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1 minute ago, Boiler said:

Stokes is certainly not normal, any reason they would have suspicions?

I don't even know if this is called stokes because like I said, all other couples got separated here as well, and my lawyer told me this is what they do here in Louisville Kentucky. 

 

The only possible reason they would suspect our marriage, would be 
1) We are a same-sex couple.

2) My US spouse is not earning enough income, so I used mine. (no joint sponsor, because my lawyer told me my income can be used)

3) We did not submit marriage-evidence documents at the time of application. (my lawyer told us that they don't send marriage evidence with applications. Instead they recommend we should take them with us to the interview.)

 

I was thinking some officers might not like the idea of two same sex partners getting married. My office was like, "I don't need to see your photos". I felt hurt.

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1) Same-sex has nothing to do with it.

2) Not a reason for a stokes interview...the public charge concern is a separate issue.

3) This could certainly be it...as far as the IO knew, you had no evidence of a bona fide marriage despite being together for 5 years. No idea why the lawyer advised not to send anything beforehand...maybe that's why he says everybody goes through it.

Timelines:

ROC:

Spoiler

7/27/20: Sent forms to Dallas lockbox, 7/30/20: Received by USCIS, 8/10 NOA1 electronic notification received, 8/1/ NOA1 hard copy received

AOS:

Spoiler

AOS (I-485 + I-131 + I-765):

9/25/17: sent forms to Chicago, 9/27/17: received by USCIS, 10/4/17: NOA1 electronic notification received, 10/10/17: NOA1 hard copy received. Social Security card being issued in married name (3rd attempt!)

10/14/17: Biometrics appointment notice received, 10/25/17: Biometrics

1/2/18: EAD + AP approved (no website update), 1/5/18: EAD + AP mailed, 1/8/18: EAD + AP approval notice hardcopies received, 1/10/18: EAD + AP received

9/5/18: Interview scheduled notice, 10/17/18: Interview

10/24/18: Green card produced notice, 10/25/18: Formal approval, 10/31/18: Green card received

K-1:

Spoiler

I-129F

12/1/16: sent, 12/14/16: NOA1 hard copy received, 3/10/17: RFE (IMB verification), 3/22/17: RFE response received

3/24/17: Approved! , 3/30/17: NOA2 hard copy received

 

NVC

4/6/2017: Received, 4/12/2017: Sent to Riyadh embassy, 4/16/2017: Case received at Riyadh embassy, 4/21/2017: Request case transfer to Manila, approved 4/24/2017

 

K-1

5/1/2017: Case received by Manila (1 week embassy transfer??? Lucky~)

7/13/2017: Interview: APPROVED!!!

7/19/2017: Visa in hand

8/15/2017: POE

 

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4 minutes ago, geowrian said:

1) Same-sex has nothing to do with it.

2) Not a reason for a stokes interview...the public charge concern is a separate issue.

3) This could certainly be it...as far as the IO knew, you had no evidence of a bona fide marriage despite being together for 5 years. No idea why the lawyer advised not to send anything beforehand...maybe that's why he says everybody goes through it.

 

1) Yeah I want to hope that same-sex and opposite-sex couples are treated the same way in immigration. But USCIS officers are also human beings with all kinds of emotions and opinions, and I dont think everyone is in favor of same sex marriage. You know what I mean? So I think it can be possible that some officers who are against it might unconsciously treat same-sex couples more strictly than opposite-sex couples. 

 

3) Yeah this could be it, but the thing is, I saw 4-5 couples ahead of me at the USCIS interview waiting room, and they all got separated too. and I doubt all of them used the same lawyer as we did. and so I think separated interview is what they do here regardless. 

And I still don't understand why she refused to take photos if she needed the proof of bona fide marriage.

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Haiti
Timeline

OP what country is the foreign spouse from?

Our K1 Journey    I-129f

Service Center : Texas Service Center   Transferred? California Service Center on 8/11/14

Consulate : Port au Prince, Haiti             I-129F Sent : 4/14/2014

I-129F NOA1 : 4/24/14                            I-129F NOA2 : 9/10/14

NVC Received : 9/24/14                          NVC Left : 9/26/14

Consulate Received : 10/6/14 CEAC status changed to ready

Packet 3 Received : 10/27/14 packet received by petitioner in USA ( beneficiary never received packet 3)

Medical: 10/30/14 Dr. Buteau                  Medical picked up: 11/3/14

Packet 3 Sent : 11/10/13.. Had to schedule interview appointment and attach confirmation receipt to packet

Interview Date : 12/1/14                           Interview Result : Approved !

