EAD received today - stressing over interview for nothing!

[andymac 4]

Hi VJers.

EAD received today, felt good.

But receiving it did not really dampen my stress for my up and coming interview. I don't know why I feel so anxious, everything is in order, I am well prepared, I guess the only thing we are not taking to the the interview is the kitchen sink. I would take that if I could work out US plumbing fittings. LOL.

We have lived together and been married for three years. Living in both the US and the UK. I have a suitcase full of material, photos, originals, EVERYTHING! To take to the interview, bit embarrassing really, but if they ask for something, I want to say ... There you are.

I read a lot of posts from people about what they took to the interview, or an RFE for some paperwork they need ........ and if we dont have that particular piece, we go and get a copy ..... Just in case.

It's strange, I read interview horror stories, and I read interview stories that last 30 seconds.

My interview is in 18 days, but I feel like I am aging at the rate of 1 year per day.

If anyone interviewed in Phoenix, and wants to calm me down ...... I would be happy to hear from you.

Nearly there .. . ... I can smell it.

Andy

[BethandBilly 86]

Hi VJers.

EAD received today, felt good.

But receiving it did not really dampen my stress for my up and coming interview. I don't know why I feel so anxious, everything is in order, I am well prepared, I guess the only thing we are not taking to the the interview is the kitchen sink. I would take that if I could work out US plumbing fittings. LOL.

We have lived together and been married for three years. Living in both the US and the UK. I have a suitcase full of material, photos, originals, EVERYTHING! To take to the interview, bit embarrassing really, but if they ask for something, I want to say ... There you are.

I read a lot of posts from people about what they took to the interview, or an RFE for some paperwork they need ........ and if we dont have that particular piece, we go and get a copy ..... Just in case.

It's strange, I read interview horror stories, and I read interview stories that last 30 seconds.

My interview is in 18 days, but I feel like I am aging at the rate of 1 year per day.

If anyone interviewed in Phoenix, and wants to calm me down ...... I would be happy to hear from you.

Nearly there .. . ... I can smell it.

Andy

Never interviewed in Phoenix but I wanted to wish the best of luck, our interview is coming up too, so yeah I'm with you on the nervous thing.

All the best

[trillium13 84]

Interview time is really stressful. I was literally sick about it, so I know your pain.

You know your marriage is bonafide and that you have a lot of evidence to that fact. Try to take some comfort in that.

Some of us are just worriers. It's ok. You are going to do just fine.

[Starburst 4]

I was super nervous for our interview. I really knew we'd be fine and we had nothing to hide, but I couldn't help it! I didn't sleep the night before and I was almost shaking the entire time before we got called!

After our interview, I couldn't believe I freaked out over that! A less then 5 min convo with someone!

Good Luck! I'm sure you'll do fantastic!

/starburst

[GabiandVi 34]

What I was most nervous about was that I was afraid I was jinxing our luck because I was so confident that we would be granted the AOS. My husband was really nervous, even though he tried to act like he wasn't and he projected his feelings on me.

Ironically, what calmed whatever fears I still had was the article posted on several threads on VJ about a month ago about the AOS process. In it there was a statistic about only something like 500 out of 214,000 marriage-based AOS applications in 2009 being denied due to suspected visa fraud. That made me believe there had to be pretty glaring evidence of fraud for an application to be denied, and since our marriage was real, there could only be nagging suspicions, not glaring evidence.

Your situation sounds very strong. Like you, we lived together abroad and here. We actually gave very little evidence of bona fides compared to what most people seem to send.

- a timeline I wrote up of our entire relationship because we had a long period of separation after our marriage due to work issues.

- daughter's birth cert.

- daughter's baptism record listing my uncle as the priest

- photocopies of two visas in my passport to my husband's country, one before we were married and one after our daughter was born.

- photocopies of insurance card for my husband from 3 years ago showing me as the primary insured from when I was abroad and could add him as a dependent without a ssn.

- a computer printout of an online family tree created by a distant cousin showing my husband as my spouse

- and a "photo album" I made in MSWord with 6 black and white pics per page with a total of 30 pics, only 3 of us together. The others were pics of him with my family, me with his family, our daughter with his family, him with our daughter here in the US. But one of the 3 including the two of us was a professional family portrait of my entire family, parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, in-laws, etc. I think that was pretty convincing.

In addition, I brought to the interview a photo album of pics of our early relationship taken with our analog camera, and our newest lease with both of us listed. We showed both of those. I explained that my bank wouldn't add him without a ssn and I didn't want to open an account I would just close after the AOS process. We were asked basic questions and some clarifying questions about our years apart and why I filed married filing separately, etc. She asked for more pictures of our daughter, but I didn't have them with me. She asked why we were married in Thailand and not China, where we were living.

