I-797C Notice of Action AFTER immigration

[bcking 3,157]

My wife's CR-1/IR-1 was approved in April and she has been in the USA since April 23rd. We've been "waiting for her green card".

 

We received an I-797C "Notice of Action" in the mail asking us to come into the local USCIS office for "biometrics", which she had done already on entry to the country, as well as at the embassy.

 

Anyone get this before? Unfortunately the date of the appointment is also when we are out of town (and on Wednesday). We only got it in the mail yesterday. I'm trying to call them to tell them we can't make it but the voice machine asks for our USCIS receipt number, which isn't included on the form.

[bcking 3,157]

Walk-in at the office? Not sure they would take that. I need to take off work to get her to the office, so would rather have an appointment.

 

Working my way through the automated messages to try to speak to someone. I can resend the notice of action saying "please reschedule" but the appointment is on Wednesday and it says if you are a "no show" then the petition is "considered abandoned". I don't want them to not get the notice by Wednesday and then "abandon" our petition.

[bcking 3,157]

Spoke to someone on the phone who said the system had "conflicting information" about whether she even needs to attend the appointment. One part of the system says she is fine and we are just waiting for a greed card, another part says they need her biometrics, but then he couldn't even see that we had an appointment scheduled. I'm now waiting for a higher up officer to call me back.

 

The incompetence of this system never ceases to amaze me. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

From reading past experiences, no shows are not dealt with that harshly. People go in after the appointment and are seen.  An ASC Is just a few blokes in a shopping center office (in Houston) and not the big USCIS offices. 

 

There is a thread where people list their experiences with early walk-in at various locations. Here's the Houston comments:

 

Houston (Hwy 290 office) - Jan 2012 - gave no reason, only appt letter. Yes (3 times-AOS, ROC, Citizenship)

 

Houston (Hwy 290 office) - June 2016 - Went first thing Monday. Told wouldn't be a problem but to come back in the afternoon (they were really busy). 2nd attempt and was done within 30 minutes. Successful.

 

Houston SW (Sugarland) - No questions. YES

 

Houston SW (Sugarland) - Successful, but they were not happy about doing it early.

[cordoba2015 224]

7 minutes ago, bcking said:

Spoke to someone on the phone who said the system had "conflicting information" about whether she even needs to attend the appointment. One part of the system says she is fine and we are just waiting for a greed card, another part says they need her biometrics, but then he couldn't even see that we had an appointment scheduled. I'm now waiting for a higher up officer to call me back.

 

The incompetence of this system never ceases to amaze me. 

Tell me about it. We got our green card, still waiting on the social security card. Did you guys ever get the SSN? We called and they said to "just give it another week". So incompetent!

[bcking 3,157]

6 minutes ago, cordoba2015 said:

Tell me about it. We got our green card, still waiting on the social security card. Did you guys ever get the SSN? We called and they said to "just give it another week". So incompetent!

No we are waiting for that. We haven't bothered calling yet because when we went in 3 weeks ago it was one of those "Wait up to 6 weeks before calling" because we apparently "weren't in the system".

 

This biometric issue may be why she isn't "in the system", but assuming that USCIS and SSN actually communicating on their own is probably thinking too highly of both of them.

7 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

From reading past experiences, no shows are not dealt with that harshly. People go in after the appointment and are seen.  An ASC Is just a few blokes in a shopping center office (in Houston) and not the big USCIS offices. 

 

There is a thread where people list their experiences with early walk-in at various locations. Here's the Houston comments:

 

Houston (Hwy 290 office) - Jan 2012 - gave no reason, only appt letter. Yes (3 times-AOS, ROC, Citizenship)

 

Houston (Hwy 290 office) - June 2016 - Went first thing Monday. Told wouldn't be a problem but to come back in the afternoon (they were really busy). 2nd attempt and was done within 30 minutes. Successful.

 

Houston SW (Sugarland) - No questions. YES

 

Houston SW (Sugarland) - Successful, but they were not happy about doing it early.

Oh thanks. I tried a search for this issue, but I was searching for I-797C so I got a bunch of stuff about earlier notice of actions. 

 

Since the appointment is literally two days away the only day we could go in "early" would be tomorrow, and I can't take off work tomorrow. So I would still like to be able to inform USCIS by phone that we are missing our original appointment. I realize they may not treat it harshly, but that is how it is written on the notice of action. 

[bcking 3,157]

9 minutes ago, cordoba2015 said:

Tell me about it. We got our green card, still waiting on the social security card. Did you guys ever get the SSN? We called and they said to "just give it another week". So incompetent!

Just noticed your POE is almost 1 month after my wife's and you already got your green card. God this whole system is a total sh** show.

[cordoba2015 224]

1 minute ago, bcking said:

Just noticed your POE is almost 1 month after my wife's and you already got your green card. God this whole system is a total sh** show.

They have monkeys throwing darts to decide who is processed. I never would have thought we would be sitting here a month after POE with no SSN but with the green card.

