HELP!!!

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

We had our interview today and we are concerned because we don't know what the "final decision" will be?

Anyways, we were sworn in and asked to sit down and the interview commenced.

We were asked the usual questions, have you ever been arrested, used drugs, blah blah blah and the answers were obviously no, no and no and after that portion was done, she asked to see our joint evidence.

We had limited joint evidence other than a joint bank account, dental insurance, phone bill, photos, airline tickets including my trip overseas where I met my husband, phone logs from our communication when my husband was still living overseas, a notarized letter from our neighbor, etc. I could not add my husband to most of the bills in due time because he just got his EAD card a few weeks ago and our interview followed right after and most companies wanted his SS number which he did not have at the time so there was nothing much I could do.

She told us because we have very limited joint evidence, she is going to separate us!!! My husband was asked to go sit in the waiting room and I remained in the office. She asked me about 8 questions or so. The questions included what did your husband get you on your birthday, what did you get him on his birthday, who does the laundry, where is the laundry done, which department store did you last visit, which is the nearest mall to your house, when was the last time you dined out and what did you order and what did your husband order and what is your landlord's name? After she was done with me, she moved one chair back and asked me to sit there and then went back to the waiting room and brought my husband back to the room. He was asked the same questions and even though my husband was understandably a little nervous, his answers were mostly similar to mine with the exception of maybe one or two where his answer were not exactly identical to mine. She scolded us about that and then engaged us in a mini conversation and said she would have to review our case! She then handed us a piece of paper that I have partially typed below:

NOTICE OF INTERVIEW RESULTS

You have just completed your interview. USCIS is unable to complete your case at this time. Your case is being continued until a final decision can be made. Please see below for further explanation.

REASON FOR CONTINUANCE

Your case is being held for review. At this time, USCIS does not require any further information or documents from you. Should further information or documents be required, you will receive a notice in the mail. We may also schedule you for another interview, you will receive a notice in the mail. Otherwise, a final decision will be mailed once your case is complete.

Please allow for no less than 120 days before making a status inquiry on your case.

So, what does this all mean??? Has anyone else experienced this? Should we just sit around ( 120 days = 4 months!!! ) and wait or should we get an attorney? PLEASE HELP!!!

All comments are welcome.

Thank you all in advance.

[Carla V 43]

Well, as I understand you need to wait because is there nothing a lawyer could do at this point... You can maybe gather more evidence in case tgey send you a RFE or a second interview??? Now that you have more means to get joint documents you can start with those... Good luck!!!

[Snag 57]

I agree. Load up on evidence and start collecting, collecting, collecting. From what you've written, you actually had a little more evidence than we had, to be honest (we had joint bank account, photos, letters, boarding passes). See if you can collect a few more letters from people you have good faith in your marriage (we had two from either set of parents). This will be handy if they ask for more evidence, a stokes interview, or just in general (we still have a copy of our packets).

I'd relax. It means exactly what it says. They're reviewing your case, your interview, and they'll get back to you. I think there's nothing much that can be done, except to go and enjoy your husband, and wait.

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

What about the 120 days thing? Is that typical?

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

Do you think because we gave different answers to some of the questions, that will work against us? I mean, do we have to remember everything??? I mean, who does??? We are just living life! Do we have to document every part of our life and remember every fine detail???

[Terry J 50]

What about the 120 days thing? Is that typical?

For cases under review I believe that the 120 days is standard and you'd need to respect what their notice stipulates. Most likely you'll hear something before then but believe me, I know the wait is frustrating.

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

Thanks Terry! I guess the 120 days is all a little bit much to take ...

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

I forgot to mention she kept my husband's 1-94.

[aussie_jason 195]

What country is your husband from? The evidence you provided should have been sufficient so either your husband is from a high risk country or there was something else that triggered the IO to be suspicious, what questions did he differ on? I'd have to really think on the birthdays thing unless they were really recent and we dine out so much that question would be a struggle too.

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from WST-based AOS to WST-based AOS Progress Forum~

~Inquiry about case status~

[Teddy B 17,251]

What country is your husband from? The evidence you provided should have been sufficient so either your husband is from a high risk country or there was something else that triggered the IO to be suspicious, what questions did he differ on? I'd have to really think on the birthdays thing unless they were really recent and we dine out so much that question would be a struggle too.

I agree with this. You had more than enough evidence for an AOS case. How long have you been married? Is this the first time either of you has applied for a greencard?

Please fill out your timeline.

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

What country is your husband from? The evidence you provided should have been sufficient so either your husband is from a high risk country or there was something else that triggered the IO to be suspicious, what questions did he differ on? I'd have to really think on the birthdays thing unless they were really recent and we dine out so much that question would be a struggle too.

