USCIS makes the Postal Service look efficient and caring...

[RunningWithScissors]

Seriously, the people at USCIS are retarded jerks, and that's about the nicest thing I can say about them.

 

We applied for my wife's US Citizenship and got the notice for the "final" biometrics, scheduled for January 19th. On the 19th we head down to DHS/USCIS in a pretty ugly snowstorm and fight our way down to Tukwila where the office is. Traffic was just insane, driving conditions were gruesome, but we weren't going to miss this appointment for ANYTHING.

 

We get down there only to find out that DHS has closed the building due to snow. (WTF?? I mean, WE could get there, why couldn't they??)

 

So anyway, the office is closed. We get back home and I call USCIS. We're told just to "sit tight" and that since they were the ones that canceled the appointment they would reschedule it and contact us.

 

So we wait. And wait. And wait. Over the next 3 weeks I call them 4 times asking when we can expect to hear from them. Each time we're told to "be patient", "sit tight", and not to worry, that they'll contact us. They wouldn't tell us how long it might be before we heard from them. Estimates ranged from "a couple of weeks" to "six months" (!!!).

 

Yesterday I called again and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. After a bit of yelling and arm-twisting we're told that it's our responsbility to contact USCIS for a new appointment, even though they were the ones that canceled it. WTF??

 

That's right- if we'd just sat passively we would have been waiting until the Sun burned out, because USCIS "does not and will not reschedule appointments" that they cancel due to weather. You have to contact them, even if they're the ones that screwed everything up.

 

What a bunch of a-holes.

 

So we sent them a certified, return-receipt letter requesting a new appointment, and we requested that they expedite it because we lost nearly a month due to their incompetence.

 

We'll see what happens. *^&@%!

[dnoblett]

About Biometrics, you can walk into the ACS without an appointment, if they are not busy, which they usually are not, they will accommodate you.

[RunningWithScissors]

About Biometrics, you can walk into the ACS without an appointment, if they are not busy, which they usually are not, they will accommodate you.

 

I'm not sure how it is there, but you can't do that here. They won't let you into the building without a letter and an appointment. You can't even call them (they refused to give us the phone number so we could contact them). It's US Mail only. I hate those people.

DHS runs the lobby like it's the entrance to a secret nuclear facility.

 

Come to think of it, back in the 80s/90s when I was going to various nuke sites, it was easier getting into them than into the USCIS building. I used to go to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, GE Vallecitos, INEL, Rocky Flats, and gobs of other nuclear research sites and it truly was easier getting into them than it is getting into USCIS nowadays. I can only imagine what it's like getting into Rocky Flats today. They probably do a colonoscopy now.

 

On a brighter note, I'd mentioned some time ago that my wife and I introduced a friend of mine to a lovely Cambodian lady. They've been married a while now (I was his best man!) and they're retiring to Cambodia in ~75 days, he has his tickets and everything. He is sooooooooooooooo ready to go. He sold off most of his stuff, gave away a bunch more, and now they're just waiting to go.

[dnoblett]

Its just a matter of scheduling an InfoPass appointment to field office, explain, and they WILL do Bio at the appointment.

 

Or visit ASC with the letter you have, they should see was a snow day, and allow entry and do the BIO.

 

I see this all the time about Walk ins.

 

A friend even asked about this, his son needed to do a bio for name change on green card, son had moved to Washington State from Tenesee the bio was set for TN, they ended up doing info pass in Seattle WA, and they did bio there.

 

If your timeline is any indicator to where you live, then should be able to Info-Pass to the Seatle office and get-er-done.

 

http://infopass.uscis.gov/

Edited February 17, 2012 by dnoblett
Added info (see edit history)

[RunningWithScissors]

Well....after a fair amount of screwing around, we finally have a date for the US Citizenship test.

 

We had to make an appointment online to go down to USCIS, and at that appointment we were able to make an appointment for the actual appointment to get Sakha's fingerprints taken (sheesh)

 

Cost about 4 weeks of time what with making the appointment to make the appointment.

 

I know, it's *#^! crazy, but that's the way they do it here.

 

At the first appointment I told them, "Look, she's here and she even brought her fingerprints with her, can't you just take them now?"

 

Oh no, we can't do that. That would be, like, crazy or something.

 

So we finally got the prints taken and we just today got the notice of the test dat: April 30th. We'll show up there early in the morning and she'll do the test. If she passes then we can hang around until ~1:00 when they do the swearing in ceremony.

 

I'll let you know how it goes.....wish us luck!

[dnoblett]

Test and swearing in same day is unusual. In our case test was in Buffalo at Field office, and swearing cerimony was a couple weeks later in our home town Rochester NY at the county courthouse. This is so can have friends and family attend the ceremony without having to driv the 60 miles to the Field office.

Edited March 30, 2012 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[RunningWithScissors]

Test and swearing in same day is unusual.

 

We've been told that if we get an appointment early in the day (which we do) then she can be sworn in the same day, else we can come back another day. In this case it's just gonna be me and her so the sooner the better.

 

Man, after this last hurdle we are SO done. We spend time every day quizzing her on the US Citizenship Test site I made (shameless plug!) and she's batting about 99 out of 100 right. There are a couple that she still trips over but I'd bet almost anything that she's gonna pass the first time through.

Edited March 30, 2012 by RunningWithScissors (see edit history)