Phone hours of USCIS service center

[JM2008 0]

I'm puzzled by the USCIS service center phone hours. They say the phone hours are 8AM to 6PM M-F local time. As I believe they are located in the eastern time zone, to cover Hawaii to New York, this means they must be staffed from 8AM to about 11PM. Yet if you live in Florida, you can't call in the evening and if you live in California, you can't call prior to 8AM. This forces us working folks to cut into our work day to contact the USCIS - even though they are staffed beyond our work hours.

I'm guessing they do this to:

- minimize on the number of calls they receive, as people are less inclined to call during the working day

- they assume that most callers are people calling as part of their work, and they assume most people work from ~8AM to ~6PM.

Does anyone have a clue why they do this?

[GueraKristina 1]

I'm puzzled by the USCIS service center phone hours. They say the phone hours are 8AM to 6PM M-F local time. As I believe they are located in the eastern time zone, to cover Hawaii to New York, this means they must be staffed from 8AM to about 11PM. Yet if you live in Florida, you can't call in the evening and if you live in California, you can't call prior to 8AM. This forces us working folks to cut into our work day to contact the USCIS - even though they are staffed beyond our work hours.

I'm guessing they do this to:

- minimize on the number of calls they receive, as people are less inclined to call during the working day

- they assume that most callers are people calling as part of their work, and they assume most people work from ~8AM to ~6PM.

Does anyone have a clue why they do this?

Couldnt tell you,but then again there are many unsolved mysteries with USCIS. Finally getting to talk to an actual person is 1 of them, 2nd last time i tried to call, i almost strangled the woman through the phone, (thank god they dont have that option for phone carriers because i would have used it then), I called to change my husband and i's address, she was like is your husband there with you? and im like, why do you need to talk to him? i have been doing the papers since this whole process started, i filed teh AOS paperwork, everything on there i put on there, he isnt going to be able to tell you anything that i cant explain better. And she was like 'i understand that, but they are his papers and i need his permission to access them." I was like 'well im 3 hours away at college, and my husband isnt here." and she was like 'well can you two way him?" and im like 'no, neither of our phones have that option.' and shes like 'well, he can always call us after he is done work." I about lost it... "i was like my husband speaks no english, i am the one who handles the paperwork, and i am a full time college student 3 hours away. i do not see my husband except for on weekends when i go home, if i could call you guys on saterday and sunday, i would except you guys arnt open, " and she was like 'well what about friday?" and i was like "My husband works 15 hour days, he has 3 jobs, and no time to call, that is why i am calling!!!! What kind of information do you need me to tell you to let me change this flippin address? social security numbers, birth dates, parents names, what?? just tell me what and ill tell you information to verify that i am his wife" and she was like 'well i dont know wat to tell you ma'am, unfortunaltey, i cant change anything witout his permission." So i called my husband screaming at him (out of frustration i of course apologized later on) that he needed to call these people and straighten this out because this stupid ***** wasnt letting me do it even though i filed all the paperwork, and he was like "why??" and i was like I DONT KNOW, CALL!!!! and he ended up havin to use his boss's phone because he tried using his but the phone call took to long and used up all is phone credit, so he used his boss's phone and called DURING THE JOB, and took an HOUR to straighten everything out. (we had made an unexpected a hurried move from my mothers house and could no longer allow our mail to be sent there for fear of her opening our mail or using our mail to try to corrupt our AOS process) so that was why i was so fital and so NERVE RACKING when this woman wouldnt le me change our, OUR address. PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!!

[NatPatBen 3]

Glad the two of you eventually got it straightened out. Sounds very frustrating.

[Hell0W0rld 10]

I'm puzzled by the USCIS service center phone hours. They say the phone hours are 8AM to 6PM M-F local time. As I believe they are located in the eastern time zone, to cover Hawaii to New York, this means they must be staffed from 8AM to about 11PM. Yet if you live in Florida, you can't call in the evening and if you live in California, you can't call prior to 8AM. This forces us working folks to cut into our work day to contact the USCIS - even though they are staffed beyond our work hours.

I'm guessing they do this to:

- minimize on the number of calls they receive, as people are less inclined to call during the working day

- they assume that most callers are people calling as part of their work, and they assume most people work from ~8AM to ~6PM.

Does anyone have a clue why they do this?

they close at 6:00pm anytime zone.....

Edited April 13, 2009 by HelloWorld08

[Kenza 1]

I suggest calling...I received no hard copy of my noa2 or any email..nothing and I called and they said I had been approved 28 days ago!

[Hell0W0rld 10]

I suggest calling...I received no hard copy of my noa2 or any email..nothing and I called and they said I had been approved 28 days ago!

congrats!