Question about visiting an ODAR Office

[futuressaalj]

I am going to visit Puerto Rico next month.  My wife is from there and has relatives on the island.  I like to say that I am fluent in Spanish but am rusty since I do not use it but should be able to improve substantially if I immerse myself for a couple of months (watch television, listen to radio, read a couple of books and speak to the wife in Spanish only). 

I put Puerto Rico down on my GAL and quite frankly, if I make the register, it would probably be my best chance at getting interviewed.

But I am a bit shy about moving to a location where nothing but bad news is being reported.  High crime, high unemployment, nearly bankrupt government because of excessive borrowing and high cost of living.  If I were to get a decent score I intended to drop the PR offices from my GAL if I were to make a cert.  But I would at least like to visit the office to get a feel for the place before dropping the locations.

I know this is presumptions on my part, that I will make the register, that I will do well enough on the Spanish interview to get a job offer for a PR ODAR location but if I do happen to make the cert for a PR location I need know now that if I am offered a job there that I will be ready to take it, not to mention that I need to bring my Spanish fluency up to a Native level.

But I digress, my question is, is it possible to visit an ODAR office?  Who do I coordinate this with if it is possible?  I will be in Puerto Rico so I figure I give it a shot.

Thanks in Advance.

[bartleby]

Unfortunately there is a lot of claimant personal information in an ODAR office and the Agency is very, very protective of same. Most management don't appreciate visitors in the office. That said, your best bet would probably be to contact a claimant's rep and see if they would allow you to attend a hearing with them with the claimant's permission. I don't think most Judges would object to this, however, it's JMHO, as usual. For whatever reason, my friends from Puerto Rico do not want to go back there, live there, or raise their families there..

[futuressaalj]

Jan 18, 2014 22:41:15 GMT -5 bartleby said:

Unfortunately there is a lot of claimant personal information in an ODAR office and the Agency is very, very protective of same. Most management don't appreciate visitors in the office. That said, your best bet would probably be to contact a claimant's rep and see if they would allow you to attend a hearing with them with the claimant's permission. I don't think most Judges would object to this, however, it's JMHO, as usual. For whatever reason, my friends from Puerto Rico do not want to go back there, live there, or raise their families there..

Thank you sir, appreciate the sage advice.  Your last sentence is what concerns me about PR and I believe some folks wait a long time to transfer out.  I read that the current register exhausted bilingual candidates which likely means that the folks that want to transfer from PR cannot without getting a backfill.