Biometrics Appointment: A Firsthand Account of Fingerprinting at the Atlanta USCIS Field Office (1)
A Firsthand Account of Fingerprinting at the Atlanta USCIS Office
ByAttorney Jeff Zhengquan Xie
As an immigration attorney, I am required to undergo fingerprinting and a background check under the provisions of the new immigration law, due to my involvement in the management of EB-5 immigrant investor programs and regional centers.
I received a biometrics appointment notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on July 31, 2023, instructing me to report to the Application Support Center (ASC) in Atlanta for fingerprinting at 10:00 a.m. on August 8.
The USCIS biometrics collection site in Atlanta is located at 3358B Chamblee Tucker Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, inside a shopping mall at the interchange of Interstate 285 and Interstate 85.
I joined the queue to enter at 9:45 a.m. I then approached a staff member at a small counter, who reviewed my appointment notice and verified my identification documents, before handing me a simple information form to fill out.
After that, I was directed to sit in a U-shaped waiting area and wait for further instructions.
Looking at the large crowd packed inside, a trace of worry crossed my mind: I had a client appointment scheduled at my office at 2 p.m.—would I make it on time?
Once all the seats in the U-shaped waiting area were occupied, the group of people seated along the right side of the U were called over to form another line in a standing area.
At 10:39 a.m., I was called to join a queue, waiting to see another counter staff member.
The staff at this counter verified my documents, filled out the Contractor Processing Form (CPF) in accordance with the biometrics appointment notice, and then assigned me a number. This number served as my queue number for fingerprint collection.
At this moment, I remembered that a colleague of mine should have also received a biometrics appointment notice, but she hadn’t gotten it yet. I asked the staff to check if there was a fingerprinting notice for her in their system.
Subsequently, the staff instructed me to speak with their supervisor. The supervisor’s name was Charles Kong. He could speak a little Chinese, and joked about not knowing which generation descendant of Confucius he was. According to his own introduction, he was one of the supervisors there. He was very friendly and patiently looked up the information for me.
After meeting with Charles Kong, I went to sit in the waiting area for fingerprinting, waiting for my number to be called. It was now 11:45 a.m. I joined those who had made earlier appointments and arrived earlier, sitting in the innermost area to wait for their fingerprint collection.
At this moment, the sign on the wall showed that the number being called was 586. My number was 631.
To be continued
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