Successful green card interview (I-485/I-130) - Thanks! (and my checklist)

[Timeshifter 1]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I (USC) had a successful green card interview in Boston, MA today. It was very relaxed, and the interviewer asked some fair, straightforward questions about our personal histories, how we met, and evidence of a bona fide marriage. We were interviewed sequentially and separately, with the USC going first. I was actually disappointed that I hardly got to bring out any evidence. If there are no special circumstances and you have some time to be careful about paperwork, I think a lawyer is not needed for this process, as I handled all of the paperwork myself, and I'm glad to have the extra $1500. As an aside, my wife tried twice to do walk-in biometrics, but she was turned away twice, so we just stuck with the original appointment.

I want to thank all of you who offered advice a few months ago when we were thinking about what the best application route would be. This definitely was the safest and fastest route, with approval in less than 3 months after I mailed out the packet. I've updated our timeline, and we expect the green card to come in the mail sometime in the next few weeks.

To help assist others along this path, I'd like to share my own personal checklist/cover letters that I used, as I felt that this was the most difficult part of the process. My wife applied for employment authorization, but not for advance parole. I used removable stick tabs to label each set of forms, which I thought made things more organized. I didn't do anything else, such as ACCO fasteners.

Primary cover letter said that forms for the following would be enclosed:

Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance

I-130 packet:

- Check payable to U.S. Department of Homeland of Security for $420 filing fee

- Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for beneficiary

- Copy of certified marriage certificate

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Passport-style color photo of U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for beneficiary

- Passport-style color photo of beneficiary

- Evidence in support of a bona fide marriage:

- Letter from bank & bank account query confirming co-mingling of finances in the form of a joint account

- Wife and beneficiary listed as beneficiary of the 401K of U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Photos (6 photos) from relationship of beneficiary and U.S. citizen/petitioner, with dates of photos taken and descriptions of event and locations written on the back of photos

I-485 packet:

- Check payable to U.S. Department of Homeland of Security for $1070 ($985 I-485 filing fee + $85 biometric fee)

- Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for beneficiary

- Copies of the front and back of the valid I-94 within the passport

- Copy of certified translated and notarized birth certificate of beneficiary, with original copy included behind translated copy

- Copy of certified marriage certificate

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for beneficiary

- Four passport-style color photos of beneficiary to be used for forms I-485 and I-765

- Sealed envelope containing form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record

- Form I-864, Affidavit of Support

- Copy of 2010 Federal Tax Return for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Two letters from employer of U.S. citizen and petitioner documenting employment, this year’s salary, and next year’s salary

- Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization -- no additional filing fee is being submitted since it is being filed concurrently with form I-485

I hope this helps!

Edited May 11, 2012 by Timeshifter

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Congratulations. :dance: :dance:

[EminTX 131]

Thank you for reporting on your experience and your checklists. We are compiling the paperwork now for AOS and, honestly, I'd like to have a drink. I think that if I have to write our address ONE MORE TIME...

Congrats on your success and good luck to everyone else who is waiting for their day.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

What visa did you AOS from?

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

It is not K-1 AOS I believe.

[Holly&Frank 0]

Great to hear. I'm here in Boston as well and just sent in my AOS package the other day.

Congrats!

Hi everyone,

My wife and I (USC) had a successful green card interview in Boston, MA today. It was very relaxed, and the interviewer asked some fair, straightforward questions about our personal histories, how we met, and evidence of a bona fide marriage. We were interviewed sequentially and separately, with the USC going first. I was actually disappointed that I hardly got to bring out any evidence. If there are no special circumstances and you have some time to be careful about paperwork, I think a lawyer is not needed for this process, as I handled all of the paperwork myself, and I'm glad to have the extra $1500. As an aside, my wife tried twice to do walk-in biometrics, but she was turned away twice, so we just stuck with the original appointment.

I want to thank all of you who offered advice a few months ago when we were thinking about what the best application route would be. This definitely was the safest and fastest route, with approval in less than 3 months after I mailed out the packet. I've updated our timeline, and we expect the green card to come in the mail sometime in the next few weeks.

To help assist others along this path, I'd like to share my own personal checklist/cover letters that I used, as I felt that this was the most difficult part of the process. My wife applied for employment authorization, but not for advance parole. I used removable stick tabs to label each set of forms, which I thought made things more organized. I didn't do anything else, such as ACCO fasteners.

Primary cover letter said that forms for the following would be enclosed:

Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance

I-130 packet:

- Check payable to U.S. Department of Homeland of Security for $420 filing fee

- Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for beneficiary

- Copy of certified marriage certificate

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Passport-style color photo of U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for beneficiary

- Passport-style color photo of beneficiary

- Evidence in support of a bona fide marriage:

- Letter from bank & bank account query confirming co-mingling of finances in the form of a joint account

- Wife and beneficiary listed as beneficiary of the 401K of U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Photos (6 photos) from relationship of beneficiary and U.S. citizen/petitioner, with dates of photos taken and descriptions of event and locations written on the back of photos

I-485 packet:

- Check payable to U.S. Department of Homeland of Security for $1070 ($985 I-485 filing fee + $85 biometric fee)

- Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for beneficiary

- Copies of the front and back of the valid I-94 within the passport

- Copy of certified translated and notarized birth certificate of beneficiary, with original copy included behind translated copy

- Copy of certified marriage certificate

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for beneficiary

- Four passport-style color photos of beneficiary to be used for forms I-485 and I-765

- Sealed envelope containing form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record

- Form I-864, Affidavit of Support

- Copy of 2010 Federal Tax Return for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Two letters from employer of U.S. citizen and petitioner documenting employment, this year’s salary, and next year’s salary

- Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization -- no additional filing fee is being submitted since it is being filed concurrently with form I-485

I hope this helps!

