Please Advise ..... We are unable to sleep ....Our AOS interview messed up

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

they have not send us any intent to deny notice yet. The stroke interview , now i understand, was due to background.

I don't know what they are going to decide. This question was scared me the most as it was one of last question immigration lady asked. but instead of closing she called my wife and asked the same question again and recorded on video. This action scared us the most. we are scared if she is going to try us for perjury which is not a lie it is confusion and huge mistake under pressure.

Rest of interview did not have large in consistences i discussed with my wife. Most of answer were same. I could not understand my attorney. first she said to us it will be easy but when it was tough she said us we are DUM and told us there is no hope.

ATTORNEYS ARE PAID TO GIVE US HOPE AND SOLUTION.

Trials for perjury are rare in the US. There must be strong evidence that the accused intentionally provided false information under oath. The prosecutor has to prove that they lied, and that they knew they were lying. Proving a lie is easy. Proving that someone knew they were lying is exceedingly more difficult. There is a vast difference between an intentional lie and a lapse in memory, but the prosecutor must prove that a statement was the former and could not have been the latter in order to get a conviction. They rarely even attempt it because it's not usually worth the effort.

I have never heard of someone being tried for perjury as a result of a failed Stokes interview.

[nurse1967 287]

Well it is not fishy for the father to have custody if the father is from a country where the fathers tend to get custody of the children. In most muslim countries children go to the father when the wife remarries or when they are "of age". I'm surprised you would not know about that. Many people are comfortable with the same set up when in the USA.

Maybe the wife has some emotional issues that we dont know about that caused them to be suspicious.

Who knows

Umm yes of course I know that in Muslim countries many times the men have custody rights far more liberal than in America. However, she is the American citizen and from reading between the lines obviously her kids live in the USA so not really sure how that is relevant. I am just saying, TYPICALLY an American mom with little or no contact with her own children is symptomatic of some type of issues.

[Harsh_77 716]

Umm yes of course I know that in Muslim countries many times the men have custody rights far more liberal than in America. However, she is the American citizen and from reading between the lines obviously her kids live in the USA so not really sure how that is relevant. I am just saying, TYPICALLY an American mom with little or no contact with her own children is symptomatic of some type of issues.

Yep will go with you if she (OP's Wife) is in US, Kids are in US and her ex is US - then judge was not going to go by ex's countries belief (I am assuming he is not american).

So in that case the point bought up earlier does not make sense.

[Myopia 93]

Umm yes of course I know that in Muslim countries many times the men have custody rights far more liberal than in America. However, she is the American citizen and from reading between the lines obviously her kids live in the USA so not really sure how that is relevant. I am just saying, TYPICALLY an American mom with little or no contact with her own children is symptomatic of some type of issues.

No you misunderstood me. I was commenting on your comment that seemed to find it strange that the children were with the father. The idea that children automatically go with the mother is no longer true. I have seen perfectly fine American women lose their children to the custody of the father.

If a mother didn't want to see her children then I don't think that is necessarily symptomatic of any issue at all.

It's a personal choice by the mother and you have to respect that regardless if you like it.

It's relevant because I assumed that the OP and his wife shared the same belief system and there was a possibility that the ex husband and current husband shared the same belief system so maybe, that is the reason the children are with the father.

[Myopia 93]

Yep will go with you if she (OP's Wife) is in US, Kids are in US and her ex is US - then judge was not going to go by ex's countries belief (I am assuming he is not american).

So in that case the point bought up earlier does not make sense.

Harsh. You are assuming that there was a court involved. It's perfectly acceptable for parents to come to an agreement between eachother and have the children reside with either.

You can belief that people do not use their religious beliefs in this country, but they do at times. Regardless of what belief is followed.

[nurse1967 287]

Ummm ok.

[waitwaitwait 3]

Timeline? Sound very fishy from my experience. What kind of attorney is this?

[Myopia 93]

Ummm ok.

Yea it is.

[nurse1967 287]

Ummm ok well speak for yourself. It would not be ok for me and lots of other moms.

[Myopia 93]

Ummm ok well speak for yourself. It would not be ok for me and lots of other moms.

