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| Phoenix AZ |  Review on February 17, 2015: |
Ally86
Rating:  | Review Topic: Other Experience
Right now we're still waiting for the EAD and AOS to be approved, but have had the biometrics appointment.
Outside there was a collection of people hanging around with miniature US flags, near a pasted-on replica of the Statue of Liberty. Nice touch for a government office, that you wonder how they had the funding approved as it's pretty non-essential; but I guess it's in their financial interest to garner further applications by maintaining a positive image.
When we went inside, it was a spaced-out room which looks very much like airport security areas, albeit with older looking equipment and only a handful of guards working the line. We were told we cannot have any mobile phones in our bag and that my wife would have to take them back to 'our vehicle'.
Our vehicle was a cab, which had already left, with no intention of remaining available as a storage unit, so that idea was out. Instead, my wife simply had to wait outside until I was finished.
Overall it probably took an hour. A middle-aged security guard asked me if I was from the UK or Ireland and made small talk about his Irish niece, which helped calm my nerves a bit. He asked if I knew where to go, what kind of appointment was I here for, and directed me to a glass room across the way.
Inside this enclosure was a waiting room, a large TV tuned to CNN (cable TV is also a non-essential expenditure for which you wonder how they got approved for funding) with the sound down, and a very cheerful receptionist. Occasionally the staff would come out of the back office to wave people's ticket numbers through and chat with the front staff. All seems very cosy.
I was seen by a German lady who naturally, must have been in these shoes once herself as a former immigrant. She was very professional, courteous and friendly, and sanitized the fingerprint reader before and after putting my prints onto it. A nice touch that you won't see happening in CBP lanes at peak time at LAX!
The guy on the desk waved goodbye and said 'thank you', as he had to everybody else. Extremely courteous and pleasant experience, once you got past the body scanners, and highly unusual for a US government official building. A total galaxy away from the drab, dreary and depressing monolithic dread that is the Social Security office.
On the way out, a gentleman in a suit was holding up what looked like it simply must be a Certificate of Naturalization in one hand, and another of those miniature American flags in the other. A good day for him, that I look forward to living myself when it's my time, in about three years from now.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #16238