What to Expect During a USCIS Biometrics Appointment?

Many USCIS immigration benefits require the collection of biometrics information from the applicant at an USCIS Application Support Center (ASC). The collection of biometrics is a routine part of the application process and in most cases involves taking digital fingerprints, photo and signature.

Which Types of Applications Require Biometrics?

At this time biometrics are generally required for some types of work permits,  applications to change of extend status (I-539), green card applications (I-485) or renewals (I-90), reentry permits (I-131), and U.S. naturalization (N-400).

The Biometrics Appointment Notice

The biometrics appointment notice is usually mailed several weeks after an application which requires the collection of biometrics is submitted with USCIS.    The applicant will receive a biometrics appointment notice in the mail (a copy is also mailed to the attorney of record on the case, if applicable) which would indicate the date, time and place of the biometrics appointment.   USCIS automatically schedules the appointment at the ASC location which is closest to the address of the applicant, as provided on the application.

If the location, date or time are not convenient, the biometrics appointment can be rescheduled or even moved to another day or time.   In some circumstances, it may be possible to complete the biometrics at a different day, time or location.

What Happens During the ASC Biometrics Appointment?

While there are slight variations in procedures among ASCs, normally, an applicant who appears at an ASC for biometrics would check-in with the front officer and be given a waiting number together with a biographic information form to complete and be instructed to wait in the common waiting area.

When the number is called, the Applicant would go to the designated biometrics station where an officer would enter relevant case information into the computer and proceed to take the appropriate  set of biometrics (see below under “Biometrics Notice Codes”).   The actual process of taking the digital fingerprints, photo and signature often takes approximately 5-10 minutes.    The entire biometrics appointment process takes around a total of 30 minutes.

When the biometrics are completed the applicant is normally given a stamped biometrics appointment letter serves as a confirmation that the biometrics have been completed.   We recommend retaining a copy of this stamped completed biometrics notice.

Green card renewal (I-90) applicants are normally given a sticker which is placed on the expiring green card which serves as temporary evidence of green card renewal for up to one year.

What are the Biometrics Notice Codes?

Normally, an ASC Biometrics Notice would contain (in the top right area), a field named “Code.”    The “Code” field is intended to indicate the type of biometrics processing to be performed.  The possible values are:

• Code 1 – fingerprinting only (10 prints);
• Code 2 – biometrics (photo, signature and index finger);
• Code 3 – fingerprints (10 prints) and biometrics (photo, signature and index finger).
• Code 5 – one-hand fingerprints (4 prints on one hand), photo and signature.

USCIS has indicated that the applicable code for each biometrics appointment is determined based on the type of an application and certain relevant case factors.

Can I Reuse or Transfer Biometrics Across Applications?

A question which arises often with respect to some applicants is whether USCIS can reuse biometrics for different types of applications.   Some examples are a reentry permit applicant, who needs to renew his or her green card, or for I-485 adjustment applicant who need to apply for a reentry permit soon after I-485 approval.

The answer is that USCIS normally does not allow reusing of biometrics with certain very narrow exceptions for certain military members.   For all other applicants, USCIS normally requires a separate set of new biometrics to be scheduled and completed as part of each new application or process.

Can Biometrics Be Waived?

Unfortunately, USCIS is very clear that the collection of biometrics cannot be waived with very limited waivers available for certain medical conditions (generally, medical conditions which affect the applicant’s ability to do the biometrics).