ASC closed on day of biometrics appointment

[NY_IZMIR 1]

Hi everyone,

my wife was scheduled for her biometrics on Feb 26th in brooklyn, ny. The day prior to it and on the day of, we got about a foot of snow, and public schools were closed (they are rarely closed for snow related reasons) I called USCIS on the day of to see if that particular office was closed and they said no. Others in New Jersey were but no such closings in NY. The uscis rep directed me to a section of their website showing "real time closing info" and said i should check before leaving the house. Anyway long story short, we checked until my wife left, and there was no indication it'd be closed. She took a risk trying to get there and when she did, it was obviously closed. We were pissed off obviously.

Called USCIS again and they said, if the office is closed for any reason, that they would automatically reschedule any appointments. It's now been 3 weeks and we still dont' have an appointment letter (the original one was sent to us about 10 days after filing the 751.

I called USCIS again this week and they said they can't give us any more details, and that I should write to the ASC. Since ASC's don't have phone numbers, is that my only choice?

I hate to have our case considered abondoned because of a mistake on USCIS' part.

On the meantime, I got "touches" for our I-485 application this week, no touches on the 751

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I can appreciate your frustration! The call center line is actually nicknamed the 'Mis-information Line' and the advice you receive there is not reliable. I have also noticed that the 'real-time' Office closing section of the website is also inaccurate. It will post if an office is closed for a predictable, known in advance reason but doesn't seem to post if the office closes unexpectedly - like for snow. I suspect someone needs to be in the office to post the closure and if no one makes it in, then there is no 'real-time' closure listed.

Regardless, you will not be considered to have abandoned the process because they were closed when your wife went to do her biometrics. You have two choices: you can wait until they get around to rescheduling her - I had to reschedule once and it was about a month after the notification that I received the new appointment notice - or she could go and try a walk-in visit.

To do a walk in she should go to the ASC, bring along the appointment letter and the necessary documents, and ask if she can do her biometrics now since the facility was closed on the date of the actual appointment. Many facilities will allow unscheduled biometrics to take place if there is a reason the person can't make their appointment. You have one of the best reasons that there is so hopefully they will allow her to do a walk-in for her biometrics. If they say no, then try and see if the guards have any idea of when the snow-cancelled appointments are being rescheduled. You were not the only ones affected so I am sure they have a number of applicants they need to reschedule.

Touches on past applications appear to be common when being processed for the I-751. I had the same thing happen so I doubt it is significant.

Good luck.