It’s the week before 4th July, and we have exciting plans. Given that my wife’s birthday is on the 6th, we’re making a long weekend of it by heading north, then west, then back south a little, taking in three places I have never been, including the Mississippi headwaters and a train car B&B.
To add to the excitement, I had an update from USCIS – it was time to go for my second round of biometrics! As a reminder, this very boring process is a necessary but unexciting way of saying I need my fingerprints taken, but it means another step along the way to getting my green card renewal, so happy days!
I scanned the document and found the appointment date: July 5th
Oh.
We were left with the strong possibility that our plans would have to change dramatically to accommodate, which was more than a little frustrating. USCIS does offer the option of requesting a new appointment, but that can take up to eight weeks and is only really recommended if you physically cannot get to the original date, which we certainly could (if we changed our plans.)
Also, we’d waited this long, was it worth the risk of further delays? We decided not.
The final option was to try and get a walk-in appointment at the application center. This isn’t an official process, but some places will let you turn up on the day and be seen if it is quiet.
I logged on to the magnificent visajourney.com – the online bible of visa applicants – and saw a wide range of mixed reviews on doing this, both nationwide and in St Paul specifically.
Some people were seen with no problem, others turned away, some actually experienced both at the same place on different occasions. One person even said St Paul had a sign up saying no entry without an appointment for that day, which was disheartening.
But it was the only other viable option, so at lunchtime I trundled up to the Cities to try my luck; after all, it’s only a three hour round trip, so it was worth a shot.
As I pulled into the parking lot it looked only around 1/3 full. That seemed like a positive. It is also next to a Vietnamese restaurant, so maybe some of the cars were for there, too?
I only needed my letter and one form of ID, but I also took my green card, passport, driver’s license and residency extension letter (better to be over-prepared), and I ran over in my head, for the umpteenth time, exactly what I was going to say when I went inside.
I checked the door for signs telling me that I specifically shouldn’t be there, and there were none, so I walked in and towards the desk and noticed… there was nobody there.
Literally nobody there.
I don’t mean staff, there was a USCIS officer at the front desk, but the waiting room was deserted.
I said to him that I actually had an appointment for next week, but I was planning on being away, and was there any chance I could have a walk-in.
He just took my letter and card and said “Yeah, sure!”, gave me a number, looked over his shoulder and followed up with “you can probably just go straight through, room number 2.”
I thanked him profusely and walked straight back to go through the lengthy process of having my biometrics taken. I will detail the full process of what I was asked, here:
“How tall are you?”
“Weight?”
“What color are your eyes?”
“Look into this camera.”
“Stand up please and give me your hand.”
“You’re done.”
I had one set of prints taken of my right hand and that was it, I was done. I think I was barely in the building five minutes.
So another step is checked off of the list and we await further news on my application. Plus, I still get to see the origin of the mighty Mississippi. The journey continues…
