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

[worrieddoc 2]

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.

She has custody of children I mentioned in earlier post she let them stay with him after years. she was single mom trying hard to provide them. As compared he was able to give them better life and future. after some years She let her kids to stay with them especially after her mom sudden death she used to cry whole day and was even unable to take care of herself.

But it is irrelevant to our immigration. Kids are much grown now.

We are no very young couple either. we both are in our thirties.

[worrieddoc 2]

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.

Our rest of interview did not have big problem. When we were going inside we were thinking that we will be out in 30 mins. as we are married for so long time.

Today my attorney called back. I had called her yesterday but she was unavailable. I told her why she thinks that I will be denied even when I have not received any Notice of Intent to deny letter and I tried to explain her that I had meet the kids year and a half back in a brief meeting. But she said it does not matter. Either you or your wife has lied under oath. I tried to explain her we have not intentionally said that it was pressure of the moment that we get confused and messed up. But her attitude was negative trying to convince me that my application is doomed.I asked her about appeal and intent to deny letter.She told me that Intent to deny letter means they have already made there mind and they don't change a lot and in appeal judge listen to IO more than you.

She said " you made up story that met the kids when you don't and this is a lie which disqualify your application"

I said do you think it is only reason my application will be denied she said yes there are no other major reasons.

[worrieddoc 2]

JimVaPhuong is correct in that they must have already flagged your file prior to the interview. Many of the posters here are also correct in that you should fire your lawyer. The name calling and flawed preparation is absurd.

We already know that that your wife’s prior marriage and child situation was the first major flag, but that can be overcome, especially since she had children with him. Jims detail of this was spot on when it comes to the lack of relationship she has the with kids. It’s just not common to be married to someone and not know their children.

Here are my questions..

You said that your wife and you are different races. If you can, please tell us what each of you are? This is important to know because they do take cultural/ethnic differences very seriously especially if there are other stark differences in your overall situation.

Are you also different religions?

Is there an age difference? If so who is older?

At the interview, were you IMEDIATELY separated, or after an initial interview together?

You mentioned that your wife does not have her kids due to finances. Does she make a living comparable to yours?

Now, none of these things singularly have a major detrimental effect, but one of them could be the straw that broke the camel’s back in addition to flawed answer..... Again, none of these FACTS are reasons for a denial, but they are cause for heightened scrutiny.

For eg...

If a blond eastern European, walks in with an Asian American; they happen to have a 15 year age difference where the woman is older and has children that her new husband has not met, and the USC previously married a foreigner AND the USC is less educated and much poorer than the beneficiary...hmm..... That is not an automatic denial, but there are reasons to be very suspicious so you may go through more to prove your relationship.

Perhaps the answers to my above questions will give us all a little more color to this picture, or maybe not, but all must be considered. Remember, you are always able to appeal with a better lawyer if all does not go well, just take this a learning experience moving forward. If you are truely married, you can prove it and panicing will only make things worse. Just tell the trush if you have to come back and you will be fine. USCIS is not in the business of punishing loving couples for no reason.

You still have not got a denial so….

She is white and I am Asian/Indian. We have same religion and sect( she converted). She can speak English as well as my native language. She talks with my family in my native language. She love our traditional food and Bollywood movies. ( we are couple from Jan 2009 though married in Dec 2009)

I look older than her but she is older in age. but our age difference is not unusual. She works I am working as volunteer in Hospital. She take care of bills and so on, But when I will start working initial few years of residency it will not huge difference in income but after specialization she will be making much less than me (5 years forward)

Right now I am poor and she is rich. yes, I am more educated as MD and Masters.

No we have not received any response from UCIS

Will you please explain me the appeal process? We will be interviewed again?

[worrieddoc 2]

JimVaPhuong is correct in that they must have already flagged your file prior to the interview. Many of the posters here are also correct in that you should fire your lawyer. The name calling and flawed preparation is absurd.

We already know that that your wife’s prior marriage and child situation was the first major flag, but that can be overcome, especially since she had children with him. Jims detail of this was spot on when it comes to the lack of relationship she has the with kids. It’s just not common to be married to someone and not know their children.

Here are my questions..

You said that your wife and you are different races. If you can, please tell us what each of you are? This is important to know because they do take cultural/ethnic differences very seriously especially if there are other stark differences in your overall situation.

Are you also different religions?

Is there an age difference? If so who is older?

At the interview, were you IMEDIATELY separated, or after an initial interview together?

You mentioned that your wife does not have her kids due to finances. Does she make a living comparable to yours?

Now, none of these things singularly have a major detrimental effect, but one of them could be the straw that broke the camel’s back in addition to flawed answer..... Again, none of these FACTS are reasons for a denial, but they are cause for heightened scrutiny.

For eg...

If a blond eastern European, walks in with an Asian American; they happen to have a 15 year age difference where the woman is older and has children that her new husband has not met, and the USC previously married a foreigner AND the USC is less educated and much poorer than the beneficiary...hmm..... That is not an automatic denial, but there are reasons to be very suspicious so you may go through more to prove your relationship.