No I dont speak for myself. Im just letting you know how it works. Did you know an American Citizen woman who marries a man from certain Middle Eastern COuntries IN certain Middle Eastern Countries are not able to give the child american citizenship automatically? The child automatically takes the husbands citizenship so it's always prudent to know how the law works and how it can affect you.

Also if the child travels to certain countries on the US passport with a father from that country...the father can prevent the child leaving that country.

Now that was off topic and just in case anyone thinks Im making this up.

What happens if...?

Edited April 7, 2011 by Myopia

[thelastpetitioner 218]

this is a bunch of rubbish.seriously.you are not adjusting status from your F-1,your adjusting status because of your marriage,PLEASE quit dragging your job into this,its getting hella annoying.

a lawyer is a lawyer,not a god sent angel.your lawyer is probably inexperienced,which could explain why she didn't do as well as anyone would expect her to.no one can promise you hope and solution,so go get a meal and hit the sack.

since you refuse to talk about your race and religion,im gonna go ahead with my gut and guess African/Arab,and Muslim,and that my friend has got nothing to do with your problems.you're past that point.YOUR relationship with her children have got nothing to do with it.if anything children related,its something from her end.

like Jim mentioned,it could come from the ex husband,maybe he tipped them off?maybe the step mother tipped them off?

there is much more to this case,either you honestly don't know everything or you don't wanna share

Edited April 7, 2011 by thelastpetitioner

[Nik+Heather 121]

I won't comment about the immigration side of your case, others have covered any reasonable things I might say.

I wanted to add to your thread because at least some portion of your interview experience rang a little with ours. I will admit that the prep work I completed for our AOS interview was heavy on the paperwork and light on the verbal questions (I was thinking we were real, we were truthfully married, etc), and for a little while, I thought we were going to pay for it.

Mid-way through our interview, the IO was asking Nik about his visits to the US. She clearly had a report of all of his entries (dates, POEs etc), and she randomly selected one, and asked an open ended "Tell me about your trip in February 2009" and Nik totally drew a blank. This trip was barely a year before our interview, and we had an AMAZING week in Hawaii snorkeling, volcano hiking and attending a beautiful ocean-side wedding of one of my friends. How could he forget something like that?! Well. He did. I still remember looking over at him and how flushed he looked. I was blushing quite a bit myself, and all of my mental waves weren't getting through. And he was just totally blank. I even nearly blew the whole thing when I tried to help him joggle something loose with "Hawaii???" "The WEDDING!!??" (Nothing sparking with Nik for what felt like whole minutes) The IO got pretty stern with me, though for interfering. Obviously your lawyer at least knew that much.

If Nik can forget a whole week of our first real vacation together which we enjoyed so much under the infinitely lighter pressure of a joint interview which hasn't gone wrong, I have no trouble believing that your wife could have forgotten about a brief meeting of which she was a somewhat secondary party.

Anyway, I still feel unsatisfied with Nik's ultimate response "Oh, Yeah, we went to Hawaii for a wedding" Given that he only fed back the hints I had already given without any new information, if I were an IO, I would have counted it as a wrong answer. However, we were approved because the balance of our evidence was in our favor. That was the only stumbling point. One wrong answer, alone and by itself will not sink your case. Don't beat yourselves up too much about this one thing. As others have pointed out, there are other concerns with your case, many of them are circumstances out of your control. I'm sorry that your lawyer didn't better prepare you and your initial filing a bit better to address these issues, but you have got to move on. If you want to be proactive, start focusing on researching possible appeal options and finding a new lawyer. The decision will come soon, try not to freak out about the "what ifs" or get too far ahead of yourselves.

Sometimes I almost think it's a bit unfair for those innocent and real relationships. Those couples are much more likely to go into things thinking that it will be no problem because the truth is on their side, and those who are trying to defraud the system are much more likely to be prepared. That's why they have the interviews, so the IOs can suss it all out.

I hope that the IOs arrive at the correct conclusion for your case.

