November 2018 AOS Filers, Part 2

[Tavira87 30]

3 hours ago, JMCKNG said:

Interview this morning and went great!! Started with the "you will have the decision within 30 days.." which led into conversation ending in "honestly, I'll probably approve this today and you should receive this within 7-10 days" WE ARE SO HAPPY! The only documents they took from us were the I-94, joint assets, marriage certificate (then gave it back because they had the original). They went through the basic questions on the app and just asked us when did we meet, when did we get married, and then where have we traveled together. We brought WAY too many pictures haha probably close to 200, and 2 photo albums that she glanced through. 

 

Very pleased!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[Tavira87 30]

We had our interview in Denver this morning and it went better than I could have ever imagined. 

 

The officer seemed very official at first but warmed up to us quickly. He asked us a few questions about how we met, when we started dating, when I moved here etc. Asked to see evidence of our new address (as we only moved here 2 months ago). But no other things from our mountain of paperwork, not even joint benefit statement or photos of anything. 

 

He then asked us a few questions about our AOS application and said he would approves us tonight and the card will be with us in 2 - 4 weeks. 

 

However, I have had flights booked for a long planned family holiday in Spain on Oct 3rd (10 days time eeeeeek) so I asked him if he would stamp my passport so I could go. It was a LONG shot but he approved me then and there and I GOT MY STAMP whaaaaaaoooooo!! 

 

Still can't quite believe I can leave the US (I never got my AP or EAD so I've been here for a long time haha)!!!! But absolutely over the moon. 

 

My advice to anyone who still has their interview to come - be prepared and bring everything because you never know what they are going to ask but don't stress, these officers are just normal people and it's usually a pretty simple interview. 

 

Good Luck! x 

[lonesurvivor 48]

8 minutes ago, Tavira87 said:

We had our interview in Denver this morning and it went better than I could have ever imagined. 

 

The officer seemed very official at first but warmed up to us quickly. He asked us a few questions about how we met, when we started dating, when I moved here etc. Asked to see evidence of our new address (as we only moved here 2 months ago). But no other things from our mountain of paperwork, not even joint benefit statement or photos of anything. 

 

He then asked us a few questions about our AOS application and said he would approves us tonight and the card will be with us in 2 - 4 weeks. 

 

However, I have had flights booked for a long planned family holiday in Spain on Oct 3rd (10 days time eeeeeek) so I asked him if he would stamp my passport so I could go. It was a LONG shot but he approved me then and there and I GOT MY STAMP whaaaaaaoooooo!! 

 

Still can't quite believe I can leave the US (I never got my AP or EAD so I've been here for a long time haha)!!!! But absolutely over the moon. 

 

My advice to anyone who still has their interview to come - be prepared and bring everything because you never know what they are going to ask but don't stress, these officers are just normal people and it's usually a pretty simple interview. 

 

Good Luck! x 

CONGRATS!!

[craigybear 10]

Successful interview at the Washington DC field office last week!

 

Our officer was stern but friendly. At the beginning we were asked for ID, birth certs and marriage cert.

We then spent a lot of time going through the respective I-130 and I-485 forms my wife and I - section by section. She was effectively asking us the question again and checking off our responses vs the form content. Be sure to know your I485 and I30 contents very well. These questions prompted numerous follow on questions and clarifications.

We were asked if we wished to provide any additional information relative to the I-130 and I-145 applications and we provided the officer with a printed contents list which we ran through and she requested pretty much all of it; 

Joint 2018 Tax Return 

Join Mortgage Deed 

Joint Bank Statements 

Joint Health Insurance 

Joint Vehicle Lease 

Joint Vehicle Insurance 

Joint Home Insurance 

Joint Rental Agreement 

401k Beneficiary statements

Paychecks 

Collection of photographs

 

We used the photographs to help with her request that we describe our relationship from beginning until now; she would jump in and asked pointed questions (I guess to catch us out) such as how many attended our wedding dinner, the cost of the engagement ring, full name of the person who introduced us, when our parents met for the first time - she seemed to scribble this all down in no particular order.

At the end of the process we got the spiel about the  next steps - including that it could take up to 120 days for a response. I got the feeling we weren't going to get on the spot approval so I did ask how she felt about our application. She stated she felt good about but had to do some additional checks. She said we were well prepared and liked our binder of evidence. All in all we were with her for about 40 minutes.

