Biometrics walk-in...any advantage?

[mg23 1]

I got a letter with my biometrics appointment date, 3 weeks from now. They definitely do permit walk-ins according to other applicants' posts on here. Is there a definitive answer to whether a walk-in will actually speed up any of the immigration stages? We applied for AP/EAD/I-485/I-130. I've seen plenty of people posting that they *think* it hurried along their green card application process, but I've also found people who say the processes simply don't work like that and that even if the biometrics stage is finished early, nothing happens until a certain amount of time after the original appointment. Anyone know the answer?

Even if the advantage is just to get it out of the way for the time being I'll probably still try and do a walk-in at some point in the next week, since the location's not that inconvenient for me. But if people convince me it definitely speeds up the process I'll head down there this afternoon!

[Inky 1,110]

Most places do not allow walk-ins. Some only allow it if you have proof you cannot make it to the time given to you.

The ASC center does not have your case file until the date of your appointment so they cannot match your prints to anything until they get your file on that date. It does not hurry anything along.

[Maria TH 20]

I did the walk-in biometrics, in my opinion, I don't think it has done any "speed up" with my case.

It just gave the good feeling that it might fasten the process..

[mg23 1]

Most places do not allow walk-ins. Some only allow it if you have proof you cannot make it to the time given to you.

The ASC center does not have your case file until the date of your appointment so they cannot match your prints to anything until they get your file on that date. It does not hurry anything along.

I seem to be quite lucky in that my local center does allow impromptu walk-ins, according to anecdotes posted on here. Particularly late afternoons when they're not busy.

Good to know about the actual processes though - thanks for that info. I'll probably pop down there sometime this week or next, and see if I can get it out of the way for now.

[Jelly2011 1]

You know it is just so hard to say. When we started this process for a KI visa I felt this would take forever to get done. I read so many posts and scanned through timelines and the more I read the more I worried. It can't hurt to get it done earlier. Its only basic information and your fingerprints. Probably one of the easiest parts of the process. Why not try to get it done and over with? We filed our 129F on May 2nd of 2011 and we have our EAD/AP already. OUr case has been transfered and in 11 months we have come this far. Its crazy but each case is very different. Can you believe that was with an RFE?? Just keep working at it and good luck. Hope you get answers soon.Shellie

[ceadsearc 516]

It can speed up some things in certain cases. For example, it sped up my husband's EAD. We did the walk in and the EAD was approved hours later. This is generally only the case if they are JUST waiting on your fingerprints to continue, though, such as when your local office is otherwise backed up as ours was.

I have to respectfully disagree with Inky on this as they definitely were able to match up the fingerprints early in our case - our appointment was several weeks later but as I said, the EAD was approved a few hours after the walk-in.

[mg23 1]

It can speed up some things in certain cases. For example, it sped up my husband's EAD. We did the walk in and the EAD was approved hours later. This is generally only the case if they are JUST waiting on your fingerprints to continue, though, such as when your local office is otherwise backed up as ours was.

I have to respectfully disagree with Inky on this as they definitely were able to match up the fingerprints early in our case - our appointment was several weeks later but as I said, the EAD was approved a few hours after the walk-in.

I was going to ask if you guys actually received the card in hand earlier than you would have done had you stuck to your original appointment, but I can see from your timeline you did. Good to know! Thanks for the info

[ceadsearc 516]

I was going to ask if you guys actually received the card in hand earlier than you would have done had you stuck to your original appointment, but I can see from your timeline you did. Good to know! Thanks for the info

Yep, we did! In our case, though, I'm pretty sure it was due to our office being backed up - the EAD takes 2-3 months regardless of when biometrics is, an early walk-in can sometimes just speed it up by a week or two. So if you get your biometrics notice a week or two after filing, it probably won't matter if you do the early walk-in since nothing else will be processed yet. Whereas in our case, and in other cases I've seen where it makes a difference, people have waited several months for biometrics so I presume everything else is probably ready to go and the fingerprinting is just the last thing needed.