Immigration Biometrics Appointment: What to Bring, Fees, and Travel

A USCIS biometrics appointment is a short visit to an Application Support Center (ASC) where a technician collects your fingerprints, photograph, and digital signature so USCIS can run an FBI background check on your immigration case. USCIS schedules the appointment automatically after you file certain applications and mails you a notice (Form I-797C) with the date, time, and location. The visit usually takes under 30 minutes. Bring your appointment notice and a valid photo ID, arrive about 15 minutes early, and don’t skip it: missing the appointment without rescheduling can get your underlying application denied for abandonment.

What to Bring

Two things: your appointment notice and a valid photo ID.

The appointment notice is Form I-797C, which USCIS mails after accepting your application. You can’t download it or create it yourself. It carries a receipt number and barcodes the technician scans to pull up your case, so don’t leave it at home. If USCIS sent you more than one biometrics notice for different pending applications, bring all of them.¹

For photo ID, USCIS accepts a passport, driver’s license, green card, or national identification card from your home country. The ID must be current and unexpired.² If the name on your ID doesn’t match the name on your appointment notice, bring documentation bridging the gap, such as a marriage certificate or a court-issued name change order.

What Happens During the Appointment

The technician collects three things: fingerprints, a photograph, and an electronic signature. USCIS has broad authority under federal regulation to require biometrics from anyone seeking an immigration benefit.³

Fingerprints are taken digitally from all ten fingers. The technician rolls each finger on a glass scanner and checks image quality on screen. If a scan is blurry or incomplete, they’ll retake it until it meets FBI processing standards. The prints are transmitted electronically for a search against federal law enforcement databases, including criminal history records and prior immigration violations.⁴

Your photograph is taken at the same workstation. This image is used for facial recognition checks and printed on documents like employment authorization cards and green cards. Remove glasses for the photo unless you wear them for a documented medical or religious reason; headwear follows the same rule. You’ll also sign a digital pad, which serves as your attestation that the information in your underlying application is true and correct.

No interview happens at this appointment. Nobody asks about your case or the merits of your application. The visit is entirely about collecting data for identity verification and background screening.

What to Expect at the Application Support Center

Plan to arrive about 15 minutes before your scheduled time. You’ll pass through security when you enter, including a metal detector and a bag scan. Firearms, knives, pepper spray, and ammunition are prohibited inside USCIS facilities, so leave those in your car or at home.⁵ Cell phone rules vary by location. Some ASCs let you keep your phone if it’s silenced; others ask you to store it. No photography or recording is allowed inside any USCIS office.⁶

After security, check in at the reception desk. Staff verify your appointment notice and ID and give you a numbered ticket. You wait in a seating area until your number is called or shown on a screen, then move to a workstation for the fingerprinting, photo, and signature in quick succession.

When everything is captured, the technician stamps your original Form I-797C. Keep that stamped notice with your records. It’s your proof that you appeared and completed the biometrics requirement, which matters if there’s ever a dispute about whether you complied.

Can You Show Up Early or Walk In?

Yes. Federal regulation explicitly allows you to appear before your scheduled date and time.³ In practice, most ASCs accept walk-ins on a space-available basis. If you have a scheduling conflict, try showing up before your appointment date. The center may process you if they’re not at capacity, though there’s no guarantee. Appearing early is always safer than needing to formally reschedule.

Rescheduling or Missing Your Appointment

If you can’t make your date, reschedule before the appointment time and give a reason for the change. USCIS accepts reschedule requests through two channels: your myUSCIS online account or the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283.¹ Requests by mail or in person at a USCIS office are not accepted.²

Online rescheduling must be submitted at least 12 hours before your appointment time. Inside that 12-hour window, or after you’ve already missed the appointment, you must call the Contact Center.¹ Once USCIS approves the reschedule, a new Form I-797C with the updated date, time, and location arrives in the mail.

This is where people get into real trouble. If you don’t show up and haven’t rescheduled, USCIS can treat your underlying application as abandoned and deny it. An abandoned application also loses its priority date, meaning you can’t apply that date to a future filing.² For applicants in employment-based categories who waited years for a priority date to become current, that consequence is severe.

USCIS has limited discretion to excuse a late request if your case is still pending. The agency weighs how long it’s been since the missed appointment, why you didn’t show up, and whether denying the application would cause undue hardship. Banking on that discretion is a gamble. Reschedule before your appointment time, or show up early if you can.

Fees

As of April 1, 2024, USCIS eliminated the standalone $85 biometric services fee for most applications. The cost is rolled into the filing fee you pay when you submit your application, so you won’t see a separate biometrics charge on most forms.⁷

Two exceptions still carry a separate $30 biometric services fee: Temporary Protected Status applications and filings handled for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (such as cancellation of removal applications). The $30 is paid when you submit the application, not at the ASC. Cash is never accepted for any USCIS fee.⁸

Travel Before Your Appointment

Previously planned travel is explicitly recognized by USCIS as good cause for rescheduling, so you won’t be penalized for it as long as you request the reschedule before your appointment date.²

The bigger risk with travel isn’t the biometrics appointment itself; it’s the underlying case. If you’re adjusting status through Form I-485, leaving the country without advance parole (Form I-131) can be treated as abandoning the adjustment application, regardless of your biometrics. Make sure your travel documents are in order before booking any trip while an application is pending.

Disability Accommodations and Fingerprint Waivers

If a disability makes it difficult or impossible to travel to an ASC, USCIS can send a technician to your home or medical facility. Request the accommodation online at uscis.gov/accommodations or by calling the Contact Center. USCIS recommends requesting it as soon as you receive your appointment notice so there’s time to arrange the visit.⁹

Some applicants physically cannot provide fingerprints because of skin disorders, birth defects, or certain physical deformities. A USCIS officer may grant a fingerprint waiver, but only after meeting you in person and attempting to capture the prints first. If the officer determines you genuinely cannot provide even a single legible print, the waiver may be granted. A waiver won’t be issued simply because you have fewer than ten fingers, the prints came back unclassifiable, or the condition preventing capture is temporary.¹⁰

If you receive a fingerprint waiver for a naturalization case, bring local police clearance letters covering your required period of good moral character to your naturalization interview. The officer will also take a sworn statement from you about your moral character. A denial of a fingerprint waiver is final and cannot be appealed.¹⁰

A Note for Asylum Applicants

If you filed Form I-589 (Application for Asylum and Withholding of Removal), the missed-appointment rules work differently. Failing to appear does not automatically trigger an abandonment denial the way it does for other applications. Instead, USCIS may dismiss the application if you have lawful status or parole, or refer it to an immigration judge if you don’t.² The consequences are still serious; the process differs from the standard abandonment track.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Preparing for Your Biometric Services Appointment
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part C Chapter 2 – Biometrics Collection
3
eCFR. 8 CFR 103.2
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part C Chapter 1
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Application Support Centers
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part A Chapter 8 – Conduct in USCIS Facilities
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Frequently Asked Questions on the USCIS Fee Rule
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form G-1055 – Fee Schedule
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Disability Accommodations for the Public
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part B Chapter 2 – Background and Security Checks