Pittsburgh AOS Interview experiences

[rebeccajo 14]

cheeky_wolf is right about staying overnite.

We stayed at a hotel a few blocks away from the office. They had a shuttle that took us over there for our interview AND picked us up. It was worth every dime of the $150 we paid for the room to not fight the traffic.

To be honest I probably cannot afford to pay $150 for a hotel room eventhough it does sound like a good idea. Both my wife and I are in graduate school and I am the only one who has a job (teaching assistantship) and we barely manage with our expenses. I will try to see if I can find a hotel cheaper than that and if not, I am thinking about leaving morgantown, WV at 5:00am (1.5 hour drive) and this should put me up there by 6:30am without traffic.

wish me luck

That would work. Lord knows there are plenty of coffee shops to hang out in.

What time is your appointment? If it's later in the day you could also miss rush-hour by driving in between about 11 am and 3 pm.

I drove STRAIGHT into the heart of Pittsburgh once by arriving about 2 in the afternoon. The traffic was definately manageable.

[hanster 0]

cheeky_wolf is right about staying overnite.

We stayed at a hotel a few blocks away from the office. They had a shuttle that took us over there for our interview AND picked us up. It was worth every dime of the $150 we paid for the room to not fight the traffic.

To be honest I probably cannot afford to pay $150 for a hotel room eventhough it does sound like a good idea. Both my wife and I are in graduate school and I am the only one who has a job (teaching assistantship) and we barely manage with our expenses. I will try to see if I can find a hotel cheaper than that and if not, I am thinking about leaving morgantown, WV at 5:00am (1.5 hour drive) and this should put me up there by 6:30am without traffic.

wish me luck

That would work. Lord knows there are plenty of coffee shops to hang out in.

What time is your appointment? If it's later in the day you could also miss rush-hour by driving in between about 11 am and 3 pm.

I drove STRAIGHT into the heart of Pittsburgh once by arriving about 2 in the afternoon. The traffic was definately manageable.

Sadly my interview is at 8:00am so I am gonna hit rush hour at its peak that's for sure. hopefully I manage to avoid it if I leave really early in the morning, as early as 5:00am. I can just imagine how my picture will look after getting up that early in the morning. Like i said earlier that i am getting my masters so basically still in college and usually do not wake up in the morning untill 7:30 or 8:00 to see her off before she goes to her classes.

and also, my 5 o'clock shadow will defenetly start at 5 o'clock that day. lol

[rebeccajo 14]

LOL...eh you'll be fine!!!

My husband's hair was a matted mess cause he had a 'bennie hat' on that day - it had been raining!

I don't know why they can't use the pics you send with the petition!

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

It rained on the day of mine too! But the wait was long enough for my hair to dry off!

There are some Super 8 motels in the area which are around $60 a night if that's any better for you. I'd recommend the one in Harmarville, as it's one straight road into downtown.

Unfortunately, the road you'll probably come in from is known for rush hour accidents. I was down there at 9am this morning and they had 1 lane closed for falling rocks. The traffic was horrendous!

Saying that, you're leaving yourself plenty of time so you should be good to go. I would say, if you do arrive early, try to avoid parking in the lots until nearer your interview time or you could be faced with a nasty huge charge.

Edited January 12, 2007 by cheeky^Wolf

[hanster 0]

It rained on the day of mine too! But the wait was long enough for my hair to dry off!

There are some Super 8 motels in the area which are around $60 a night if that's any better for you. I'd recommend the one in Harmarville, as it's one straight road into downtown.

Unfortunately, the road you'll probably come in from is known for rush hour accidents. I was down there at 9am this morning and they had 1 lane closed for falling rocks. The traffic was horrendous!

Saying that, you're leaving yourself plenty of time so you should be good to go. I would say, if you do arrive early, try to avoid parking in the lots until nearer your interview time or you could be faced with a nasty huge charge.

I have a friend of mine that lives just outside pittsburgh in carnegie. I might actually try to stay with him because i just mapquested it from his house to the USCIS office in downtown and it said 9 minutes, so eventhough i would still have to go through the tunnel, but it is soo close to be fine with traffic

[rob&ana 0]

Hi!

Well, that is a great idea, and I reccommend it highly. Carnegie is pretty close, but the Parkway is always jammed. SO eventhough you stay there. I'd be hittting the road around 7, to get into town.

Good luck!!

It rained on the day of mine too! But the wait was long enough for my hair to dry off!

There are some Super 8 motels in the area which are around $60 a night if that's any better for you. I'd recommend the one in Harmarville, as it's one straight road into downtown.

Unfortunately, the road you'll probably come in from is known for rush hour accidents. I was down there at 9am this morning and they had 1 lane closed for falling rocks. The traffic was horrendous!

Saying that, you're leaving yourself plenty of time so you should be good to go. I would say, if you do arrive early, try to avoid parking in the lots until nearer your interview time or you could be faced with a nasty huge charge.

I have a friend of mine that lives just outside pittsburgh in carnegie. I might actually try to stay with him because i just mapquested it from his house to the USCIS office in downtown and it said 9 minutes, so eventhough i would still have to go through the tunnel, but it is soo close to be fine with traffic

[marimar22 0]

I live in Indiana,PA 45 minutes from Pittsbrugh, I just sent my documents for AOS, and waiting a reply from USCIS, I also, had my vaccination suplemenst in Pitt and was expensive, 3 vaccines for 200 including the form, sealed and signed by the doctor.

I guess Im going to have my interview in Pittsburgh. Will let you know my experiance when be my turn. Good luck to everybody!!

Samira

[hanster 0]

I live in Indiana,PA 45 minutes from Pittsbrugh, I just sent my documents for AOS, and waiting a reply from USCIS, I also, had my vaccination suplemenst in Pitt and was expensive, 3 vaccines for 200 including the form, sealed and signed by the doctor.

I guess Im going to have my interview in Pittsburgh. Will let you know my experiance when be my turn. Good luck to everybody!!

Samira

Samira,

Be happy that your medical only cost you $200, that is really very very cheap. I did my medical in morgantown and it cost me $399 including the physical and a chicken pox vaccine, and the bad thing about it is that they refused to bill my insurance company and said i can do it on my own if i want to, and when i filed the paperwork with my insurance they would not pay it because i did not get a referral from a doctor in my local area (morgantown), to make a story short, i had to pay it myself.

[hanster 0]

Guys,

Today I had the day off and my wife had to study all day so I decided to venture to pittsburgh and see how bad the drive was gonna be and it really wasn't bad at all. I made it to the tunnel in an hour and twenty minutes (little bit of traffic) and then 10 minutes to find my way around to "Penn Ave", so I decided that I am not gonna stay at my friend's house but drive up to my interview on wednesday from morgantown.

btw, i ahdn't been to downtown pittsburgh for 5 years now, so today when i went through the tunnel and saw the high-rises, i was fascinated and said to myself "this is majestic" LOL. it is funny, but i have been to so many big cities in the U.S. before and seen many skyscrapers, and have been seen downtown pitt twice before, but i still get amazed every time i see the skyscrapers. I felt like a little kid with the big smile on my face.

btw, for people going to USCIS in pittsburgh, i saw 3 parking garages on Penn Ave. so if u get there early, you be able to find a place to park.