AOS Interview experience - Houston, Texas

[hviking 0]

Been an avid reader of this site, but have not posted. This site has been a huge help thoughout our process.

So first off, a big thanks to everyone who has been sharing their information and experience, it greatly helped my case.

So I thought I'd share our experience at the Houston USCIS location:

We arrived at 9:05 am and went through security, appointment was at 9:30. Had to run back to the car with our cell phones as no device capable of recording images or sound were permitted.

Came back and handed the appointment letter to the lady at the window, she handed me a form and asked us to fill out all the spaces in gray, then hand it to the officer once our name was called.

We sat down, filled out the information, then waited. Seeing dozens of people getting called and coming back out with sad faces made me kinda nervous, only one lady came back out with a huge smile on her face.

At 10:04, Officer Beard called our names. We shook hands and he asked how we were doing, took the form and then asked us to follow him down the hall to his office.

Once in his office, he asked us to have a seat and to let him see our ID cards, we both handed him our DL. He looked at them and compared them to the paperwork he had in front of him.

Then he asked me three questions from the list on the application:

Have you ever been arrested or in prison?

Have you ever committed any crime in USA?

Have you ever been in trouble with immigration?

I answered all three with a no.

He then asked for my EAD card, I-94, and passport. I commented that I just got the EAD a few weeks ago, and now you already want it back, to which he laughed and said it's a good sign when they ask for it back.

Then he asked to see some documents with both our names on them or documents showing the same address with seperate names. I had two bank statements (with seperate names), car insurance with both our names and a magazine with my name on the address label showing the same address from 1999. He said that was more than enough proof of living together.

When I took the magazine out of the briefcase, he noticed the enveloped marked paystubs and the one marked W2s, so he asked to see those. I also had gone to the doctor and asked for a copy of my medical just in case they lost it. He noticed it also and asked if that was my medical, I said yes. He asked to see it, and while holding it, thumbed through the folder. He said "Oh, the one in here is still current, so you don't need this one" and handed it back to me.

He then asked me how I met my wife, which I answered short and to the point: We met at school when I first came to the USA in 87, then I came back in 88 and we moved in together and have lived together since then. He just said "Ok"

Then he excused himself and said he had to make copies of our DLs and the paperwork we had given him.

About 30 sec later he came back in, handed our DLs, W2s and paystubs back to us and said the case had been approved and I should have my Greencard within 30 days, but usually arrive within a week.

We thanked him, shook his hand and he walked us back to the waiting room.

We were back in the car at 10:11, so the total interview time was around 5 - 6 min long. All that worrying for nothing. LOL

Office Beard was a pleasure to deal with.

One thing I did noticed was he never swore us in.

All in all it was a very easy experience, nothing at all like we thought it would be. We had brought with us a briefcase full of supporting evidence, including copies of every document we had already submitted to make sure if he asked for anything we would have it.

Timeline:

July 28th, 2007 - Mailed the I-130, I-485, I-765 and supporting documents.

July 30th, 2007 - Mailed in the medical.

Sep 5th, 2007 - Received Receipt Notices for all applications

Sep 11th, 2007 - Received Biometrics letter for 485 and 765

Sep 25th, 2007 - Had Biometrics done in Houston, Texas

Nov 16th, 2007 - Received RFE letter for tax returns.

Nov 23rd, 2007 - Mailed IRS transcripts for the past 3 years

Dec 24th, 2007 - Received EAD Card (nice Christmas Gift )

Dec 27th, 2007 - Applied for SSN

Jan 10th, 2008 - Received SSN with "Valid for work only with DHS Authorization"

Feb 23rd, 2008 - Received AOS Interview notice

Mar 13th, 2008 - Had AOS Interview and was approved (nice Birthday Gift )

Mar 13th, 2008 - Waiting patiently for Greencard

[acouto07 0]

Thanks for sharing your story! Congrats!

I just had one question for you: I noticed in your timeline that you sent your petitions in at the end of July but did not get the NOAs until early September. Did you just sit and wait during that time or did you take some action to find out why you were not getting your NOAs (and the checks not being cashed, I assume)? If you did do something, what did you do?

I ask bc I'm in a similar situation; waiting 31 days now for USCIS to break the silence....

Thanks! And once again, congrats!

[hviking 0]

Thanks for sharing your story! Congrats!

I just had one question for you: I noticed in your timeline that you sent your petitions in at the end of July but did not get the NOAs until early September. Did you just sit and wait during that time or did you take some action to find out why you were not getting your NOAs (and the checks not being cashed, I assume)? If you did do something, what did you do?

I ask bc I'm in a similar situation; waiting 31 days now for USCIS to break the silence....

Thanks! And once again, congrats!

I called the USCIS a couple of times and was told that they received a huge increase in applications at the end of July as the fees increased on August 1st. They also issued several press releases regarding the delay, so I wasn't to worried about it. (OK, so I was checking the mail 3 times a day, checking website on the hour, every hour etc..., LOL)

But I totally understood the delay and just waited patiently.

And even with the delays of the NOAs and RFE, it's still only been slightly over 6 months.

Thanks;

[DA BOMB 1]

Congrats! My husband had his AOS interview on the 3rd - for many months we were spazzen out about is and I was put on antidepressants bacause of the stress....all for 5 minutes. Our officer never asked us for any of the documents I brought - thought we might even need a waiver but never asked for that either. I'll never go through this process again.

[rebeccajo 14]

Congrats! My husband had his AOS interview on the 3rd - for many months we were spazzen out about is and I was put on antidepressants bacause of the stress....all for 5 minutes. Our officer never asked us for any of the documents I brought - thought we might even need a waiver but never asked for that either. I'll never go through this process again.

You had a reason to be sweating bullets.

[genesis1968 0]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!what a big relief being done with the AOS.

[JapanGuest 0]

Congratulations!!

Happy for you!

[hviking 0]

Thanks everyone;

We were stressing way to much also over this, and it was over in a flash.

Again thanks to everyone on this board and thanks to all of those who shared their experiences. We were going to use an attorney, but seeing how many of you did it on your own we decided to go it alone, and it worked out great.

Thanks;

[JoanBill 0]

Thanks for sharing your experienced and Congratulations!!!!

We'll be having our interview 25th of this month. Hope we will be having a cool and easy experience like yours

[greedy 0]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!

After your post, we do hope we will have officer Beard once we got the interview...

[americanenglish 0]

Thanks for sharing and congratulations!!! :dance: