Early biometrics walk-in done at Los Angeles ASC (different date/different location)

[bunnybaby 1]

In case anybody on this forum in looking for experience of early walk-in of biometrics in Los Angeles area, I did it this morning! I received the FP notice yesterday, and was scheduled for FP appointment on March 17, 2010 at the ASC close to my home. But after reading many posts on VJ, I decided to do an early walk-in at the ASC close to my work today (the one located on Wilshire, Los Angeles).

I went there at about 1:00 pm. The lobby was pretty much empty with maybe only 15 people waiting in the row. The guard was super nice. He didn't even bother to check the location/date on my FP notice. He just checked my ID and let me in. It took me only about 30 minutes to get everything done. Super pleasant experience!

BTW, based on my research, Gardena and Bellflower (both in Great Los Angeles area) would also allow you to do early walk-in. Hope this is helpful information to those in southern California.

Good luck to everybody!

[patient2010 93]

Nice thanks for this info!

[ras wyse 3]

Whats the address for the one on Wilshire that you went?

[spikemasta 1]

The address looks like: 1015 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90017

Do you know what time they open in the morning, and/or are they closed for lunch?

[BeaverR 0]

I created a log-in especially to thank the original poster - bunnybaby. The ASC assigned to me is Montebello in greater Los Angeles. I had a biometrics scheduled. However I had to be out of town on that day due to prescheduled office work. I went a week early to try and see if they can do something. This guard dude who has been there forever was rude. He flatly declined. I said fine, reschedule. 9 weeks. No case update. No letter. USCIS sucks when you move away from their 'automated process'. For 9 weeks there was nothing, zilch, nada, zero update.

After reading post here, I gave the Wilshire ASC a try. I was in and out in 20 mins. I also work in downtown LA so it was a breeze for me to take a 15 min walk and not worry about parking. The ASC was very good. Friendly staff, no questions asked and no hesitation. They acted as if they were pleased to see me there. I wonder why the difference when they all work for the same USCIS.

The Montebello centre also sucks for congestion and parking. I hate to go there and I hope I won't have to see that place anymore. It's not too clean either. The Wilshire office is great and for a change nice to see smiling workers. I did not see this post earlier so didn't know about Wilshire ASC. Wish I had seen this post earlier. After I got the biometrics done, I promptly received a case update.

So thanks to bunnybaby.

[HossDelgado 1]

I also created an account to thank the OP- thank you! I'd read a lot of conflicting opinions about walk-in's until I came across this thread.

My wife (citizen of South Korea) has not yet received her biometrics appointment for adjustment of status (i485), but it should be coming this week. As soon as we get it we'll try to do a similar afternoon walk-in at the wilshire ASC. I'll post back with the results.

Good luck all.

I created a log-in especially to thank the original poster - bunnybaby. The ASC assigned to me is Montebello in greater Los Angeles. I had a biometrics scheduled. However I had to be out of town on that day due to prescheduled office work. I went a week early to try and see if they can do something. This guard dude who has been there forever was rude. He flatly declined. I said fine, reschedule. 9 weeks. No case update. No letter. USCIS sucks when you move away from their 'automated process'. For 9 weeks there was nothing, zilch, nada, zero update.

After reading post here, I gave the Wilshire ASC a try. I was in and out in 20 mins. I also work in downtown LA so it was a breeze for me to take a 15 min walk and not worry about parking. The ASC was very good. Friendly staff, no questions asked and no hesitation. They acted as if they were pleased to see me there. I wonder why the difference when they all work for the same USCIS.

The Montebello centre also sucks for congestion and parking. I hate to go there and I hope I won't have to see that place anymore. It's not too clean either. The Wilshire office is great and for a change nice to see smiling workers. I did not see this post earlier so didn't know about Wilshire ASC. Wish I had seen this post earlier. After I got the biometrics done, I promptly received a case update.

So thanks to bunnybaby.

[HossDelgado 1]

My wife just received a biometric appointment for mid-November at the Fairfax ASC.

