I filed the application form for EAD with the help of our lawyer in the Atlanta office on January 8, 2004. Two months later we got the Notice of Action from Missouri office with two dates - Received Date: January 8, 2004 and Notice Date: March 8, 2004, which was a little bit confusing.

My EAD renewal (at VSC) had been pending for more than 110 days, so I decided to go to the CIS office in Bloomington, MN to get an interim EAD.On Jan 22, 04 the temperature was -10F with the windchill of -30F. I arrived at the CIS office at 7.25 AM. The office was already open. Inside, there were already 50 or so people in the line. The security officer gave me a ticket. After waiting in the line for an hour, I finally reached the security gate and went to the waiting room. It was 8.40 AM.

I got my Interim EAD card based on OPT.

I went to the Bloomington USCIS office (MN) around 4:20 am on Jan 7, 2004. As the weather was cold there were not many people. Somebody made a list and I was the fiteenth person.

Around 6 a.m, we made a line based on the list.

The office opened at 6:30 am.

The officer there started work at 7am. She asked me the reason why I was there and gave me a ticket. I got a ticket and went to another office.

I want to share with you our unbelievable story how we got our interim EAD at Bloomington INS office in Minneapolis, MN

1. We have our EAD renewal pending at VSC since 9/18 and the current one is going to expire end of this month.
2. Our application for EAD renewal was delayed by major distractions, circumstances and poor planning.
3. We had no chance of getting the EAD renewal before the current one expires and we were in difficult situation of loosing the jobs if we dont hv EAD (it is a different story that I save it for another day).

I-765 filed online 09/10/03 (Basis I485 filed on Sep'02 and approved I-140 on Dec'02) Went to BOSTON USCIS office on Dec 9th, 2003 (91st day)Current EAD expires on 12/10/03 (working on EAD)

Timeline:
6:00AM: Arrived and found there are around 20 people ahead of me.

7:00am: Entered building and told that I am there are EAD extension. I was asked for I-765 notice (it is exactly 91st day after filing)and asked me to fill a new I-765 form and got a "E" number.

Wanted to share my experience about issuance of interim EAD at Dallas office. I had filed EB-2 NIW petition and I485/765 concurrently in June. Since I did not hear from USCIS, went to Dallas office on Nov 20 at 8 am; got our number ticket by 9am; hwent in and sat down. The nos dont really go in order, but we got called about 12.45; the officer just wanted receipt notices of I485 and I 765; she called TSC to confirm pendency of the applications and then came back and said she will issue 8 month interim EAD's for my wife and me.

Philadelphia district office EAD Interview scheduled 2.5 months after filing the marriage-based I485 package. People visiting for appointments need not wait in the line. The interview process is only taking a photo, leaving the finger print. the EAD card was printed out right away. The whole process took about 20 minutes, excluding waiting time in the waiting room.

There were approx 25 people in line ahead of us.
Doors opened at 7am. We got our interim EAD's by 10:40am.
All they looked at was the receipt notice and asked us to fill another I-765 form. We had taken a copy .

Nearly everything about interim work permits are anecdotal, and even the USCIS.gov information is vague, but I took my chances yesterday, November 17, 2003, and found out that it is true that one can have same-day processing for I-765 applications which have passed the 90 day waiting time---at least those which have been sent to California service center.

I would like to first thank you for all your support and help to the
community with their immigration matters.

Here is our ( unpleasant experience ) getting my wife's Interim EAD (we applied Sept 23, 03 ) at San Francisco USCIS.
January 09 2004

8:50 am Got to the USCIS office.

got an interim EAD while I was waiting for my EAD to be processed. I filed it online hoping that it will be the same processing. The thing is that if you e-file online, you have to wait for the appoval of your application. In short, it won't do you good if you're in a hurry getting that permit. They give me a 90-day interim EAD because I have a pending I-485 application filed in the San Francisco District Office. I will suggest to go to the office instead of mailing or e-filing it.

I went at 10.15 am with I-140,I-765 and I-485 receipt, they gave me a token and new I-765 application to be filled up and called me at 2.15 pm. They checked the above documents, Passport and took my photo and gave me EAD instantly.There is no need to take separate photos and go.

I went to San Jose (CA) office and got the interim EAD. Following is my experience." I and my wife went to San Jose Office on 20th Nov 2003. This was actually 91st day from my recipt date of both I-485 and I-765. Reached there at 7 O clock and found around 50 people ahead of me in the line. Got in at around 8, got a token. I was called at 9. The officer asked me for the filled out application forms, receipt notices and then asked about my I-140. I told him that my I-140 along with my I-485 and I-765 is pending. He asked me for copy of my I-140 receipt notice.

Just wanted to share me and my wife's experience in at the Memphis Sub-Office on January 5, 2004. The Memphis office is severely backlogged currently in regards to AOS and EAD applications. We filed the I-765 for my wife on September 10th and hadn't heard anything. After corresponding with our congressional representative, we were told to travel to Memphis (a 350 mile trip) on any Monday to receive an interim EAD. We traveled to Memphis on Sunday to be ready first thing in the morning. Sunday night we decided to check out the office and went to the front door.

I had filed for my EAD renewal 3 months before the expiry date (September 16th). While my EAD was approved a little before 90 days, my wife's EAD was not renewed. They requested additional evidence (marraige certificate and I140 approval notice). After USCIS received the evidence and the USCIS website was updated, we went to Memphis on friday, January 2nd, 2004 (the day of the week when interim EADs are issued in Memphis) hoping that they would issue an interim EAD (since it was more than 90 days after the original receipt notice).