Perhaps the answers to my above questions will give us all a little more color to this picture, or maybe not, but all must be considered. Remember, you are always able to appeal with a better lawyer if all does not go well, just take this a learning experience moving forward. If you are truely married, you can prove it and panicing will only make things worse. Just tell the trush if you have to come back and you will be fine. USCIS is not in the business of punishing loving couples for no reason.

You still have not got a denial so….

When I went inside IO asked me to tell name,address, when I entered USA and which school attended and what is my current status and if I had committed a crime outside.... when i was telling her she was typing on her Computer and she printed it and asked me to sign. and put initials. she did not asked marriage related questions. I speak fast so she complained about it and asked me to slow down. Then she repeated the process with my wife asked all question about background. it took more than an hour as she was unable to type fast coz of her health issues.

Then she told us we are going to play a game in which couple are separated and asked questions. and then we were separated.

[worrieddoc 2]

I have heard about second stroke interview. Is that possible UCIS call for 2nd stroke interview?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I have heard about second stroke interview. Is that possible UCIS call for 2nd stroke interview?

It's called a "Stokes interview". The name comes from a Federal District Court case, Stokes v. INS, Nov. 10, 1976. That case established procedures INS (now called USCIS) must follow when fraud is suspected in a marriage based I-130 case in the New York district office. Those procedures include a separate interview of the petitioner and beneficiary. That procedure has been adopted, to some degree, at virtually all USCIS field offices and many US consulates, and is routinely referred to as a "Stokes interview".

Is it possible to have a second Stokes interview? Yes. Is it likely? No. They have sufficient evidence from the first interview to deny the adjustment of status and revoke the approval of the I-130.

Your lawyer is throwing you under the bus, and blaming you for getting run over. Fire her. Now. And hire another attorney who is willing to actually try to help you.

[worrieddoc 2]

It's called a "Stokes interview". The name comes from a Federal District Court case, Stokes v. INS, Nov. 10, 1976. That case established procedures INS (now called USCIS) must follow when fraud is suspected in a marriage based I-130 case in the New York district office. Those procedures include a separate interview of the petitioner and beneficiary. That procedure has been adopted, to some degree, at virtually all USCIS field offices and many US consulates, and is routinely referred to as a "Stokes interview".

Is it possible to have a second Stokes interview? Yes. Is it likely? No. They have sufficient evidence from the first interview to deny the adjustment of status and revoke the approval of the I-130.

Your lawyer is throwing you under the bus, and blaming you for getting run over. Fire her. Now. And hire another attorney who is willing to actually try to help you.

please help me what could be likely reason on Intent to deny Notice?

Why they are not considering other evidences of Bona fide marriage like lease, bank accounts, Insurance. when my wife asked IO if she want to see our pictures or cards IO said no.

Failing Stroke interview is enough evidence that marriage is not Bona Fide?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

please help me what could be likely reason on Intent to deny Notice?

Why they are not considering other evidences of Bona fide marriage like lease, bank accounts, Insurance. when my wife asked IO if she want to see our pictures or cards IO said no.

Failing Stroke interview is enough evidence that marriage is not Bona Fide?

What could be the reason for a denial? INA section 212(a)(6)(c ). Material misrepresentation. In others words, they would be saying you lied to them.

Understand that a Stokes interview is not a pre-screening process for a green card. When they conduct a Stokes interview then they have already concluded that the case is seriously suspicious. The intention of the Stokes interview is to catch the couple in a lie - any lie - and then use the lie as a basis for denial.

Your attorney is correct that the reason they will cite for denying is that you and your wife didn't answer the question about her kids the same way, but she's dead wrong that's the only reason they are denying. They were pretty much convinced that your relationship was a sham before you walked into the office for the interview or they wouldn't have conducted a Stokes interview. As I said before, the kids are not the issue. They were suspicious before the interview, and I strongly suspect the reason for their suspicion was her previous marriage to an immigrant.

You do not need this particular attorney to file the motion to reopen when the letter of intent arrives. She didn't handle your case well up until now, and it sounds as if she's already given up on you. Seriously - hire another attorney. You will have a narrow window of time to respond to the notice. You will need a very good attorney if you hope to succeed.

[worrieddoc 2]

What could be the reason for a denial? INA section 212(a)(6)(c ). Material misrepresentation. In others words, they would be saying you lied to them.

Understand that a Stokes interview is not a pre-screening process for a green card. When they conduct a Stokes interview then they have already concluded that the case is seriously suspicious. The intention of the Stokes interview is to catch the couple in a lie - any lie - and then use the lie as a basis for denial.

Your attorney is correct that the reason they will cite for denying is that you and your wife didn't answer the question about her kids the same way, but she's dead wrong that's the only reason they are denying. They were pretty much convinced that your relationship was a sham before you walked into the office for the interview or they wouldn't have conducted a Stokes interview. As I said before, the kids are not the issue. They were suspicious before the interview, and I strongly suspect the reason for their suspicion was her previous marriage to an immigrant.

You do not need this particular attorney to file the motion to reopen when the letter of intent arrives. She didn't handle your case well up until now, and it sounds as if she's already given up on you. Seriously - hire another attorney. You will have a narrow window of time to respond to the notice. You will need a very good attorney if you hope to succeed.