Visa Received : 12/10/14 picked up at Jacmel location

US Entry : 12/15/14 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Apply for Social Security Card: 12/30/14 Connecticut

Marriage: 1/26/15

 

Adjustment of Status

CIS Office : Hartford                                  Filed : 3/18/15

NOA : 3/25/15                                            Biometrics : 4/15/15

Approved: 8/31/15                                     Received: 9/8/15

 

EAD

CIS Office : Hartford                                  Filed : 3/18/15

NOA : 3/25/15                                            Approved: 6/12/15

Received: 6/20/15

 

Removal of Conditions I-751

Filed: 8/14/17 at VSC                                 NOA: 8/15/17 Received 8/21 by mail

Biometrics: Dated: 8/25/17   Received 9/2/17   Appointment 9/11/17 

Approved: 10/23/18 -no interview

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Filed: AOS (pnd) Country: Poland
Timeline
9 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

When you said "looking over paperwork with the couple together", are you saying, normally the couple won't get separated?  If that's what you meant, that is not necessarily true. My lawyer had told me in advance that almost all couples my lawyer had seen in his clients got separated in this USCIS. It is located in Louisville Kentucky.

When I got there, I saw 4-5 couples ahead of us, and they all got separated too! Always the US spouse got called in first, and then after 10-20 min, the international spouse got called in.

In general couples with more complicated situations seek lawyer help regarding AOS so I’m not surprised most of your lawyer clients got separated during interview.

 

But thanks for sharing your experience and GL! It will be alright :)

Edited by Marcelina
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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Kenya
Timeline
11 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

I don't even know if this is called stokes because like I said, all other couples got separated here as well, and my lawyer told me this is what they do here in Louisville Kentucky. 

 

The only possible reason they would suspect our marriage, would be 
1) We are a same-sex couple.

2) My US spouse is not earning enough income, so I used mine. (no joint sponsor, because my lawyer told me my income can be used)

3) We did not submit marriage-evidence documents at the time of application. (my lawyer told us that they don't send marriage evidence with applications. Instead they recommend we should take them with us to the interview.)

 

I was thinking some officers might not like the idea of two same sex partners getting married. My office was like, "I don't need to see your photos". I felt hurt.

I can chime in here. We are a same-sex couple too AND he is from a homophobic country (much much less so than other countries though).

We are no AOS interview and no I-751 interview. I know of two other couples as well. Their AOS interview was two questions in total each. They had both been together for 7 and 10 years together respectively. 

 

Not sure if these questions are normal or not. I KNOW for certain my spouse would have flunked many of these questions....wow!!. He is not a detail orientated person. I am the detained one....:-(

Edited by NYCruiser
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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Kenya
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3 hours ago, Marcelina said:

In general couples with more complicated situations seek lawyer help regarding AOS so I’m not surprised most of your lawyer clients got separated during interview.

 

But thanks for sharing your experience and GL! It will be alright :)

We used a lawyer for the K1 petition process. That was because he got his B2 refused three times and we were worried. 

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Canada
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12 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

I don't even know if this is called stokes because like I said, all other couples got separated here as well, and my lawyer told me this is what they do here in Louisville Kentucky. 

 

The only possible reason they would suspect our marriage, would be 
1) We are a same-sex couple.

2) My US spouse is not earning enough income, so I used mine. (no joint sponsor, because my lawyer told me my income can be used)

3) We did not submit marriage-evidence documents at the time of application. (my lawyer told us that they don't send marriage evidence with applications. Instead they recommend we should take them with us to the interview.)

 

I was thinking some officers might not like the idea of two same sex partners getting married. My office was like, "I don't need to see your photos". I felt hurt.

Sorry you felt hurt but don’t worry about that. A lot of officers tell people they don’t want to see their photos. That’s really common and nothing to take personally. 

 

Did you enter into your marriage for the right reasons and not for immigration purposes? If yes, then don’t freak out. Stay calm and interact with immigration in a composed manner. Just because it appears they suspect something wrong doesn’t mean they’ll come to that conclusion. If you haven’t done anything wrong it will likely work out. Focus on the next step and staying on track. Good luck! 

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I don't think it's normal.

 

My husband (USC) and I (beneficiary) interviewed this week and we didn't get separated (I approached the officer by myself when my name was called. I asked him if my husband should come together and he said yes). Our questions were very basic, just about our personal info, my history in the US, and whether we have kids and what are each other's birthdays. And at the end he explicitly said "I will give you green card" and "congratulations". Another couple interviewed on the same day in the same office had very similar experience as we did. 

 

Even though my online status has never changed after the interview.... I think yours is not very normal compared to what I heard about.

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Filed: AOS (pnd) Country: India
Timeline
14 hours ago, Jun2580 said:

 

1) Yeah I want to hope that same-sex and opposite-sex couples are treated the same way in immigration. But USCIS officers are also human beings with all kinds of emotions and opinions, and I dont think everyone is in favor of same sex marriage. You know what I mean? So I think it can be possible that some officers who are against it might unconsciously treat same-sex couples more strictly than opposite-sex couples. 

 

3) Yeah this could be it, but the thing is, I saw 4-5 couples ahead of me at the USCIS interview waiting room, and they all got separated too. and I doubt all of them used the same lawyer as we did. and so I think separated interview is what they do here regardless. 

And I still don't understand why she refused to take photos if she needed the proof of bona fide marriage.

This is the main cause of stressful or stokes interview only your lawyer. This could certainly be it...as far as the IO knew, you had no evidence of a bona fide marriage despite being together for 5 years. No idea why the lawyer advised not to send anything beforehand...maybe that's why he says everybody goes through it.

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