AOS Interview Experience (Spouse of US Citizen)

[Brittany USA 4]

I have been following this forum for a long time and had my husband's AOS interview in Miami (Kendall, FL) today. I so appreciate everyone sharing their stories and I wanted to take a moment to recount our experience in case it helps anyone out there to have more of an idea what they can expect in this process.

 

My Canadian husband entered the US as a tourist in August 2017. We married on 2/2/18. We consulted with an immigration lawyer who really underwhelmed us; we felt strongly that it was not worth the money to hire a lawyer and decided to do everything on our own. 

 

We filed the I-130 & I-485 concurrently (along with I-864, I-765, I-131) with a filing date of 2/16/18. Biometrics were done in late March 2018. We expected his EAD/Advance Parole docs first, and anticipated the average wait time of 1+ year to complete the whole adjustment of status process, yet we were pleasantly shocked when on 5/23/18 we received the notice to appear for our interview on 6/28/18 - just 4 months after filing!

 

Here is how today’s interview went:

 

Our appointment was for 8:00 a.m. We arrived at 7:30 a.m. and checked in at a desk where they took my husband’s picture and retained his interview notice sheet. Within 15 minutes, they called his name and returned his interview notice sheet with an alphanumeric code written on it. At around 8:35 a.m. his name was called again and we were escorted to a room by the officer who would conduct our interview. It was an empty office with a desk and computer with two chairs in front, where we sat and faced the officer. 

 

For the first few minutes, the officer went through our paperwork and did a lot of filing and hole-punching. He requested original copies of the following: the interview notice, marriage certificate, our passports, our birth certificates, and my husband’s divorce decree from his prior marriage. We also handed over my husband’s I-693 which was completed a few weeks ago.  At no point did he request to see any additional evidence of our ‘bona fide marriage’ (I came prepared with a binder full of photographs, travel documents, cards from friends, proof of commingled expenses, etc.).

 

Then, he asked the following questions of us separately:

 

To me, the US Citizen wife:

• What is your name?
• Date of birth?
• Is this your signature? (Pointing to I-130)
• This is your first marriage? (Yes)

 

To my Canadian husband:

• What is your name?
• Date of birth?
• City of birth?
• Is this your signature? (Pointing to I-485)
• You married in February of this year? (Yes)
• This is your 2nd marriage? (Yes)
• Your ex wife’s name is (Name)? (Yes)
• Do you have kids? (Not yet)
• You last entered the US in August? (Yes)
• You have not left the country since, right? (Yes)
• Do you still work at (Company listed as last workplace on I-485)? (No)
• What do you do now? (Consulting)
• Were you ever involved in terrorist activity? Military training? Communist? Political organizations? (No!)
• You were detained once? (Yes)
• What happened? (Told story; police report was included in application)

As you can see, most questions were Yes/No questions. It was all much easier than we expected.

 

Lastly, he asked “How did you meet?” and said he didn’t mind which of us answered the question. We told a short version of the story of how we met. At about 8:50 a.m.  the interview concluded and the officer told us right then & there that my husband’s permanent resident card would arrive in 7-10 days. We walked out with big smiles!

 

Best of luck to everyone else on this journey. I hope our story is helpful.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Brittany USA

[Alejandro_B 26]

Thank you for sharing your story!

[PollyC 119]

3 hours ago, Brittany USA said:

I have been following this forum for a long time and had my husband's AOS interview in Miami (Kendall, FL) today. I so appreciate everyone sharing their stories and I wanted to take a moment to recount our experience in case it helps anyone out there to have more of an idea what they can expect in this process.

 

My Canadian husband entered the US as a tourist in August 2017. We married on 2/2/18. We consulted with an immigration lawyer who really underwhelmed us; we felt strongly that it was not worth the money to hire a lawyer and decided to do everything on our own. 

 

We filed the I-130 & I-485 concurrently (along with I-864, I-765, I-131) with a filing date of 2/16/18. Biometrics were done in late March 2018. We expected his EAD/Advance Parole docs first, and anticipated the average wait time of 1+ year to complete the whole adjustment of status process, yet we were pleasantly shocked when on 5/23/18 we received the notice to appear for our interview on 6/28/18 - just 4 months after filing!

 

Here is how today’s interview went:

 

Our appointment was for 8:00 a.m. We arrived at 7:30 a.m. and checked in at a desk where they took my husband’s picture and retained his interview notice sheet. Within 15 minutes, they called his name and returned his interview notice sheet with an alphanumeric code written on it. At around 8:35 a.m. his name was called again and we were escorted to a room by the officer who would conduct our interview. It was an empty office with a desk and computer with two chairs in front, where we sat and faced the officer. 

 

For the first few minutes, the officer went through our paperwork and did a lot of filing and hole-punching. He requested original copies of the following: the interview notice, marriage certificate, our passports, our birth certificates, and my husband’s divorce decree from his prior marriage. We also handed over my husband’s I-693 which was completed a few weeks ago.  At no point did he request to see any additional evidence of our ‘bona fide marriage’ (I came prepared with a binder full of photographs, travel documents, cards from friends, proof of commingled expenses, etc.).

 

Then, he asked the following questions of us separately:

 

To me, the US Citizen wife:

• What is your name?
• Date of birth?
• Is this your signature? (Pointing to I-130)
• This is your first marriage? (Yes)

 

To my Canadian husband:

• What is your name?
• Date of birth?
• City of birth?
• Is this your signature? (Pointing to I-485)
• You married in February of this year? (Yes)
• This is your 2nd marriage? (Yes)
• Your ex wife’s name is (Name)? (Yes)
• Do you have kids? (Not yet)
• You last entered the US in August? (Yes)
• You have not left the country since, right? (Yes)
• Do you still work at (Company listed as last workplace on I-485)? (No)
• What do you do now? (Consulting)
• Were you ever involved in terrorist activity? Military training? Communist? Political organizations? (No!)
• You were detained once? (Yes)
• What happened? (Told story; police report was included in application)

As you can see, most questions were Yes/No questions. It was all much easier than we expected.

 

Lastly, he asked “How did you meet?” and said he didn’t mind which of us answered the question. We told a short version of the story of how we met. At about 8:50 a.m.  the interview concluded and the officer told us right then & there that my husband’s permanent resident card would arrive in 7-10 days. We walked out with big smiles!

 

Best of luck to everyone else on this journey. I hope our story is helpful.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! 

I hope mine also will process as fast as yours.

So far I filed my package in Mid May and done the biometric appointment in Mid June. Now just waiting for the interview notice