Interview Letter

[Tim82 1]

Hi guys,

I have been following this forum for a while but posting for first time on this forum. I am currently waiting for the interview letter for my interview on February 6, 2014 for AOS. On January 6th, I got an email saying that status got updated and it said that my interview has been scheduled for February 6th and they have mailed out the notice listing the details for the interview on January 5th. But I haven't received that notice till date. It's been more than 10 days since they have mailed the notice and I am getting worried. My question is should I wait for some time more or should I call USCIS, so that they can send duplicate notice before February 6th. In the last status update where it said Testing and interview it' was mentioned that if more than 30 days pass after the notice is mailed out then I should call USCIS, but if I wait for that much time I will miss my currently scheduled interview date. So I am confused on what should I do? Guys please suggest.

Also how many days it took normally to receive the notice for interview after it got updated online.

Thanks,
Rsingh82

[dewy39 2]

I think it took them about 5-7 business day til I got that interview letter. You are getting pretty close to your interview date. So I would personally call them so they can mail you another notice right away. You need that letter when you attend your interview. Good luck

[KayDeeCee 4,892]

Yes, call to ask about getting the letter. You cannot enter the USCIS office without it.

~ Moved from AOS from Family Based Visas to AOS from Work, Student & Tourist Visas ~

[Tim82 1]

Thanks for your replies guys. I am gonna wait till tomorrow to see if I get the interview letter in the mail or not as today its already a federal holiday. If I don't get it by tomorrow, then I will call them tomorrow or on Wednesday and ask them on whether they can send me the duplicate notice.

[Tim82 1]

So I called at USCIS at customer service center and to my dismay the customer service personnel was not able to help me out. He was not willing to listen to my problem and said that you need to wait for 30 days before they can do anything. When I said that I know this but if I wait for 30 days I will miss my interview date and I don't want to do that and he said, unfortunately he can't do anything. When asked to talk to some officer he declined and he said that in the notices case the protocol is to wait for 30 days. I mean this is very bad on USCIS part, why they have customer service when they cannot help people and its clearly understood that if I wait for 30 days for the notice, I will miss my interview date and who knows what will happen then. I have seen posts from people where they have completely lost their notice and still made for the interview by calling them but looks like customer service is not going to help me.

Now I am going to try one more time by visiting the local field office and see if anyone can help me out there. I really do not want to miss my interview date. Senior forum members please help me with any other suggestions you guys may have.

Thanks in advance.

[Tim82 1]

So I went to field office and officer told me that notice has been sent and you should get it. He was not so willing in providing me a duplicate copy but alteast he gave me the interview details. When asked if I dont get it by the interview date, he said just do a walkin on the interview date at scheduled time and I should be good. He even told me his name just in case if someone stops me in not entering the office or does not entertain me on the interview date if I don't have the interview notice with me.

I forgot to ask him what all I need to bring in for interview. Can someone provide me the list of documents I need to take for the interview? Please guide me how to prepare for the interview as its another 2 weeks only.

And now I am just going to wait for interview day; if I get the interview notice then all is good otherwise I will just do the walk-in as the officer said.

[dewy39 2]

What you need to bring should be on your letter. But since you didn't get it, these are the documents that THEY say you need.

Original or certified copies of birth certificate, marriage license, divorce papers, passports or proof of citizenship (for your spouse) for both of you.

Arrival I-94 (original) for lawful entry

Any supporting documents showing that you entered into the marriage in good faith e.g. joint accounts, joint bills, photos

Any forms that were not sent ie. affidavit of support, medical exam forms

Good luck...

8/13/2013 Form I-130 sent

Form I-485 sent along with I-765 sent

8/19/2013 Text & email from USCIS for receiving my applications

8/23/2013 Notice of Action received. Biometric appointment scheduled

8/26/2013 Went to Civil Surgeon for medical exam & received a sealed envelope with Form I-693

9/6/2013 Biometric appointment (it was suppose to be 9/5 and I got wrong date, so I went in next day and it was no problem)

9/12/2013 A notice for request for evidence. Needed another sponsor for Affidavit of support (Form I-864)

10/10/2013 Mailed required documents for RFE along with sealed envelope from civil surgeon to Lee Summit, MO

10/25/2013 Received ANOTHER notice for request for evidence. This time for incomplete I-693 from civil surgeon (UGH!!)