If they send us a Intent to deny letter stating misrepresentation as reason and we try to explain that we were nervous and why our answers were different ? Will they accept our explanation?

[Little_My 463]

Did you answer any other questions differently during the interview process? Also, do you have any idea what exactly made USCIS suspect the legitimacy of your marriage beforehand? As JimVaPhuong has already pointed out, the fact that they conducted a Stokes interview means that they had serious doubts about the legitimacy of your marriage to begin with. Stokes is not a standard approach to an AOS interview - it is, in a way, an extreme measure to verify that a marriage is actually bona fide, or to acquire proof that it is not. Usually Stokes follows a weak initial interview in which the couple fails to provide adequate proof of their marriage being a bona fide relationship.

Before you get the actual notification, there is really not that much you can do. Besides fire your attorney. When you get the letter, IF you are denied, it will explain why. Until then, you pretty much just have to wait.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

If they send us a Intent to deny letter stating misrepresentation as reason and we try to explain that we were nervous and why our answers were different ? Will they accept our explanation?

Probably not, because that's what virtually everyone says after they fail a Stokes interview. The proper way to respond to a Notice Of Intent to Deny (NOID) is with a truckload of evidence, and not just a simple explanation.

Understand that USCIS is NOT required to issue a NOID before an AOS petition is denied. There is general guidance in the Adjudicators Field Manual that they should issue a NOID if the denial will be based on information that the applicant may not be aware of, in order to provide the applicant an opportunity to address the information that the decision is being based on. If the IO believes you are well aware of the reasons for the denial then they can simply issue an I-291 denial notice. You would have no opportunity to submit any evidence in response. Your only option would be to file a motion to reopen the case.

You really need a good attorney.

[Boiler 43,462]

I have a feeling that the Lawyer involved knows much more about this case than has been posted.

So slagging her off may be jumping the gun.

[worrieddoc 2]

Probably not, because that's what virtually everyone says after they fail a Stokes interview. The proper way to respond to a Notice Of Intent to Deny (NOID) is with a truckload of evidence, and not just a simple explanation.

Understand that USCIS is NOT required to issue a NOID before an AOS petition is denied. There is general guidance in the Adjudicators Field Manual that they should issue a NOID if the denial will be based on information that the applicant may not be aware of, in order to provide the applicant an opportunity to address the information that the decision is being based on. If the IO believes you are well aware of the reasons for the denial then they can simply issue an I-291 denial notice. You would have no opportunity to submit any evidence in response. Your only option would be to file a motion to reopen the case.

You really need a good attorney.

Please recommend us evidences. We have already given them following evidences.

Lease of apartment, Bank accounts together, Credit cards together, Tax document filled together, Pictures, Utility bills, Telephone Bills, notarized affidavit from my dad and friend about marriage, marriage certificate.

We took our greeting cards and picture album with us but IO did not see so we will add that thing.

Now what else we should submit. Your advice will be highly appreciated. We were planning to have kid but in this situation we are struck. I have heard even with babies they reject the case.

I have a feeling that the Lawyer involved knows much more about this case than has been posted.

So slagging her off may be jumping the gun.

There is nothing else in our case which is not mentioned in forum. I have given all details.

[siasimba 9]

Worrieddoc... Sorry for your experience, I wished you had a better one and not in this mess. There are a lot of people who are much more knowledgeable than I am in this matter, but maybe some questions I might ask can help you out.

1. If worrieddoc is denied, eventhough his visa status is still good in the USA, will this deny him from applying for AOS in the future?

2. You stated you are a foreign physician. The main reason why many foreign physician aren't allowed to start medical work is because they need to pass their USMLE1,2, and 3. They are also required to take USMLE CS, which is a clinical knowledge. To my knowledge, UNLESS you are directly sponsored through a H1 and/or J1 visa into residency, you will not be able to practice medicine in the USA. The only way to go around this is to go through Medical school again and apply to residency. To my understanding, there is ONLY 1 Medical school in the united states that allows that option, and its called NYCOM, please correct if I'm wrong. Other medical schools will require you to take pre-requisits. I know this only because I am a licensed physician in the state of new york practicing ob/gyn.

Now... the reason why I mentioned #2 is that if your relationship is serious... there are other ways to get permanent or conditional status in the US through work. Being in the medical profession, this is one option. I know this works for a fact because I train hundreds of medical students 20-30% of them are from other countries who wants to remain in the US.

Hope I made some sense. If my question #1 is once denied and you are banned, then comment #2 is pretty much out the window. Maybe someone smarter can chime in ?

[siasimba 9]

In terms of documentation... I know for a fact people who do marriages just for legal status can easily obtain, marriage certificate, witnesses, bank account statement, health insurance, etc.

So even if you have all those documentations, it doesn't mean anything because anyone can obtain those. I am sorry to say, but for stokes interviews... they already smell something is fishy. I am NOT saying in anyway that you are fraud. I really do wish this never happened to you, but we also have to be realistic.

Could it be possible that's why I haven't received interview letter yet and its about 5 months out since submission? I am Chinese and my wife is Indian... hmmmm I wonder now.