AOS interview after terminating removal

[sparkles_ 456]

In case anyone is interested, and more so in case another person ever searches for a similar experience on VJ, here is our experience with AOS after termination of removal proceedings. 

 

Well, it was a poopy experience, lol. The local office was beyond busy, we arrived at 915 and didn't get seen til about 1015. Got a lady IO and I somehow knew she would nitpick us. She started asking about how we met and telling us that our i130 may not have been adjudicated properly.....literally almost had me in tears at hearing this. We had to explain to her that because we got married before my husband got put into removal, an interview wasn't required but we were aware it was a chance. Then she started in about the i130 receipt date being after we dealt with ICE...cue more explaining. Says an interview for this would have been beneficial. I say well it took 11mo to approve, and she said they were probably deciding to interview or not. Fine. She gets on how we met, she tried to twist my words of saying I was at X place alone and he was with a friend who he blew off to hang out with me. Asks me, but I thought you said you were alone. Again, I clarify that I did say that, it was my husband who blew off the buddy to hit on me. She asks for the name of my husband's room mate at that time. Asks how we got engaged and when. Asks about what we have in common. We say language, travel, etc and religion. Which one is that? Muslim....

 

Cue the religion questions. Why didn't we have a mosque wedding? Because we didn't think it would take this long to get back to Morocco to have the big one. Well, so your legal civilmarriage isn't technically valid in your religion? My god, she is trying hard to make us screw ourselves. I explain that we are the equal of Easter christians, we don't go to the mosque weekly or even monthly. Yes our faith is important to us but we are also moderate and live far away from the mosque anyway. And that our marriage is valid for us because we are supposed to follow the laws of the land we live in firstly. My husband looked like he was about to pass out at this point. 

 

She flips deep into our file and says to me, "I see you aren't new to this." Meaning I filed for my ex husband about 10yr ago. And I say yes, I filed for my ex 10yr ago. She lets that go. She gets on the fact that I never changed my DL address from my mothers address, it's been 3yr. Why? Because I kept it in her address so I don't pay both county, city and new car highway tax by leaving it in that address. She says it's a discrepancy and explains to us that this is usually a key piece but my explanation makes sense, she knows how high NC newer car taxes are. 

 

We hand over two leases and 2.5 yr worth of detailed bank statements, printed every 3-4mo. She uses her eagle eyes to pick one damn thing to get on, our big tax refund deposit. Why is it in this name? Who is this? Why does it have an & sign in there, I've never seen it this way. I explain we have long first and last names, they used our first initial and what they could fit of our last names. Still asking. I finally present our tax transcript which is address to the same cut off names and this pleases her on that issue. At this point, I'm ready for a shot of vodka. She starts to click on her computer and tells us her connection is down, wait a second she has to call to see what's going on. After this she flips the hard ### act off and starts to smile and look semi human. Says she is sorry she can't approve us now because there is no connection to do the final security check. Basically to make sure hubs wasn't a criminal recently, and to expect something in the mail in 5-7 days pending the final security is good. 

 

Meanwhile im trying to get her to look at my damn 100$ worth of album and printed photos, which she wasn't interested in. Didn't even look at them. Didn't want our utilities. Didn't want anything else after the bank and lease stuff really. She didn't even ask us the yes/no questions on the i485....I give her some of our car insurance stuff. She seemed to want older things and said so, that anyone can add someone to something 2mo ago. I get that. I hand over emergency contact stuff from my kids school like 2yr ago and 3yr worth of zoo memberships. Now she is making small talk and saying she is really sorry she has no connection but that nothing appears negative in our file. Again 5-7 days for her decision. She can't tell us for sure approved without that damn internet. 

 

I ask her one one last time about our i130, because she has went and scared the life out of me about it. Is our i130 ok? I need to call my lawyer and fill her in. Yes, she says everything is ok. She thinks we should have filed concurrent and had an i130 interview and adjust in front of a judge but she thinks our lawyer opted for the long way to save money for us...she says adjusting in court is a lot of money, so she gets why. By the end of everything she was pretty decent and only made a copy of our DLs because of the address thing, and said she wouldn't be requesting any other info. 

 

Our lawyer says the 5-7 days thing is goo because a denial takes months. We were not asked anything personal about each other, about our kids, it was literally the 4-5 dagger questions and done. 

 

I wont believe it's approved til I see the card in my mail box. 

Edited March 27, 2017 by sparkles_

[Transborderwife 4,666]

Prayers and good thoughts

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

Prayers to you as well on this. It looks like you did good as well on my end. So I would just wait honestly.

 

I know how you feel about the NC and car taxes. While for me it was easier paying NC car taxes than CA taxes. 

[sparkles_ 456]

1 minute ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Prayers to you as well on this. It looks like you did good as well on my end. So I would just wait honestly.

 

I know how you feel about the NC and car taxes. While for me it was easier paying NC car taxes than CA taxes. 

The difference between city and non city vehicle tax here is still about 150, if not more plus the highway tax for a newer, less than 5yr old car.  I had lived in WA state before and it was nothing compared to NC amounts. 

[sparkles_ 456]

FWIW, we were not given anything concerning further review either. 

 

No no questions about ourselves or family, kids, etc. 

Edited March 27, 2017 by sparkles_

[oncoming traffic 21]

i know theres a lot to scrutinize with what she said but hey, 5-7 days for a decision? i'm with your lawyer, that sounds like you should be good to me, i've seen that kind of thing in plenty of ppl's interview writeups. hope you got that shot of vodka you wanted.. you deserve it !

 

sending many warm thoughts your way

[Marco&Bettina 502]

29 minutes ago, sparkles_ said:

The difference between city and non city vehicle tax here is still about 150, if not more plus the highway tax for a newer, less than 5yr old car.  I had lived in WA state before and it was nothing compared to NC amounts. 

Seems like a bunch of stupid taxes. Move to TX.

[sparkles_ 456]

Our lawyer thinks the IO was trying to test us and trip us up, not that we had any major issues with the adjustment part of our case, hence the IO not wanting more info from us besides the bank and lease stuff. 

Edited March 27, 2017 by sparkles_

[geowrian 22,337]

Sounds like it went pretty well. I'm not surprised she gave you a hard time at first...that's pretty much her job. A legitimate couple won't trip with what she asked. Once she made the decision that things checked out, she could be friendlier.

[QueenComley 295]

I would have had your lawyer there with you. My lawyer is renowned for challenging an immigration officer every time they challenge his clients LOL!!!  But... I think yall be ok. Praying for a speedy outcome! keep us updated

[sparkles_ 456]

One more thing I forgot. She asked did we have any proof of relationship before we got married with us. I said no, one because we didn't bring any. And two because both of our phones we used during that time (3yr ago) are long gone, we were both on prepay plans til we got a joint Verizon plan so there was no getting text or phone log proof of any communications. We sent a couple of photos of us during that time with the i130, though. 

 

I feel like I'm over analyzing every single thing and word now that it's done

[neilsqueen 433]

Best wishes to you!  I'm sure everything will be just fine!!

[sparkles_ 456]

Thanks guys. Still no update as of yet

[m8cl 5]

Sparkles, you are one tough cookie.?  I hope you get the good news...very soon.

[sparkles_ 456]

49 minutes ago, m8cl said:

Sparkles, you are one tough cookie.?  I hope you get the good news...very soon.

Hope so as well!