Rescheduled AOS interview, I864 and I693 Confusion

[nicknyc 2]

Hi All,

My wife's AOS interview was initially scheduled for April 2014 and because of unavoidable circumstances, we had to reschedule which was done successfully. Now her new interview date is on September 18th, 2014. We received the new interview letter along with a checklist of documents required to be presented during interview. Along with the host of documents( which we have already collected), the checklist states to bring:

1) Affidavit of Support(I864)

2) Medical Examination (I693).

I am a bit confused as these 2 documents were submitted with the original package. Do I need to prepare a new I864 and bring it with me? My salary is above with the published poverty guidelines. Also the sealed medical examination was also submitted.

Please suggest if this is a standard template used by USCIS. FYI - The new interview letter does not state " ....if not already submitted"!

Please help

[NikeS 49]

No. It says (unless already submitted) at the end of the sentence.

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

No. It says (unless already submitted) at the end of the sentence.

Do you have his letter in your hand? Why are you so sure?

OP: When did you submit your AOS? FYI, I-693 is valid only one year, if it is more than one year, sorry but you need to do another I-693. About I-864, which tax year did you provide with it? If it is not current 2013 then you need to redo an I-864 reflecting your most tax return income, which is 2013. If the supporting tax is current, just bring your copy of I-864 and your w2s, paychecks... Good luck.

[nicknyc 2]

Do you have his letter in your hand? Why are you so sure?

OP: When did you submit your AOS? FYI, I-693 is valid only one year, if it is more than one year, sorry but you need to do another I-693. About I-864, which tax year did you provide with it? If it is not current 2013 then you need to redo an I-864 reflecting your most tax return income, which is 2013. If the supporting tax is current, just bring your copy of I-864 and your w2s, paychecks... Good luck.

Thanks NancyNguyen. I understand the point about filling I 864 with new tax returns. However, I submitted the the AOS application on September 24, 2013. The medical report was issued a day or 2 before that. Since the interview is on September 18th, 2014, can I assume the the already submitted I693 hold good? Or, to be on a safer side, should I book an appointment with local civil surgeon? Not sure if they can get me a medical report within a day?

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

Thanks NancyNguyen. I understand the point about filling I 864 with new tax returns. However, I submitted the the AOS application on September 24, 2013. The medical report was issued a day or 2 before that. Since the interview is on September 18th, 2014, can I assume the the already submitted I693 hold good? Or, to be on a safer side, should I book an appointment with local civil surgeon? Not sure if they can get me a medical report within a day?

I think your I-693 is still valid. IMHO, you can go to interview with the copy of older I-693. The worst scenario, IO will issue a RFE for a new I-693. In that case, you can visit your civil surgeon and send in new I-693 directly to your IO. At this point, please focus to your interview and getting everything ready. Good luck.

[NikeS 49]

@ Nancy that is the standard letter everyone gets hence my response.

@ nicknyc Oops I just noticed you said it doesn't contain the phrase 'unless already submitted'. My bad ?

All the best if your IO needs a newer medical report he'll ask you for it. You'll be alright.

Edited September 17, 2014 by NikeS

[nicknyc 2]

Thanks Guys. Well I have gathered a lot of documents to validate our marriage! Just checked my account details and I see that the payment made to the doctor for medical services was on September 20th, 2013. So I guess, I can claim that the medical is still valid by 2 days. If this explanation doesn't work, I wont have any choice than to get a new medical report.

[Hypnos 6,576]

The new I-693 regulations state that for a medical to be valid:

(i) you must submit the I-693 to USCIS within one year of it being performed (technically it's the date the civil-surgeon certifies the I-693)

and

(ii) your I-485 is adjudicated within one year of your submittal of the I-693 to USCIS.

Provided both of those things are true then your medical will be considered valid; once your pass a year from when you first submitted the I-693 to USCIS then it will expire and a new medical will be required.

If you are approved on the spot at your interview then it sounds as if the medical will be valid by a few days; if there is a delay then you may need to have another performed. I would wait and see, and hopefully you won't have to get it done again.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Hypnos

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

Good luck and we wait for your good new.

[nicknyc 2]

Interview experience - My wife and I went for the 2pm appointment for AOS interview on Sep 18th at Long Island City, NY USCIS office. Surprisingly the waiting room was sparsely populated however we had to wait for an hour before we were called in for the interview. Officer Bodi, a young lady, was our ISO. She was very amiable and friendly. We took the oath before sitting and she asked us to provide all the documentary evidence we have to justify our marriage. I had tonnes of documents, more than needed to prove the requirement however I was still unsure about the I-693. Surprsingly, neither I-693 or I-864 was asked for, at all! She asked to provide the latest tax returns, joint asset statements(bank a/c, investment a/c, phone bills, medical insurance cards, life insurance stmt), marriage certificate, birth certificates, my naturalization certificate, passports and ID's. Questions asked were:
- Where did we first meet?
- Who proposed?
- Where did we get married?
- How big was the wedding and number of people who attended?
- What was our family's reaction when we asked their permission?(We had an Indian wedding, so its more or less necessary to have families involved to arrange the wedding)
- What if your families were not ready for this marriage, what would you have done? (We said that our families are pretty open minded and were always in agreement of life choices we both will make, so it was fairly easy to talk to them)

Then she asked for look at the photographs and kept 2 for records. She had some nice things to say about how colorful Indian weddings are, and boy are they!!
The interview lasted for less than 15 mins and she asked us to keep all the spread out paper work back and very unassumingly she said - "So you will receive your green card in mail in the next 30 days". What a sigh of relief!
There was a lot of small talk which happened disussing wedding traditions in India and my wife also commented on how beautiful her dress was. Couldn't have asked for a better ISO and a better day.
Today the online status shows that the card is in production.

Thankyou for your suggestions and messages. Takeway from the whole process - Be patient and it nevers hurts to over prepare in terms of documents. You just dont want to be missing that one document which is needed.

[NancyNguyen 1,657]

Congratulations.remember to collect bills, insurances, and leases, bank statements for later.