11/8/2013 Mailed new sealed envelope for Form I-693 from civil surgeon for my 2nd RFE

12/2/2013 Received my Employment Authorization Card

12/4/2013 USCIS sent out a notice of action for testing and interview date (scheduled for Jan 17th, 2014)

1/17/2014 Interview date. Approved on the spot for I-130. Needed request for evidence AGAIN for I-693 (incomplete form AGAIN)

1/21/2014 Mailed in ANOTHER I-693 sealed envelope from civil surgeon

1/27/2014 I-485 Approved. Green card production

2/3/2014 Received my green card

[Tim82 1]

I had my AOS interview yesterday and was approved.... Yay.... .....

Here is my experience, a bit long but I am sure it will help out others who might be in the same boat as experiences posted by others on the forum helped me a lot:

Arrived at USCIS office at 1 PM with info-pass appointment for our 2 PM interview, as I didn't got the interview notice which is clear from my earlier posts. I made a good decision to get the info-pass in advance because I was not sure that I would receive that notice and also not sure on whether I would be allowed to enter the office without having one even though at the earlier info-pass appointment one of the officers told me that if god forbid you don't receive the notice then just walk in and say my name. And I was right when we arrived at the office, cleared the security there was reception where the guy was not convinced when I said that I came for my interview even though I didn't received the notice. I showed him my online status but he said sir you need to have notice to come for it. I then explained my situation but still he was not quite convinced, at that point I showed him the info-pass notice and he said okay that's what I need and you can talk about your situation inside. So this is how we cleared the first hurdle to our interview.

So the receptionist guy gave us some number to which we waited for almost an hour. Again thank god they called our number right around 2 PM as we were getting really nervous. Again I have to explain my situation to the lady at the counter and initially she was also not convinced but then she checked out my status online and apologized for the wait and not receiving the notice and printed out the duplicate notice and informed that they will email the officer which is scheduled to take our interview and you guys can wait in the waiting area. So cleared the second hurdle to our interview.

Waited for about 5 mins for our interview IO to call our name. And then interview IO took us into his room. And here is how interview went:

1. IO swore us both the normal oath about speaking truth and truth only.

2. Started us asking normal routine questions about how was your day and how tired he was. Asked both us for our IDs (Driving licences) and my passport.

3. Then he asked me that looking into his file that looks like you applied through work also but since this priority date for F2A moved so you applied for AOS through marriage. To which I said yes

4. Then he started asking questions to my wife who is the petitioner about me: like what is my name, date of birth, place of birth, where I work, what's my designation, what kind of work I do.

5. After he was satisfied with her answers he immediately turned his attention to me and started similar kind of questions about her to me. Clearly he was trying to prove that yes we are really married or not. Asked me questions about when was the last time I entered into US.

6. After that he started asking questions from I-485. First basic information questions and then YES/NO type questions.

7. Once he was satisfied with that he said jokingly that its not going to be over in 5 minutes right and asked if we have some thing to show to him. We had so much information: like wedding album, pre-wedding album and few loose pictures of our trips together to various places in US. I decided to start with the loose pictures. Before this he even asked my wife if there was any recent vacation we took which she liked a lot.

8. When I showed him the loose pictures, one by one he first showed half of the pictures to my wife and second half to me and asked general info like where it was taken and who all are in the picture. We made sure to take pictures of different places and with different people from our family and friends. After this it looked like he was completely satisfied and started going through paperwork and his computer... I even asked him that whether he wants to see our wedding album to which he said that's not required, its all good. He never asked for any other proof we had like join account statements, join insurance cards.

9. Finally he handed over one sheet of paper in which the first option was ticked which said that your case is being held for further review and as he was handing out he said that most likely he is going to approve your case but there is one piece of information which is missing from my file and which they need before they make final decision on my case. The one piece of information he said was one of the I-94 from previous years was missing in his file and he said that he should be able to find this and as soon as he gets it he will recommend for approval. To that I said, I think I have that paperwork with me since I took all my previous H1B approval I797's with me. I gave him the missing one and he said that's good as that's the one he needs, he will make a copy of it and approve my case. Once he said that, we had a sigh of relief.

10. After that he did something in his computer again and asked when did you guys got married and since its less than 2 years, he said you will be getting conditional GC for 2 years and you will have to go for ROC before 90 days of your conditional GC expiration.

11. When everything was done he congratulated us and escorted us both out to the waiting area and we thanked him and it was all done and this is how we cleared our final hurdle to big, long, stressful journey to GC.

12. After about an hour, I got the online notification about Card Production and that was the best moment of the day.

13. Couple of hours later again got the online notification about the decision notice being mailed.

Thanks to everyone on this forum who kept this thread going. This helped me a lot in my path to successfully completing my AOS. And best wishes whosoever is waiting for interview completion and GC.

[Ben10 2]

Congratulations...Great and interesting story!