Are spouses allowed in to the interview office?

[tcTTct 37]

Are spouses allowed in to the interview office? I'm taking my wife to the interview, will they make me wait outside?

[TBoneTX 47,011]

The interview is one-on-one. You'll be sitting in the waiting area.

[Jo Së 200]

What is the interview for? They are for AOS based on K1 visa, not sure about others.

[kareelina 42]

No spouses allowed inside the embassy

[mallafri76 1,012]

I don't think so for the initial interview but you can probably wait in the waiting area.

Edited August 2, 2015 by mallafri76

[JoBri 552]

I was allowed in to the interview, and I am glad that I was, because they were about to make a big mistake concerning her name. I confronted the interviewing officer about that, and he spoke with his director and we got things corrected. This took place in Memphis, Tennessee.

[kovacs 20]

Why didn't your wife offer the name correction herself?

[JoBri 552]

Why didn't your wife offer the name correction herself?

First of all, I was invited into the interview room from the beginning, before the problem came up. And there was no need to do a name correction... her legal name was good enough.

During the interview is when there became a problem, while I was in there. We got married in the Philippines. In the Philippines, it is customary for the woman to replace her middle name with the maiden name, and then take the husband's last name as her own. For example, Jamie White Smith marries John Pete Wayne and the wife's name becomes Jamie Smith Wayne. The IO apparently was unaware of this. He kept insisting that for the naturalization she would have to change her name back to the original middle name. So as in our example, he was saying instead of her using her legal name, Jamie Smith Wayne, she would have to change it back to the former middle name, Jamie White Wayne. To change her name for naturalization would mean that she would have to use an alias instead of her legal name. All her records, from before ever leaving the Philippines was in her legal name, the name she got when we married. Our marriage certificate, her updated Philippines passport, all our immigration paperwork, social security number, drivers license, bank accounts, credit cards, birth certificate of our son with her name on it, military records... EVERYTHING was in her legal name and this IO wanted her to assume an alias for naturalization because he had a brain cramp or something.

Anyways, I was glad I was in the room, because I was able to help him see he could be making a huge mistake. If my wife was in there alone, instead of confronting him she would have just gone along with what he said and assumed an alias name, which would have really messed up her life, having 2 names. In the end the IO spoke with his director after I confronted him and the director told him that her legal name is the one that he should use, not the alias that he had chosen for her.

[kovacs 20]

Guess you being there was a good thing :-)

[JoBri 552]

hehe... yes....

It still irks me though, this long after. This guy works for USCIS. I cant figure out how he could have a job there. Imagine being told that you have to use a fake name to become a US citizen. And I asked him does it not occur to him that she will have to have every single legal document of hers changed to reflect this name that he is choosing for her? And he only appologized and said he cant help that. Just glad he spoke with the director and got straightened out.

Guess you being there was a good thing :-)

[HI-UG 4]

Maiden name becoming middle name is also common practice (though not quite as common as it used to be) in the US - why would USCIS IO not know this?

[JoBri 552]

Dont know what the IO was thinking, but it was good I was allowed in that interview with my wife. She is very non-confrontational and would have said nothing. She doesnt always look at the long term consequences of things. It can be somewhat intimidating, those interviews, in some cases. I think they should always allow both spouses to be in the interview for naturalization, for the very reason it was good I was there. It affects both.

Maiden name becoming middle name is also common practice (though not quite as common as it used to be) in the US - why would USCIS IO not know this?