[Timeshifter 1]

Thanks everyone for your well wishes. We know that we are lucky that things went smoothly. Boston turnaround times are pretty good, so I hope things will stay closer to the 3 month mark for you too!

What visa did you AOS from?

We did it while she was still here, so F-1 student visa. The alternatives we were considering before getting married were K-1 and K-3.

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

*** Moving from AOS from Family Visa to AOS from Student Visa ****

[Darnell 8,478]

Thanks for the write up -

Could you repost it over at http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/cis_review.php soonish?

[pasportit 7]

Congrats!

[mizzao 1]

Any chance you could come up with a checklist for what you brought to the interview? Is it the same thing as what you listed above?

I'm just asking because the interview checklist that is mailed seems pretty general, and is asking for some things that don't seem necessary. For example, if you already submitted an I-864, do you still need to include letters from each current employer verifying current rate of pay, pay stubs, etc?

[DandT14 272]

We haven't gone for our interview yet, but my plan is to bring EVERYTHING I can think of. Even if it seems excessive. The last thing I want is for them to ask for something and think to myself "that's sitting on my desk at home." I'd feel like an idiot!

So we'll be bringing copies of everything we already submitted, all original documents, and everything else I can lay my hands on between now and then. Maybe I'm going overboard, but that's me.

[Timeshifter 1]

Any chance you could come up with a checklist for what you brought to the interview? Is it the same thing as what you listed above?

I'm just asking because the interview checklist that is mailed seems pretty general, and is asking for some things that don't seem necessary. For example, if you already submitted an I-864, do you still need to include letters from each current employer verifying current rate of pay, pay stubs, etc?

I think it's safest to bring as many things as you have to the interview--you've gone through too much effort to risk something compromising things. At a bare minimum, you should bring what is listed on the appointment notice in terms of IDs and documents. I specifically called USCIS because whereas the application allowed me to use my passport, the notice also specifically requested my birth certificate, which was not needed for the application. When I called, the level 1 person I spoke to told me that I should bring everything listed on the document. In the end, they didn't ask to look at the birth certificate and instead only looked at my state driver's license, but it was the safe thing to do.

The notice specifically says that you do not need to bring in forms already submitted with the initial application. I brought a complete copy of my application anyway, and it was helpful, since my interviewer asked to see some things such as documentation of shared financial resources. I showed her the same exact pages she had in the application, but it was faster for me to get things from my copy than waiting for her to search through her copy. I brought in original copies of whatever I submitted if I had them, but I did not reprint the photos I submitted with the initial application. In the end, I had two envelopes that were about 1 inch thick with documents, but I think that's probably on the lighter side.

[X Factor 1,110]

ConGraTuLaTions

[vgupt 0]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I (USC) had a successful green card interview in Boston, MA today. It was very relaxed, and the interviewer asked some fair, straightforward questions about our personal histories, how we met, and evidence of a bona fide marriage. We were interviewed sequentially and separately, with the USC going first. I was actually disappointed that I hardly got to bring out any evidence. If there are no special circumstances and you have some time to be careful about paperwork, I think a lawyer is not needed for this process, as I handled all of the paperwork myself, and I'm glad to have the extra $1500. As an aside, my wife tried twice to do walk-in biometrics, but she was turned away twice, so we just stuck with the original appointment.

I want to thank all of you who offered advice a few months ago when we were thinking about what the best application route would be. This definitely was the safest and fastest route, with approval in less than 3 months after I mailed out the packet. I've updated our timeline, and we expect the green card to come in the mail sometime in the next few weeks.

To help assist others along this path, I'd like to share my own personal checklist/cover letters that I used, as I felt that this was the most difficult part of the process. My wife applied for employment authorization, but not for advance parole. I used removable stick tabs to label each set of forms, which I thought made things more organized. I didn't do anything else, such as ACCO fasteners.

Primary cover letter said that forms for the following would be enclosed:

Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

Form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance

I-130 packet:

- Check payable to U.S. Department of Homeland of Security for $420 filing fee

- Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for beneficiary

- Copy of certified marriage certificate

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Passport-style color photo of U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for beneficiary

- Passport-style color photo of beneficiary

- Evidence in support of a bona fide marriage:

- Letter from bank & bank account query confirming co-mingling of finances in the form of a joint account

- Wife and beneficiary listed as beneficiary of the 401K of U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Photos (6 photos) from relationship of beneficiary and U.S. citizen/petitioner, with dates of photos taken and descriptions of event and locations written on the back of photos

I-485 packet:

- Check payable to U.S. Department of Homeland of Security for $1070 ($985 I-485 filing fee + $85 biometric fee)

- Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status

- Copy of all the pages in the passport for beneficiary

- Copies of the front and back of the valid I-94 within the passport

- Copy of certified translated and notarized birth certificate of beneficiary, with original copy included behind translated copy

- Copy of certified marriage certificate

- Form G-325A, biographic information, for beneficiary

- Four passport-style color photos of beneficiary to be used for forms I-485 and I-765

- Sealed envelope containing form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record

- Form I-864, Affidavit of Support

- Copy of 2010 Federal Tax Return for U.S. citizen and petitioner

- Two letters from employer of U.S. citizen and petitioner documenting employment, this year’s salary, and next year’s salary

- Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization -- no additional filing fee is being submitted since it is being filed concurrently with form I-485

I hope this helps!

Thank you very much for sharing! This is very helpful. And congratulations!!!