Walk-in fingerprinting in Austin. Is it doable?

[Sue86 0]

Hi Guys,

I was just wondering if anybody knows if I could do a walk-in for my biometrics in Austin? Has anyone tried it on here?

I've read in some posts that ASCs are less busy on Wednesdays and Fridays, and it is therefore better to try it on those days. Is that true?

Thanks.

[jkelly07 120]

yes ,in the mid week is a good time,when there not to busy,i'm not sure about austin, but most of the ASC CENTERS are the same, some won't let you do walk in,s give it a try bring all your ID,S appointment letter, green card, state driver license, photo ID.

[NickD 203]

Still can't believe the kindness of the Milwaukee Field Office when my stepdaughter during the ROC stage was scheduled a week later than my wife. She did have her appointment letter, made her and my wife go to the end of the line and wait until the office was cleared. Was an extra two hour wait, but still was far better than making an extra 450 mile round trip.

This was in March when it very difficult to get a clear road from snow, if its not snowing here, snowing down there. They were understanding and nice about it, but the bottom line is, you don't know until you try. Would have been nicer if they let her join her mom in that line, whole procedure only takes about two minutes, but that would be asking for way too much.

[TBoneTX 45,498]

Austin was very accommodating to a buddy's wife, very recently. Her letter said to report to San Antonio, but she was going to school in Austin and had exams that week. She appeared, explained, was let in, was processed quickly, and left satisfied, si man.

If you have a plausible explanation, there's no reason why you shouldn't be let in, no man.

[Sue86 0]

I just wanted to let you guys know (in case someone wants to do the same in the future) that I just came back from my walk-in bio (it's Wednesday) and they didn't even ask for a reason. I just showed them the appointment letter and asked if I could do a walk-in then they said "sure". There were no people waiting in there and I was out in 10 minutes. Everybody was EXTREMELY courteous and friendly in this Austin ASC. I don't know if it's always like this but today I certainly had a great experience with them!

It took some time to find the building since the GPS couldn't recognize the address. It's in the same mall as the Bed, Bath and Beyond (right next to it), near the Home Depot. When you can see the Home Depot, you are there.

[TBoneTX 45,498]

This is helpful, and congratulations, si man!

[liberal 0]

Yeah it worth a try. I did mine today walk-in at Charleston, WV, and I was done in 15 minutes.

[sharky 2]

I just wanted to let you guys know (in case someone wants to do the same in the future) that I just came back from my walk-in bio (it's Wednesday) and they didn't even ask for a reason. I just showed them the appointment letter and asked if I could do a walk-in then they said "sure". There were no people waiting in there and I was out in 10 minutes. Everybody was EXTREMELY courteous and friendly in this Austin ASC. I don't know if it's always like this but today I certainly had a great experience with them!

It took some time to find the building since the GPS couldn't recognize the address. It's in the same mall as the Bed, Bath and Beyond (right next to it), near the Home Depot. When you can see the Home Depot, you are there.

any reason WHY you would want to do an early walk in biometrics? That could come back to bite you in the butt later on....

Edited November 26, 2011 by sharky

[Sue86 0]

any reason WHY you would want to do an early walk in biometrics? That could come back to bite you in the butt later on....

My reason was that my husband who is my only adult relative here will be gone for his military training/school when my original appointment is. I’ve suffered a major car accident at another driver’s fault and since then, this has been my first time to drive to a big city (because we don’t live in Austin). Now I feel a lot more confident that I could go there with him after what had happened and my husband was there to emotionally support me while I was driving. It helped me a lot. Also, this way we didn’t need to get daycare for our child for that day. Is that reason good enough?

I don’t know how this could backfire since they didn’t even ask anything in the ASC. They don’t care when your appointment is. Do you know of cases when walk-ins have caused issues? If it had been such a big deal, they could have said “no”, right? I wish I had known this last year when we were removing conditions because I was assigned to an ASC out of state instead of my local one because of my mailing address and instead of doing a walk-in, I went to that ASC, which was a 12-hour drive back and forth...I had no idea about walk-ins at the time.

If this could cause problems, I am sure they would not let you do it but they were more than happy to do it since there was nobody there (I didn’t hold up anybody) and they would have had to do it at some point anyway. I did not intend to cut in front of anybody. I would like to know the possible consequences you have mentioned. Please support your answer with facts.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Sue86

[TBoneTX 45,498]

That could come back to bite you in the butt later on....

To the contrary -- if your file has to be pulled out of its regular order in the stack so that your biometric information can be entered, someone might decide to go ahead and process it "early." That may have happened to a January 2011 ROC filer, if I remember correctly. Edited November 29, 2011 by TBoneTX

[sharky 2]

To the contrary -- if your file has to be pulled out of its regular order in the stack so that your biometric information can be entered, someone might decide to go ahead and process it "early." That may have happened to a January 2011 ROC filer, if I remember correctly.

and what I am saying is that processing your N400 too quickly i.e. getting your N400 interview BEFORE your 3 or 5 yr anniversary has actually passed can be MORE disadvantageous to the applicant.

Research here on the forums, many people think "hey I'm gonna speed things along; apply at exactly or even a few days prior to the 90 day before you file date, and secondly do walk in biometrics because it's quicker".... and what happens to them?

they end up getting the IO at their N400 interview telling them "can't approve your case at the moment" because their anniversary hadn't passed and then their case gets placed on another HUGE pile with other applicants that did the same thing. Many people on here recommend waiting at least 2 weeks before sending in the original application, you want to time it so your interview is just PAST your anniversary date.

Of course all field offices process cases at different speeds so this doesn't apply to everyone.

I think there really needs to be some notes on this subject in the VJ guidelines, it would really help some applicants!

[TBoneTX 45,498]

processing your N400 too quickly i.e. getting your N400 interview BEFORE your 3 or 5 yr anniversary has actually passed can be MORE disadvantageous to the applicant. [...]

Aha -- good to know, si man.