My husband is from Kenya and that is where I met him. The evidence we submitted with our paperwork included photos of us together when I visited Kenya and our correspondence when I came back to the USA until the time he came over to visit me. We got the gift for his birthday wrong because to be honest, we are adults, we do not make a big deal about birthday gifts because we exchange small gifts, here and there all the time. So I struggled with that answer and I told the IO I was very unsure of my answer and when my husband was asked, he gave a completely different answer! For the dining out, we do dine out often, even if its just for a small bite or a drink, etc. I could not for the love of Christ remember where was the last place we dined out! I picked a place that we recently visited and my husband actually got it right, he picked the place we last dined at and I told the officer, my husband is right, I completely forgot about that. She also asked the last department store we visited and I picked a place we went to last week and my husband was right again, he picked the place we had just returned an item to the previous night which I completely forgot about because I stayed in the car while my husband ran into the department store to do the return. Oy Vey, I guess my memory is not as great as that of an elephant or maybe the vino is finally getting the best of me, LOL. Notice there is progress, I can afford to laugh a little today ...

Because we know each other so well and we have been living together since my husband came to the USA last year, we were so relaxed and approached the interview with so much ease. Perhaps that was our fault? We should have been at home cramming and documenting every part of our life???!!! We did not prepare for the interview because what is there to prepare for? We are living our lives. We live together, we do everything together and so we just sort of walked in thinking this would be an easy process. Boy, were we wrong! The IO raised her voice several times and even screamed a couple of times when my husband tried to be respectful and address her by her name but because of his sexy accent, everything just sounded so "exotic" to her I think. She screamed at him and said, my name is Officer so and so, if you can't call me that, don't address me by my name at all! WOW! I think she threw both of us off! It was so unexpected and she put both of us on edge.

Red flags? I can't conclusively think of any?

1. Maybe its because I am a few years older than my husband?

2. Maybe its because we got married after my husband's 6 month 1-94 had expired? From what I'v e read here on VJ, I thought that would not be a bad thing given that my husband came here on a B1/B2 and there is some 90 day rule thing and we exceeded that and then some?

3. Maybe its because I did not add my husband to my health insurance in due time? Given that I am self employed and my renewal date was just around the corner, my healthcare provider switched me to a new plan and I don't like its terms. I was taking time to understand ACA and our new healthcare options so I can pick the best HMO plan for us.

4. Maybe its because we did not have a joint lease? We are considering to move to another state for better life/lifestyle and job opportunities when my husband gets his GC. I did not add my husband to the lease because I did not renew my lease and my landlord agreed for us to stay on a month to month agreement with a 30 day notice when we are ready to move out? I brought my current lease and a letter from my landlord stating so and told the IO that but she did not bother to look at it so I assume she was fine with that but who knows?

5. Other than having a joint bank account, joint dental insurance, DMV issued identification that shows the same address and additional current photos, I did not bring anything else to the interview. We submitted most of our supporting documents when we sent off the original package and other than getting an RFE to do the 1-864 and not the EZ kind we originally did, they did not ask for anything else from us. She said to us, given that you do not have enough joint evidence, I am going to have to separate you and I said, that's ok.

When the interview was done and we were walking out of her office, she mumbled something like, I have to review your case, maybe you will get your green card, maybe ... we did not hear what else she said. We were so deflated! She also started smiling towards the end of the interview so who knows? The ball is in her court and she gets to decide my husband's fate with the stroke of her pen so she holds the ULTIMATE power! You are so humbled and you learn so much going through this process. May God give us the strength to endure.

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

I agree with this. You had more than enough evidence for an AOS case. How long have you been married? Is this the first time either of you has applied for a greencard?

Please fill out your timeline.

We got married this January 2014 so everything was moving pretty fast. This is the first time my husband is applying for his green card. My timeline is on my signature below.

Thank you.

[Mimi and Wewe 0]

120 days of being in limbo is a long time to wait. It feels like an eternity! We finally got approved this Monday November 24th! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

[cablewyres 38]

Hi Mimi and Wewe,

I know that your post has been done a long time ago. But thank you for sharing your story. It's really giving me hope as I have been so stressed and depressed lately. I am kinda in the same boat. We had our interview about 2 weeks ago but still no decision. We were given the 120

letter notice for under review and etc after our interview though interview went well. We are newly weds and did not have a lot of joint docs together yet as well and my wife was married before (but we weren't really asked much about it).

How did the process to getting your GC go? Did you just wait it out? Would really like to hear from you. thank you so much...

120 days of being in limbo is a long time to wait. It feels like an eternity! We finally got approved this Monday November 24th! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Hi Mimi and Wewe,

I know that your post has been done a long time ago. But thank you for sharing your story. It's really giving me hope as I have been so stressed and depressed lately. I am kinda in the same boat. We had our interview about 2 weeks ago but still no decision. We were given the 120

letter notice for under review and etc after our interview though interview went well. We are newly weds and did not have a lot of joint docs together yet as well and my wife was married before (but we weren't really asked much about it).

How did the process to getting your GC go? Did you just wait it out? Would really like to hear from you. thank you so much...