Bad AOS interview experience

[JulianaSteve 25]

16 hours ago, SafeTravels said:

Hi,
I'm mostly just posting to get an indication of whether our experience was normal or whether we got a particularly aggressive agent.
I came in on K1 last autumn and we married immediately before buying a house together in the spring. We had the deed for the house as part of two binders full of evidence of bona fide marriage, but the agent was unhappy that I wasn't also on the mortgage, he didn't seem to be swayed by the fact that any recent immigrant has no credit history and thus won't be able to co-apply for a mortgage. He said that he would have liked to have seen evidence of me paying my wife back for my half of the mortgage, something which we of course had not considered to bring, given that plenty marriages do not split housing costs 50/50 and that  finances between us are private, not very clearly organised and full of in jokes as venmo payment descriptions etc.

He also wanted to see the joint rental agreement for the apartment we had before bought the house, something which only exists online and which we had not printed off because we instead brought an actual letter from the rental company with both of our names instead.

 

Aside from this, we had joint tax returns from 2018 (he wanted to see 2019 even though it's impossible to have that already), joint gas/electricity/water/internet bills, life insurance and health insurance (he didn't understand that these were part of the same document, and would have preferred home insurance??) Photos of us together with friends and family as well as congratulatory wedding cards which he wasn't interested in.

He also wanted to see joint paperwork for our rescue dog, something which we also had not considered, but did not put both of our names on at the time as we would have only done so for artificial USCIS purposes regardless.

"All this" lead to a great amount of suspicion from him and he interviewed us separately. When I couldn't remember whether the last restaurant visit we made to was on a weekend or a weekday he asked if I had a disability or was taking any drugs which would impede my memory. I was forced to tell him that I just don't have the strongest memory about dates but that I could tell him a million things about my life with my wife. I wish I could have asked him exactly when he last went to a restaurant. We prepped so many questions together but it seems like they want you to have a photographic memory of everything you have done in the last two years. The interviews continued in a very accusatory tone, he wanted exact dates for parental visits, argued with us about what counts as the last holiday and seemed dismayed that we didn't celebrate the 4th of July or Memorial day.

At the end he said he was putting it down as an RFE. The only documentation we can send in at this point is the rental agreement for the apartment. The mortgage and the dog adoption papers only have my wife's name on them. Is the rental agreement going to convince USCIS in a way that all of our other evidence didn't?

The whole thing was hostile. I thought that if you have a legit marriage and you do reasonable prep, you have nothing to worry about. Now my future here is in question, while I continue to live my life as a loving husband following all of the rules set out for me in this country. For the record, I am 28 and she is 25, we both went to college for arts subjects, both speak English, both have similar tastes and lifestyles. The only categorical difference between us is race.

TL;DR: Am I over-sensitive or was my interviewer really hostile?
 

I think you had a really bad experience.  So sorry for that.

 

Was not possible ask for a supervisor or somebody else?

 

Can I ask you about the race difference? This is something that scares me about it.  My husband is white and I'm black. In my country this is super common but I'm really scared if there people will look at me differently. 

 

Thanks.

 

[Crazy Cat 39,657]

Just now, JulianaSteve said:

This is something that scares me about it.  My husband is white and I'm black. In my country this is super common but I'm really scared if there people will look at me differently. 

It normally does not affect immigration......and I'm sure it did not affect the OP's AOS case.

[JulianaSteve 25]

1 minute ago, missileman said:

It normally does not affect immigration......and I'm sure it did not affect the OP's AOS case.

Thanks for the info. Have a great day

[deleted this acco 44]

race has nothing to do with it.  every couple is treated the same.  comingling of finances is a big deal.  joint accounts like cable, electricity bill, lease with both names and signatures,  phone bills, pictures together etc they want to see both partners using money together thats where the true test is.  you guys can do it.  start adding to what you have while waiting for the rfe to arrive.  

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

1 hour ago, abbynak said:

race has nothing to do with it.  every couple is treated the same.  comingling of finances is a big deal.  joint accounts like cable, electricity bill, lease with both names and signatures,  phone bills, pictures together etc they want to see both partners using money together thats where the true test is.  you guys can do it.  start adding to what you have while waiting for the rfe to arrive.  

 

Nah, there is more to it or he was just having an off day.

 

We've been married near 7 years and have never had a lease, deed, or mortgage together. I couldn't be put on the lease in his country and I bought our house here with cash. Husband just became a citizen 2 weeks ago.  It has never been a problem. 

 

I'm speculating that the interviewer had some sort of hangup about jointly paid mortgages.  Maybe something sour in a past relationship?

 

OP, you are going to be fine.  Nobody has ever been deported for not having both names on the mortgage. It is common enough.

[C-ma'am 684]

Once you successfully completed this step - which I have no doubt you will do - prepare for ROC. That's right.

 

For the next two years collect as much information on things you do together. If you adopt another dog, do it in both of your names, etc. Keep those documents in a folder. Get a credit card you both use and save the credit card statements in that folder too. You'll present some of the same stuff you used this time (if you do living wills, power of attorney's, updated estimate of pensions/401k showing each other as the beneficiary, etc).

 

Build your case!

[RamonGomez 259]

Seems odd that a K1 AOS interview would be this bad, given the amount of shady adjustments from ESTA/B2/F1/... visas that make it through without any issues. At one point a huge % of K1 AOS didn't even have to do the interview!

 

 

[jeanieCZ 228]

Sorry to hear you had a terrible experience!! I absolutely understand how you feel about creating joint account etconly to satisfy the USCIS... I think I might find myself in the same position. 

Good luck witht he RFE!

Edited August 22, 2019 by jeaniecz

[Carpe Vinum 2,314]

4 hours ago, abbynak said:

race has nothing to do with it.  every couple is treated the same.  comingling of finances is a big deal.  joint accounts like cable, electricity bill, lease with both names and signatures,  phone bills, pictures together etc they want to see both partners using money together thats where the true test is.  you guys can do it.  start adding to what you have while waiting for the rfe to arrive.  

Where humans are involved in the interview process I doubt if this is true in every instance.  But, I do agree that in most instances couples are treated fairly...

 

On a side note I can't remember what I had for dinner past three days ago so our interview should be memorable)))))

Edited August 22, 2019 by boris64

[Patience089 92]

Question: Have you ever gotten the RFE? Or are you (hopefully not) still waiting?

[SafeTravels 42]

No RFE yet one month later. Called USCIS to ask what was going on, they said there was no record of an RFE and set up an inquiry, apparently we'll get a letter of some kind by October 5th. Who knows!

[SafeTravels 42]

Sorry to bump this ancient topic, but I wanted to post an update for anyone that finds this thread in a random search:

We were left completely in the dark, no letters came until the 14th of December, at which point a green card arrived! No RFE after having been guaranteed one at the interview, just 4 months of limbo and then a surprise happy ending. Now to start thinking about ROCs... We're making sure to put both of our names on any paperwork that comes our way from here on out, contrived as it may be.

[flfreddy 92]

4 hours ago, SafeTravels said:

Sorry to bump this ancient topic, but I wanted to post an update for anyone that finds this thread in a random search:

We were left completely in the dark, no letters came until the 14th of December, at which point a green card arrived! No RFE after having been guaranteed one at the interview, just 4 months of limbo and then a surprise happy ending. Now to start thinking about ROCs... We're making sure to put both of our names on any paperwork that comes our way from here on out, contrived as it may be.

Its a typical stress test to see whether you falter during the interview.   Congratulations.    We just started the AOS.