Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

You can now reschedule a biometric service appointment through a new self-service tool with an online USCIS account. The rescheduling tool eliminates the need to call the USCIS Contact Center, which has been known to be a tedious procedure with long wait times. This comes as a result from Executive Order 14058, Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government Mandates. 

This new tool can be used for both paper and electronically filed benefit requests. An individual in need of a biometric service appointment changed would need to first create a USCIS online account. USCIS provides instructions to do so here: https://www.uscis.gov/file-online/how-to-create-a-uscis-online-account. Then, one visits my.uscis.gov before the appointment date scheduled by USCIS. After following the Biometric Rescheduling steps, a printed new appointment notice must be brought to the Application Support Center (ASC) alongside a valid, unexpired photo identification document, and all ASC appointment notices (if the applicant has more than one). Appointment notices must be a physical printed copy. The ASC will not accept electronic copies of notices.

There may be instances when rescheduling a biometric appointment would need to be done through calling the USCIS Contact Center. Such as the following:

• Requesting within 12 hours of the existing appointment time;
• Third attempt to reschedule the same appointment;
• Rescheduling request is for a missed appointment; or
• Unavailability of the rescheduling tool due to technical reasons.

“Good Causes” for rescheduling include, but are not limited to:

• Illness, medical appointment, or hospitalization;
• Previously planned travel;
• Significant life events like a wedding, funeral, or graduation ceremony;
• Inability to secure transportation to the appointment location;
• Inability to leave from employment or caregiver responsibilities; and
• Biometric service appointment notice delivered late or undelivered.