i751 Biometrics Appointment for AOS coming up - I'm in a different country

[ImminentImmigrant 1]

Hi,

I have held a provisional k3 visa for two years (staying in Houston, Texas), and need to get it adjusted to a ten year visa. I submitted the i751 and got a notice for Biometrics. However, I'm in India for a few months to wrap up some family matters and since Mumbai (the city I'm in) and New Delhi have US Embassies (new Delhi is also a USCIS field office) I was hoping I could do it here.

The New Delhi office claimed they could not (over the phone) and suggested I speak to USCIS. I called up USCIS Customer Care and they said it was entirely up to the field office, and suggested I request a rescheduling, and attach a letter explaining that I wanted to be rescheduled to a Field Office in India. I did just that. Three weeks later get an appointment with another date, but in the exact same USCIS center, which is making me suspect they didn't even read my request letter and a computer assigned me the date.

I would really like to avoid spending over a thousand dollars to fly back just for the biometrics, but have no idea what else I can do. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

PS: The i751 instructions clearly state that the biometrics can be taken in another city. When I told this to USCIS customer care, they just shrugged it off and said its up to their discretion. Have attached the rule from the i751 instructions here .

Thanks!

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

If you are talking about having a 2 year conditional green card, then you are not adjusting status(AOS), you are removing conditions(ROC), which uses form I-751. You would have adjusted status after entering the US with the K-3 in order to receive the 2 year green card.

I am not aware of being able to do your biometrics outside the US. The USCIS assigns the local office based upon your permanent residence address in the US. If the USCIS is refusing to allow you to do the biometrics while out of the country, then there is not really anything you can do besides trying to reschedule the biometrics for when you are back in the US, or return early. They do not have to accommodate you.

You could have filed for ROC anytime within the 90 days before your green card expired, so perhaps you should have timed out your trip and filing date so you would not have been outside the US when you needed to attend the bio appointment.

~ Moved from AOS from Family Based Visas to Removing Conditions - topic is filing ROC, not AOS ~

[Unlockable 7,314]

Best to make arrangements to come to the US for your biometrics. It is an important step in the process and you don't want to risk your GC renewal by missing it.

The biometrics can be taken in other US cities, not countries. Yes, it is unfortunate that you have to spend lots of money to travel but that is the risk when being out of the US for extended periods of time. Anything can come up during the immigration process.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

I agree with above posters. You can try and reschedule again but sometimes won't go in your favor. So it would be easier just to fly in and do biometrics and fly back out.

[ImminentImmigrant 1]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
This is my confusion: The USCIS i751 Instructions clearly state that Biometrics can take place overseas. I am quoting from their page (also added as an attachment)

If an appointment is necessary, the notice will provide you the location of your local or designated USCIC Application Support Center (ASC) and the date and time of your appointment or, if you are currently overseas, instruct you to contact a U.S. Embassy, U.S. Consulate, or USCIS office outside the United States to set up an appointment.

Is there any way I could them to give me an explanation of why the above paragraph isn't working for me? Do I have a route other than calling the regular USCIS Customer Care?

Thanks for your help and advice.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Quite Confused

[squareleg 69]

Travel back to US for appointment. No reason to be confused.

[arken 4,197]

In US one can go to any ASC for fingerprinting as long as that center allows you in regardless of what date or what center the biometrics notice says. Its up to the descrition of ASC you want to go to. So you wanna make an info pass appointment or just walk in to the New Delhi USCIS location and explain to them and tell them you want to do the fingerprinting over there. It's worth trying that before making a trip to US just for fingerprinting. If they let you do that, you are good. If not, you have to make a tripto US i guess.

[bkghosh 121]

PS: The i751 instructions clearly state that the biometrics can be taken in another city. When I told this to USCIS customer care, they just shrugged it off and said its up to their discretion. Have attached the rule from the i751 instructions here .

I was under the impression that I-751 (ROC) biometrics can only be done in USA. But looks like if you are overseas (India) you can request that the biometrics be done in an ASC in India. There are 5 locations in India - Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and New Delhi. You will need to make an appointment for the location that is convenient to you.