 

That evening we got an update to the I485 and I130s on the USCIS website stating 'interview was completed and case must be reviewed' which certainly caused us some concern and heartache as we went to bed. Happily by the time we woke up the next morning we had a notification that card was in production! Expecting card to be delivered today which is 7 days after the interview.

Edited September 23, 2019 by craigybear

[Tavira87 30]

35 minutes ago, craigybear said:

Successful interview at the Washington DC field office last week!

 

Our officer was stern but friendly. At the beginning we were asked for ID, birth certs and marriage cert.

We then spent a lot of time going through the respective I-130 and I-485 forms my wife and I - section by section. She was effectively asking us the question again and checking off our responses vs the form content. Be sure to know your I485 and I30 contents very well. These questions prompted numerous follow on questions and clarifications.

We were asked if we wished to provide any additional information relative to the I-130 and I-145 applications and we provided the officer with a printed contents list which we ran through and she requested pretty much all of it; 

Joint 2018 Tax Return 

Join Mortgage Deed 

Joint Bank Statements 

Joint Health Insurance 

Joint Vehicle Lease 

Joint Vehicle Insurance 

Joint Home Insurance 

Joint Rental Agreement 

401k Beneficiary statements

Paychecks 

Collection of photographs

 

We used the photographs to help with her request that we describe our relationship from beginning until now; she would jump in and asked pointed questions (I guess to catch us out) such as how many attended our wedding dinner, the cost of the engagement ring, full name of the person who introduced us, when our parents met for the first time - she seemed to scribble this all down in no particular order.

At the end of the process we got the spiel about the  next steps - including that it could take up to 120 days for a response. I got the feeling we weren't going to get on the spot approval so I did ask how she felt about our application. She stated she felt good about but had to do some additional checks. She said we were well prepared and liked our binder of evidence. All in all we were with her for about 40 minutes.

 

That evening we got an update to the I485 and I130s on the USCIS website stating 'interview was completed and case must be reviewed' which certainly caused us some concern and heartache as we went to bed. Happily by the time we woke up the next morning we had a notification that card was in production! Expecting card to be delivered today which is 7 days after the interview.

Such good news! Congratulations!

[clare240 6]

3 hours ago, craigybear said:

Successful interview at the Washington DC field office last week!

 

Our officer was stern but friendly. At the beginning we were asked for ID, birth certs and marriage cert.

We then spent a lot of time going through the respective I-130 and I-485 forms my wife and I - section by section. She was effectively asking us the question again and checking off our responses vs the form content. Be sure to know your I485 and I30 contents very well. These questions prompted numerous follow on questions and clarifications.

We were asked if we wished to provide any additional information relative to the I-130 and I-145 applications and we provided the officer with a printed contents list which we ran through and she requested pretty much all of it; 

Joint 2018 Tax Return 

Join Mortgage Deed 

Joint Bank Statements 

Joint Health Insurance 

Joint Vehicle Lease 

Joint Vehicle Insurance 

Joint Home Insurance 

Joint Rental Agreement 

401k Beneficiary statements

Paychecks 

Collection of photographs

 

We used the photographs to help with her request that we describe our relationship from beginning until now; she would jump in and asked pointed questions (I guess to catch us out) such as how many attended our wedding dinner, the cost of the engagement ring, full name of the person who introduced us, when our parents met for the first time - she seemed to scribble this all down in no particular order.

At the end of the process we got the spiel about the  next steps - including that it could take up to 120 days for a response. I got the feeling we weren't going to get on the spot approval so I did ask how she felt about our application. She stated she felt good about but had to do some additional checks. She said we were well prepared and liked our binder of evidence. All in all we were with her for about 40 minutes.

 

That evening we got an update to the I485 and I130s on the USCIS website stating 'interview was completed and case must be reviewed' which certainly caused us some concern and heartache as we went to bed. Happily by the time we woke up the next morning we had a notification that card was in production! Expecting card to be delivered today which is 7 days after the interview.

Congrats! So happy this worked out well for you! I have a quick question: the paperwork you brought with you for the interview, had you also already provided it when you submitted the I-130? I don’t think we’ll have anything in addition to what we submitted, probably just updated versions of the same things, more recent bank statements, lease agreements, photos, etc.