The truth is, our relationship on paper looks pretty shifty. There are no pics of our marriage because the one or two we took were lost when the computer crashed. No one attended our marriage registration, which was the extent of our ceremony. No one in my family had met my husband before we were married (though several of my family did come to Thailand 6 months earlier, but our marriage was postponed due my m-i-l's death.) I'm a decade older than my husband. We didn't see each other for over 2 years before he arrived last January. But the fact that we did not begin the process until 7.5 years after we met and more than 5 years after we were married was probably proof enough that it wasn't a greencard marriage.

I'm revealing a lot of personal information I've withheld up until now because I want to put your mind and the minds of others reading this forum at rest. Our info looked suspicious on a surface level, but there were small, seemingly insignificant details that pointed to the truth. I think unless there is something one spouse doesn't know about the other that USCIS can easily find out, and you've been together for more than a few months, etc., you will be fine.

[andymac 4]

Many thanks to all for your comments, actually over the last couple of days, my wife and I have become quitely confident .... we started to put all our evidence together, and most of it is very complelling. We are both so glad that we kept so much stuff, espicially our time living in London.

We did do something, that was easy and cost effective, we went on one of those websites where you download pictures and you can design and make a proper photo album, that comes out looking like a book.

it was $30, and was delivered to us within a week. We put about 30 pictures in there on all our global travels, time together with different family members. I think its a good way to present a photo history. Worth thinking about.,

Once again thanks to all ..... we will of course do an update after our interview

[andymac 4]

What I was most nervous about was that I was afraid I was jinxing our luck because I was so confident that we would be granted the AOS. My husband was really nervous, even though he tried to act like he wasn't and he projected his feelings on me.

Ironically, what calmed whatever fears I still had was the article posted on several threads on VJ about a month ago about the AOS process. In it there was a statistic about only something like 500 out of 214,000 marriage-based AOS applications in 2009 being denied due to suspected visa fraud. That made me believe there had to be pretty glaring evidence of fraud for an application to be denied, and since our marriage was real, there could only be nagging suspicions, not glaring evidence.

Your situation sounds very strong. Like you, we lived together abroad and here. We actually gave very little evidence of bona fides compared to what most people seem to send.

- a timeline I wrote up of our entire relationship because we had a long period of separation after our marriage due to work issues.

- daughter's birth cert.

- daughter's baptism record listing my uncle as the priest

- photocopies of two visas in my passport to my husband's country, one before we were married and one after our daughter was born.

- photocopies of insurance card for my husband from 3 years ago showing me as the primary insured from when I was abroad and could add him as a dependent without a ssn.

- a computer printout of an online family tree created by a distant cousin showing my husband as my spouse

- and a "photo album" I made in MSWord with 6 black and white pics per page with a total of 30 pics, only 3 of us together. The others were pics of him with my family, me with his family, our daughter with his family, him with our daughter here in the US. But one of the 3 including the two of us was a professional family portrait of my entire family, parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, in-laws, etc. I think that was pretty convincing.

In addition, I brought to the interview a photo album of pics of our early relationship taken with our analog camera, and our newest lease with both of us listed. We showed both of those. I explained that my bank wouldn't add him without a ssn and I didn't want to open an account I would just close after the AOS process. We were asked basic questions and some clarifying questions about our years apart and why I filed married filing separately, etc. She asked for more pictures of our daughter, but I didn't have them with me. She asked why we were married in Thailand and not China, where we were living.

The truth is, our relationship on paper looks pretty shifty. There are no pics of our marriage because the one or two we took were lost when the computer crashed. No one attended our marriage registration, which was the extent of our ceremony. No one in my family had met my husband before we were married (though several of my family did come to Thailand 6 months earlier, but our marriage was postponed due my m-i-l's death.) I'm a decade older than my husband. We didn't see each other for over 2 years before he arrived last January. But the fact that we did not begin the process until 7.5 years after we met and more than 5 years after we were married was probably proof enough that it wasn't a greencard marriage.

I'm revealing a lot of personal information I've withheld up until now because I want to put your mind and the minds of others reading this forum at rest. Our info looked suspicious on a surface level, but there were small, seemingly insignificant details that pointed to the truth. I think unless there is something one spouse doesn't know about the other that USCIS can easily find out, and you've been together for more than a few months, etc., you will be fine.

Hi GabiandVi

Thankyou for taking the time to write this. my wife and I read this through twice, most helpful.

[USUY2010 4]

Wish you the best of lucks!

[SF83 1]

Good luck from a fellow Brit!

[andymac 4]

Good luck from a fellow Brit!

Your interview is a couple of days before ours ....... let me send you double good luck from another Brit.

[Winonan 3]

I would not be very worried. I just had my interview today and it lasted less than 10 minutes approved. I thought about the what ifs scenarios too and took everything possible to the interview. In the end they did not look at pretty much anything. If your marriage is legitimate, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

[andymac 4]

I would not be very worried. I just had my interview today and it lasted less than 10 minutes approved. I thought about the what ifs scenarios too and took everything possible to the interview. In the end they did not look at pretty much anything. If your marriage is legitimate, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Thanks Winonan.