AOS Interview Yesterday in Omaha

[ktun 0]

WARNING, VERY LONG POST!!!

Well, despite the dramas of the car blowing up on the Interstate the day before the Interview, we managed finally to hire a car.

We got to the Omaha District Office at 9.35 for the 10am interview. Got a drink from Subway across the street before we went in at 9.45am. Cleared through the security and chatted with them for a few minutes. At 9.50am we put our letter in the tray at the reception desk. There were about 15 other people in the waiting area, 2 couples and the rest large family groups, lots of children. I thought that we would have to wait for a long time, but at 10.05am we were called in by a female officer, who introduced herself as Joann Howe. She was very polite and professional, she asked us how we were before asking us to raise our right hands and she swore us in.

She had a large file on her desk which had several tags on different pages, it was clear that she had read through the file very carefully and was knowledgeable about the complicated particulars of our case. She first for government issued IDs, my Craig pulled out his driver's licence and I said I had my passport. She asked if I had a U.S. Driver's licence yet or State ID and I said no, so she asked to see my EAD instead and kept it on her desk while she handed Craig's Driver's Licence back. She looked carefully at my 3 passports, one current and two expired (the interview letter asked to see all that you had entered the U.S. on, so she got to see all my trips to the States since I was a child). She took my I-94 out of my current passport and looked carefully at the stamp that I got at Chicago coming back on the AP, she asked if I had the AP forms with me, so I gave them to her and she said, you probably wont need them after today!!!!! I began to relax a bit then, thinking that it was a good sign that she said that. At this point she asked for Craig's original Birth Certificate since she couldn't find it in the file on her desk. She confirmed our dates of birth and then the interview started properly.

She asked us:

* She asked the terrorist questions, had I ever been arrested etc, responded No to all, and she made lots of red checks with her pen.

* If either of us had been married before? (me No, Craig yes and that he had a daughter)

* How we met?

* Where we got married?

* If it was a big wedding and if we had one in England too? (I said we just had a small ceremony here, with Craig's parents and 4 friends, but we hoped to have a bigger one in England at some point)

* She asked to see joint evidence (gave her credit card bills, Jewler's bills and joint checking and savings accounts. I said we didn't have more, because we only recently got my SSN and had been in England since then, so hadn't had the chance. She said that was fine and was going to photocopy the evidence I gave her, but we said she could keep the originals. She made a joke that she hoped we'd paid them as she didn't want to be responsible for the bills, we laughed and assured her we had paid them).

* She checked a list of things off with her red pen, and asked why we had gone back to England before the Interview and for how long. We told her about the trial and how the prosecution had paid for our hotel and flights over. She seemed very interested and asked Craig about the attack and to see his hand once we explained he'd had two surgeries since then. I also said that this was the reason for our rushed return to the U.S. last September and we had been hoping that Craig could immigrate to the U.K. but that had become impossible because of the injuries and surgeries required. She smiled and told Craig not to step in and help next time!

* She looked at my expired passport at this point to check the dates of my VWP entry and if it corresponded to the assault I guess, she made a big tick and a note in her file again.

* She then found a copy of Craig's birth certificate that we had sent in, so handed back the original.

* She asked if we had any photographs of our travels, we handed her one of the photo albums which we explained was a synopsis of our first year of marriage. She looked at our wedding pictures with interest. I explained that they were taken by family and friends, we didn't have a professional photographer, and that I had taken extracts from our wedding vows to insert below each picture, she seemed to like that. We pointed out who the people were in each picture. She was impressed with the pictures of England, especially London and said we were very lucky to have been able to spend so much time there (we spent 3 months there last summer). She liked the fact that we had lots of family pictures with Craig's family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and with mine in England and Chicago. Then finally of Craig's daughter Annie and her HS graduation a couple of weeks ago. She spent about 10 minutes looking at these, but did not keep any.

She then handed the album back to us and said it all looked great, and lets go ahead and get you APPROVED. She asked us to sign a piece of paper about the removal of conditions in 2 years and explained that a little bit. She went out of the room and photocopied that and Craig and I just grinned at each other. I think I said to him "We're approved?" in vague disbelief at how smoothly the interview went. He laughed and said he knew that when she had said I wouldn't be needing the AP again. She came back into the room and gave us a copy of the removal of conditions info that we'd just signed. She then went ahead and stamped my passport saying that the greencard should arrive in 2-4 weeks and that this was in case I needed to leave the country before then or get my driver's licence etc. She walked us out, we shook hands and that was it.

The interview was very thorough and professional lasting 30-40 minutes total. She wasn't overly friendly, but she certainly wasn't forbidding either. She tried to put us at our ease as she could see that we were nervous and smiled and made small jokes when appropriate.

After the interview we went out to the farm to tell my father-in-law who was very pleased. We got a quick lunch in Crescent and headed home. I tried to call my parents but they were in work meetings, so didn't get through. I'd stayed up the whole night before the interview, so was exhausted. I went to bed for about 3 hours or so. Craig made some calls while I was asleep and got us approved for a car loan, so the next few days will be frantically searching while we still have the rental car. When I woke up 4 emails had arrived from USCIS saying that the case had been approved etc.

Well thanks for reading and to everyone for all their helpful suggestions and support over the past few months, it really has been invaluable. Good luck to everyone with upcoming interviews and hope that reading others experiences helps you prepare.

Kate

[Gatorfan 0]

Congratulations and best wishes for the future.

[alexil74 0]

Thanks for sharing and congratulations

[ssalburo 0]

congratulations!!!

[camaleon 0]

[JanaknJanet 0]

Congrats to the both of you ... glad it went smoooothhhhh

[ktun 0]

Thank you for the replies, they are much appreciated

[maria_b84 0]

Congratulations!!!!! Very long post lol

Maria

[MarieAnastasia 0]

God bless you both and good luck to your future.....................{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}}}}

[thndrdancr 0]

Congrats, Kate!