[bcking 3,157]

Just now, cordoba2015 said:

They have monkeys throwing darts to decide who is processed. I never would have thought we would be sitting here a month after POE with no SSN but with the green card.

I'm sort of glad my wife's industry is still depressed and there aren't jobs. If she had opportunities right now and was just cut off because of this bureacracy junk that would be worse. Though it does stink she is basically sitting at home.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

16 minutes ago, bcking said:

Since the appointment is literally two days away the only day we could go in "early" would be tomorrow, and I can't take off work tomorrow.

Call an Uber driver and send her over there this afternoon for around 2pm. Less busy and more agreeable then. She can pull it off and convince them she needs to be seen.  People are generally nice if you act polite and desperately in need of assistance. 

 

Does her notice have a barcode on it? That's used at the appointment.  Very unusual to get a notice with only two days to act. Usually it's a month. 

[bcking 3,157]

3 minutes ago, Wuozopo said:

Call an Uber driver and send her over there this afternoon for around 2pm. Less busy and more agreeable then. She can pull it off and convince them she needs to be seen.  People are generally nice if you act polite and desperately in need of assistance. 

 

Does her notice have a barcode on it? That's used at the appointment.  Very unusual to get a notice with only two days to act. Usually it's a month. 

We were out of town on the 9th early in the morning so it came in the mail sometime thereafter. We got back last night. We leave again tomorrow night for another 5 days. June is a busy "away" month for us visiting family and friends.

 

You think afternoon is better than morning? Unfortunately I took the notice in with me to work today in order to call so she can't go today. We were going to try to go tomorrow morning at 8:00 am right when they open.

 

I also learned now that she is in the country I can no longer call on her behalf. I tend to have an easier time sorting through these people but oh well. You'd be surprised how many times people can't understand her just because of her accent (Which is RP English)

[bcking 3,157]

9 minutes ago, Dee elle said:

Unfortunately the challenges contine.. sorry to hear.  Certainly no matter what is occurring inside USCIS ,, she needs to have the bios done..   When you go tomorrow, arrive 1 hr before they open in an attempt to be very close to first in line. Take your travel itinerary and boarding passes for the first flight....it may help.. if all this fails, it may be worth considering postoning leaving for 24 hrs... just so you can make rhe scheduled appt and know it is done... cost $$ I know , but....... 

 

 

Suggestion... sign up with USPS for informed delivery.... daily email comes around 8am with a photo of all mail being delivered that  day... very useful... 

The USCIS officer on the phone said we could go in at any time within 90 days after the appointment date and he said to just walk in. When I asked if we can go before the appointment date he was more cagey and said "probably but I can't promise you anything".

 

We are only gone through Sunday so if needed she could go next week. We'll get there early tomorrow to try. I can also try to  leave early today and try this afternoon.

[bcking 3,157]

4 minutes ago, Dee elle said:

Sounds good... the unpredictability of the USCIS system really forces us into a reaction rather than considered response doesnt it.... until its done, there is a real need to know we have attended to everything we could possibly do, no matter how inconvenient it is... just in case it really matters if we wait... 

I waited 7 months to get my GC, husband received his in 5 weeks from POE... go figure... 

We act that way because whenever they do something wrong it is "Ooops, well you can wait more". When we do something wrong it is "You better not mess it up or your application is forfeited".

[Wuozopo 4,293]

2 hours ago, bcking said:

You think afternoon is better than morning? Unfortunately I took the notice in with me to work today in order to call so she can't go today. We were going to try to go tomorrow morning at 8:00 am right when they open.

 

Yes, I do because I think all the appointments tend to be morning or people trying to get the jump by showing up early before they open.  My afternoon walk-ins have found 2-4 people inside and that included the family members who who were only along for the ride and not needing to be served. Whereas a morning attempt found 20 inside waiting. The first time I did a lot of explaining. The next two times, I just handed them the paper and photo ID to get in the door. Then same at the desk, so they could scan the barcode and get on with sending me to the machines. 

 

Whatever suits your schedule really. Next week won't make that much difference. 

 

 

[VeVe 76]

4 hours ago, bcking said:

No we are waiting for that. We haven't bothered calling yet because when we went in 3 weeks ago it was one of those "Wait up to 6 weeks before calling" because we apparently "weren't in the system".

 

This biometric issue may be why she isn't "in the system", but assuming that USCIS and SSN actually communicating on their own is probably thinking too highly of both of them.

Oh thanks. I tried a search for this issue, but I was searching for I-797C so I got a bunch of stuff about earlier notice of actions. 

 

Since the appointment is literally two days away the only day we could go in "early" would be tomorrow, and I can't take off work tomorrow. So I would still like to be able to inform USCIS by phone that we are missing our original appointment. I realize they may not treat it harshly, but that is how it is written on the notice of action. 

When my husband and stepdaughter arrived, she received her social security card but he didn't.  We went to the social security administration.  The officer stated at the POE all of my husbands information was not entered into the system.  The officer at SSA completed the information. My husband received his SS card 2 weeks later. They both received their green cards a week after that.