[craigybear 10]

20 minutes ago, clare240 said:

Congrats! So happy this worked out well for you! I have a quick question: the paperwork you brought with you for the interview, had you also already provided it when you submitted the I-130? I don’t think we’ll have anything in addition to what we submitted, probably just updated versions of the same things, more recent bank statements, lease agreements, photos, etc.

At the time of submission of the I-130 we only provided my wife's latest tax submission including W2, her most recent paystub and then copies of birth and marriage certificates.

So for the interview we took along with us the most recent versions of those documents (2018 tax return, last two months of paystubs) plus all the additional items I listed out.

We brought several versions of each item i.e. our 2017/18 lease as well as the most recent lease, i.e. every 6 month renewal of our car insurance dating back to 2017. We took the approach of trying to impress them with volume of evidence, even if some items were effectively the same thing.

The photos; we printed out 50 of them and annotated on the back the date and scenario of each photo.  Starting from when we met until most recently. We were advised that photos of us with our respective families and/or friends would be better than just photos of the two of us, so we definitely focused on that. 

[Pat Argen 15]

Got up at 5 am yesterday to avoid Chicago’s early morning rush hour. Our interview was at 8 am and we were all beginning to panic because traffic was REALLY horrible. We checked in around 8:02 am and while in line our IO called out my name. I thanked her for patiently waiting and she said it’s no problem. All three of us (my stepdad, mom, and I) were inside a small office. She began by taking our picture and fingerprints and then proceeded with the basic i-485 questions. Our names, birthdays, address, etc. She was alternating between my mom and I for the most part. She then asked us about 10-15 questions in the part 8 of the i-485. After that, she asked my stepdad and mom were asked to tell how they met. We got lucky because our IO was a very nice, pleasant lady. All in all she said everything looks good and we’ll receive news within two weeks. At that point we were just so relieved it’s almost over. I knocked out as soon as we got home around 8 pm and then woke up in the middle of the night to an e-mail that says, “Card/Document in production”

 

We’re so ecstatic!!! Thank you guys for being a great support system. I am so thrilled to be immigration-free for a while aaaaahhh. To everyone still waiting, it’s a long wait but it’s gonna be worth it you guys. Hang in there!

[ShanGaut 22]

Could anyone please tell me how long it took from the time their status changed from "interview has been scheduled" to when they got their letter in the mail with the actual date on it? 

[K1visaHopeful 2,674]

 

2 hours ago, ShanGaut said:

Could anyone please tell me how long it took from the time their status changed from "interview has been scheduled" to when they got their letter in the mail with the actual date on it? 

A week.

Edited September 27, 2019 by K1visaHopeful

[JMCKNG 156]

On 9/26/2019 at 7:17 PM, K1visaHopeful said:

 

A week.

Ours was 2 weeks 

[JMCKNG 156]

Finally RECEIVED THE OFFICIAL GREEN CARD 5 days after the interview! SUCH A RELIEF to have it in hand.. all the sweat and tears for this little card

 

Time to book our trip back to his home after 1 year of being separated! So happy to not have to deal with USCIS for a while. 

[rrobin0609 387]

This thread has been kind of quiet lately. I hope everyone either has their EAD/AP, Green Card, or interview scheduled.

 

Everyone should also be coming up on their first anniversaries if it hasn't already passed. So happy anniversary, everyone! You made it a year!

 

We're leaving the country tomorrow for the first time since being married. Visiting Matt's parents and going to Cornwall. I'm so checked out of work that people I work with are starting to make jokes about it.

[SalishSea 16,809]

On 10/17/2019 at 8:55 AM, rrobin0609 said:

This thread has been kind of quiet lately. I hope everyone either has their EAD/AP, Green Card, or interview scheduled.

 

Everyone should also be coming up on their first anniversaries if it hasn't already passed. So happy anniversary, everyone! You made it a year!

 

We're leaving the country tomorrow for the first time since being married. Visiting Matt's parents and going to Cornwall. I'm so checked out of work that people I work with are starting to make jokes about it.

Today happens to be our first anniversary ♥️.   Anyone besides us still waiting for an interview?  Seattle LFO is slowwwww.

[kanderson101 131]

 

On 10/22/2019 at 12:58 AM, Jorgedig said:

Today happens to be our first anniversary ♥️.   Anyone besides us still waiting for an interview?  Seattle LFO is slowwwww.

Happy anniversary! Ours is coming up too. We're also waiting on the Seattle LFO for an interview. Unfortunately it seems like it could be another year or so before they get to us.