You two had the same officer we did, she did seem very thorough with us as well, but like you said, not forbidding. So glad your angst is finally over, I know you were really stressing about it, and happy, happy for you!

Jill

[SteveNanik 0]

Congratulations

[govols 0]

Thanks for sharing your story with us! Congratulations!!!!

[JRluvsLhyn 0]

WARNING, VERY LONG POST!!!

Well, despite the dramas of the car blowing up on the Interstate the day before the Interview, we managed finally to hire a car.

We got to the Omaha District Office at 9.35 for the 10am interview. Got a drink from Subway across the street before we went in at 9.45am. Cleared through the security and chatted with them for a few minutes. At 9.50am we put our letter in the tray at the reception desk. There were about 15 other people in the waiting area, 2 couples and the rest large family groups, lots of children. I thought that we would have to wait for a long time, but at 10.05am we were called in by a female officer, who introduced herself as Joann Howe. She was very polite and professional, she asked us how we were before asking us to raise our right hands and she swore us in.

She had a large file on her desk which had several tags on different pages, it was clear that she had read through the file very carefully and was knowledgeable about the complicated particulars of our case. She first for government issued IDs, my Craig pulled out his driver's licence and I said I had my passport. She asked if I had a U.S. Driver's licence yet or State ID and I said no, so she asked to see my EAD instead and kept it on her desk while she handed Craig's Driver's Licence back. She looked carefully at my 3 passports, one current and two expired (the interview letter asked to see all that you had entered the U.S. on, so she got to see all my trips to the States since I was a child). She took my I-94 out of my current passport and looked carefully at the stamp that I got at Chicago coming back on the AP, she asked if I had the AP forms with me, so I gave them to her and she said, you probably wont need them after today!!!!! I began to relax a bit then, thinking that it was a good sign that she said that. At this point she asked for Craig's original Birth Certificate since she couldn't find it in the file on her desk. She confirmed our dates of birth and then the interview started properly.

She asked us:

* She asked the terrorist questions, had I ever been arrested etc, responded No to all, and she made lots of red checks with her pen.

* If either of us had been married before? (me No, Craig yes and that he had a daughter)

* How we met?

* Where we got married?

* If it was a big wedding and if we had one in England too? (I said we just had a small ceremony here, with Craig's parents and 4 friends, but we hoped to have a bigger one in England at some point)

* She asked to see joint evidence (gave her credit card bills, Jewler's bills and joint checking and savings accounts. I said we didn't have more, because we only recently got my SSN and had been in England since then, so hadn't had the chance. She said that was fine and was going to photocopy the evidence I gave her, but we said she could keep the originals. She made a joke that she hoped we'd paid them as she didn't want to be responsible for the bills, we laughed and assured her we had paid them).

* She checked a list of things off with her red pen, and asked why we had gone back to England before the Interview and for how long. We told her about the trial and how the prosecution had paid for our hotel and flights over. She seemed very interested and asked Craig about the attack and to see his hand once we explained he'd had two surgeries since then. I also said that this was the reason for our rushed return to the U.S. last September and we had been hoping that Craig could immigrate to the U.K. but that had become impossible because of the injuries and surgeries required. She smiled and told Craig not to step in and help next time!

* She looked at my expired passport at this point to check the dates of my VWP entry and if it corresponded to the assault I guess, she made a big tick and a note in her file again.

* She then found a copy of Craig's birth certificate that we had sent in, so handed back the original.

* She asked if we had any photographs of our travels, we handed her one of the photo albums which we explained was a synopsis of our first year of marriage. She looked at our wedding pictures with interest. I explained that they were taken by family and friends, we didn't have a professional photographer, and that I had taken extracts from our wedding vows to insert below each picture, she seemed to like that. We pointed out who the people were in each picture. She was impressed with the pictures of England, especially London and said we were very lucky to have been able to spend so much time there (we spent 3 months there last summer). She liked the fact that we had lots of family pictures with Craig's family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and with mine in England and Chicago. Then finally of Craig's daughter Annie and her HS graduation a couple of weeks ago. She spent about 10 minutes looking at these, but did not keep any.

She then handed the album back to us and said it all looked great, and lets go ahead and get you APPROVED. She asked us to sign a piece of paper about the removal of conditions in 2 years and explained that a little bit. She went out of the room and photocopied that and Craig and I just grinned at each other. I think I said to him "We're approved?" in vague disbelief at how smoothly the interview went. He laughed and said he knew that when she had said I wouldn't be needing the AP again. She came back into the room and gave us a copy of the removal of conditions info that we'd just signed. She then went ahead and stamped my passport saying that the greencard should arrive in 2-4 weeks and that this was in case I needed to leave the country before then or get my driver's licence etc. She walked us out, we shook hands and that was it.

The interview was very thorough and professional lasting 30-40 minutes total. She wasn't overly friendly, but she certainly wasn't forbidding either. She tried to put us at our ease as she could see that we were nervous and smiled and made small jokes when appropriate.

After the interview we went out to the farm to tell my father-in-law who was very pleased. We got a quick lunch in Crescent and headed home. I tried to call my parents but they were in work meetings, so didn't get through. I'd stayed up the whole night before the interview, so was exhausted. I went to bed for about 3 hours or so. Craig made some calls while I was asleep and got us approved for a car loan, so the next few days will be frantically searching while we still have the rental car. When I woke up 4 emails had arrived from USCIS saying that the case had been approved etc.

Well thanks for reading and to everyone for all their helpful suggestions and support over the past few months, it really has been invaluable. Good luck to everyone with upcoming interviews and hope that reading others experiences helps you prepare.

Kate

[Carola 0]

Congratulations