I-485 approved in less than 3 months!

[Kiwitopia 0]

Hey all, I just got back from my greencard interview and have been approved as a new legal permanent resident!!! My greencard will be mailed to me within 60 days! As you can see by my timeline, I was very lucky as this whole process took less than 3 months! I just wanted to share my interview experience with anyone fretting or nervous about an upcoming appointment.

All in all I spent about 8 hours this weekend gathering original documentation, photographs, and photocopying all the documentation submitted with my I-485, I-130, I-765, and I-131 (submitted concurrently). At the interview, I was scheduled for 10am but wasn't called in until about 11:15 (and had been sitting and waiting since 9am as I felt it appropriate to arrive very early in order to calm my nerves and establish in my own mind it was really happening). The officer called my name and my husband and I followed her into her office. She literally only asked us the following three questions:

1) How did you two meet, was it through work? (we explained no, it was through family friends of our parents while I vacationed to Houston from Canada)

2) Asked each of us for our own birthdays

3) Asked each of us for our own socials

That was it. Then there was some small talk about her husband being in the army and how much they had moved around before he retired and a little small talk back and forth as she typed codes into the computer. I was shocked. Some typing, some checking things off a list, some stamping of paper and then she said "I'm doing this now so you can have your decision when you leave here today"...a few more minutes, and bam here you go, you are approved and will get your card within 60 days!!! Then she asked if I had any additional documentation not submitted already that I'd like to add to my file. So I said yes and handed her my photos, wedding invitation and bridal shower invitation (although not necessary since I was already approved...I just felt I needed to justify my many hours wasted this weekend gathering documents that weren't asked for). I then asked "do you need my I-94?" and she said yes, so I handed it to her and that was it! We left.

The bottomline is: no amount of worrying is going to change your interview, and it's most likely going to be a much smoother appointment than what you anticipate!! Arrive prepared (better to have too much documentation than not enough), dress respectably, and be yoursleves! The officers I saw calling people in all seemed very personable, none of them appeared to be sullen or "power-tripping". Good luck on your journeys everyone!!!

[inlovesalem 17]

Awesome news huge congrats!!!!