It happens. You have the date for your biometrics appointment marked on the calendar, but something stops you from going on the day of. What to do? There are a few things you can try to remedy the situation.
Visit Your Biometrics Center Anyway
The most immediate thing to try is to visit your biometrics center as soon as possible, even if you have missed the appointment. While this doesn’t always work, some centers do accept late walk-ins on occasion. If successful, you can save yourself potentially months of stress. With recent changes to rescheduling policy, it’s not clear if all centers are now asked to turn down walk-in applicants. However, we still think this is worth a try. The worst the centers can do is say “no.”
Bring your biometrics appointment notice and all required documents. If the appointment notice asks you to fill out a short questionnaire, do that. If the center accepts your walk-in, be sure to have the biometrics appointment notice stamped with the date of the appointment. USCIS is not always consistent with internal records and communications. In case some part of USCIS still thinks you missed your biometrics appointment, this stamped appointment notice proves that you have not abandoned your application.
Reschedule Your Appointment
If walk-in didn’t work for you, you must reschedule the missed appointment. You can do so by either calling USCIS at 800-375-5283 or via your myUSCIS account. If calling, be prepared to provide your case’s receipt number and your own information to verify your identity. You may be asked to supply a reason for missing your appointment.
New USCIS Policy on Rescheduling Biometrics
USCIS issued a policy alert regarding biometrics scheduling in July 2023. With it, the updated Policy Manual states that “agencies have some latitude to relax procedural rules adopted for the orderly transaction of business if justice so requires under the circumstances.” Put simply, USCIS has some discretion to determine whether an applicant has abandoned their application by missing biometrics appointment, and whether a rescheduling request should be granted.
Factors affecting the decision include:
- The length of time between the missed appointment and the reschedule request;
- Whether the benefit requestor has a sufficient reason for failing to appear; and
- Whether a denial would cause undue hardship or expense.
Reading these rules, applicant who missed their appointment should try to reschedule as soon as possible and present convincing reasons for missing their appointment.
No matter the situation, be sure to make the reschedule request, because not doing so can result in abandonment of your application. Before this recent policy change, USCIS typically allows one biometrics rescheduling as a courtesy. It’s not clear yet whether that’s changed, but it is a good practice to minimize need for rescheduling biometrics appointment.
Conclusion
We hope this is helpful. If you have more questions about rescheduling your biometrics appointment or have other questions about your immigration case, contact us.