taken in about 5 minutes from the time I entered the office (apparently the people who do this at the KC office are private contractors the INS has hired to help out the backlog). They then told me to wait in the front of the room and someone will call me in to have my EAD issued.

After waiting about 45 minutes, I was called in, had my picture taken, had a fingerprint taken, and was issued the card in less than 5 minutes.

That relieves a lot of our stress, but I can't help but be bitter/angry that they never once mentionned in the letter I got that my EAD would be issued the same day I came in for my fingerprints. It would have saved us a lot of worrying, because not knowing when I'd be able to work was very hard on us. But at least that part is behind us, and we can finally start living normally.

We were also told that the interview will be scheduled about 4-5 months from now.

I have to say that I'm impressed with the staff at the KC office. They have all been very pleasant and helpful. While we were waiting in the office, we overheard some of the people who came in and had difficult situations to resolve, and in every case they were treated courteously by the INS staff.

TIP: Never ever ever go to the KC office on a Monday morning. I was chatting with the woman who was doing my EAD and I had mentionned that I was surprised at how deserted the office was (I got there at 1:30) and she said that it was standing room only in the morning and that they always try to convince people to come any time other than Monday mornings.

*this has also been posted to http://www.kamya.com/aos/missouri.html and should be showing up shortly.