[eddie gray 0]

worried doc....the exact same thing happened to me and my husband we were separated after an iniial interveiw we got in at a few minutes after 1 pm and did not leave till a few minutes to 4pm ...the only discrpancies with me and my husband was me meeting his sister..i said i met her and he said i only spoke to her on the phone. but we were both not flusterd i was scared but did not show it ..the IO scrutinized our checkign accoutn asking me who was sending us money and why their is a shut off notice on our PSEG bill ?.explained our finances not so great my husband not maing a lot and we are struggling with our bills .The IO told us we will get her decision in the mail and gave us a paper saying your I-485 is being reviewed....Have not heard anything since the 8th of march....so im hoping and praying i get somehting soon.... i called them after 2 weeks they said call them back after 30 days...i am hoping to get lawyer soon since i never got one in the 1st place thot it was goin to be straight forward.and easy .lol

me and my husband are both same age we met in 2009 married in 2010 sept filed AOs in december..he is african american and i am african...i came in on a B1/B2 visa in 2003....never been arrested,never been in any trouble...i took very kind of paper work neccessary for this interview you'all will not believe it....lease,checking account,debit cards ,credit cards,health insurance,life insurance,utililty bills,photos,letters..i gave her the whole works...

any way please update me and let me know what happens next with your case...Just hang in there it will be fine..

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

No I dont speak for myself. Im just letting you know how it works. Did you know an American Citizen woman who marries a man from certain Middle Eastern COuntries IN certain Middle Eastern Countries are not able to give the child american citizenship automatically? The child automatically takes the husbands citizenship so it's always prudent to know how the law works and how it can affect you.

Any child born in any country with at least one parent who is a citizen of that country almost ALWAYS acquires citizenship of that country. If one of the parents is also a US citizen then the child has a CLAIM to US citizenship. The laws of the foreign country have nothing whatever to do with this. US law dictates who can become a US citizen, and not the laws of any other country. Similarly, the laws of each foreign country dictate who can become a citizen of those countries. They are not mutually exclusive - automatically becoming a citizen of the country of birth does not exclude the child from having a claim to US citizenship.

Now, that doesn't mean that a foreign country has to recognize a child as a US citizen just because one of their parents filed a CRBA on their behalf. In fact, most countries will either recognize the child only as a citizen of that country, or will recognize them as a dual citizen. It also doesn't mean that the foreign country has to let the child leave just because the child has a US passport, which brings us to...

Also if the child travels to certain countries on the US passport with a father from that country...the father can prevent the child leaving that country.

Yep, absolutely true. The US government cannot intervene in a foreign country. If the laws of that country permit the father to keep the child in that country then there is nothing the US government can do about it.

[Myopia 93]

Any child born in any country with at least one parent who is a citizen of that country almost ALWAYS acquires citizenship of that country. If one of the parents is also a US citizen then the child has a CLAIM to US citizenship. The laws of the foreign country have nothing whatever to do with this. US law dictates who can become a US citizen, and not the laws of any other country. Similarly, the laws of each foreign country dictate who can become a citizen of those countries. They are not mutually exclusive - automatically becoming a citizen of the country of birth does not exclude the child from having a claim to US citizenship.

Now, that doesn't mean that a foreign country has to recognize a child as a US citizen just because one of their parents filed a CRBA on their behalf. In fact, most countries will either recognize the child only as a citizen of that country, or will recognize them as a dual citizen. It also doesn't mean that the foreign country has to let the child leave just because the child has a US passport, which brings us to...

Yep, absolutely true. The US government cannot intervene in a foreign country. If the laws of that country permit the father to keep the child in that country then there is nothing the US government can do about it.

I am going to definitely have to get my facts on this one. I know of an American woman in the UAE who had a child with a Pakistani national who was working there. She had the child in the UAE. She got divorced from him and she was unable to get the child American citizenship. Maybe the problem was she needed him to be at the embassy or permission from him.

When I heard about this, some four years ago, I remember saying this is incorrect but the person who knew this person insisted that she got zero help from the American Embassy in the UAE. Maybe she got her facts wrong and was confused. I know she didn't get to bring her daughter back to the US.

I know this is seriously off topic but it came to mind. Just as a FYI for the others on here. If you are married to a man in those countries where the child automatically takes on the fathers citizenship, if you take your children there and something happens in your marriages, the government will not allow you to take your child out of the country without the fathers permission, Even if the child is a US citizen. Just be warned. There are lots of American and British women who marry these men not realizing what the laws are until it is too late and being American or British will not help you at all.