However, we will try to walk in at the Wilshire ASC next week based on the positive experiences of the OP and others.

I'll post back with our experiences and results. Thanks again OP.

[HossDelgado 1]

My wife's walk-in biometrics at the Wilshire ASC was successful and the whole experience was unbelievably smooth and pleasant:

- total time: 15 minutes (from entering to exiting)

- # people waiting: 5

- arrival time: 2PM-ish

All the staff were were unexpectedly friendly. In particular, the guards were super nice and let me wait inside with my wife even though I was holding our mobile phones- they just asked me to turn off the phones. My wife said the staff member who fingerprinted her was disarmingly welcoming and smiled the whole time.

When we first arrived, the guards asked to see her 797C ASC Appointment Notice and ID. Our scheduled appointment was at another ASC at a later date, but the guards made no mention of that and asked her to fill out a form. She was given a number which was called as soon as she was finished filling out the paperwork. After she was photographed and fingerprinted, the guards stamped our Appointment Notice and we were out the door 15 minutes after arriving.

For prospective walk-in's; your mileage may, but if you're in the LA area, this ASC seems extraordinarily accommodating and worth a try.

[gildayjason 2]

I received my biometrics letter two days ago for an appointment on December 8th at the Pico and Fairfax ASC. But after reading all the positive experiences of early walk-ins at the Wilshire ASC, I decided to give it a try today since I had to be in downtown LA anyway.

It couldn't have gone better. I arrived shortly after 2 pm. There was one person in the waiting area and one other person having his biometrics taken. The guard asked if I had an appointment and I said I was hoping to do it earlier. He said, "Oh, I don't think that will be possible, we're so busy today..."--with a smile; it was obviously a joke. He asked me if I had a cell phone on me, and I told him it was off. Then, he took my passport and appointment letter and gave me a form to fill out. After I was done, he stamped my appointment letter and made small talk with me about Thanksgiving. I waited for less than five minutes to be called. While I was waiting, a few other people came in, and the guard was also super nice to all of them, and particularly helpful to a couple of folks who didn't speak English (he was Mexican-American and fluent in Spanish). The man doing the fingerprinting and pictures was very polite and efficient, if not as warm as the guard at the entrance. He said that his computer was being slow and he had to do all of my fingers individually more than once per finger, but that didn't take very long anyway. When I was leaving, I accidentally headed towards the entrance door instead of the exit, but another guard just waved me off and said it didn't matter. I was very impressed with the level of customer service and I'm glad to have gotten biometrics taken care of at a time and place that were convenient to me.

[Eve Ocean 1]

I just did an early walk-in at the ASC on Pico and it took 5 min in total.

She took my letter and ID, told me fill out a form and asked me to sit down. There was nobody else waiting. I sat for 2 seconds and then was called in for the biometrics. I even had time to get lunch afterward

[jane78 12]

Just got back from a successful walk-in biometrics collection at Pico/Fairfax ASC. A couple of days ago I received a notice saying that my biometrics appointment was scheduled for Jan 4, 2013 at the ASC in Syracuse, NY (the closest location to the address on my application). I am currently on vacation in Los Angeles and will not be back in Syracuse on that date, so I thought I'd try to do a walk-in at the Pico/Fairfax location. It's a storefront in a strip mall. I figured the day after Boxing Day would not be too busy and I was right. There were maybe 4 other people there and everyone was getting processed really quickly. The guard did not even look at the location or date on my appointment letter, he just wanted to see that I had one and my ID (passport). I told him "this is a walk-in, is that ok?" and he said "sure". I filled out a form and returned it to him. He stamped and signed my appointment form, gave me a number and directed me to a chair at the front of the room. My number was immediately called by the woman doing the biometrics collection. Fingerprint collection took a while but was fine; signature was collected electronically, photo taken, and then I was told I was free to go with my passport and appointment letter. Very straightforward process.

I'm so glad I found the visajourney forum as without it I would not have even known that it was possible to do a walk-in at a different location and I would have just rescheduled the Syracuse appointment for later, slowing the process down.

Edited December 27, 2012 by jane78