Our AOS interview - feedback requested

[Nitas_man 3,100]

16 hours ago, Teemo said:

Hello - it's been awhile since I posted. Finally had our marriage-based AOS interview this week in NYC. PD of December 2017. (no fiancee visa or anything like that involved). I'm sort of sick to my stomach over the interview and wanted to get some of the more experienced members' takes (cc @geowrian @SusieQQQ @Pitayaand others) on it to let me know if i am (hopefully) worrying about nothing or if I have a potential problem. 

 

The interview started off very weird and rocky. The interviewer asked my wife (the USC) the following questions that she had a lot of trouble with:

- How did I receive my current naturalized Canadian citizenship? (This was 15 years before I met her) My wife said "he lived there during high school" but that wasn't satisfactory to the interviewer and so after more persistent specific questions on this (ie "who petitioned him?") my wife eventually said "I don't know" to them.

- Which firm petitioned for me for an H-1B? (this was 8 years before I met her). My wife has no idea what an H1-B is and was stumped. The interviewer then said "it was Firm XYZ, you didn't know he worked for Firm XYZ?!?". To which my wife said, "I did but didn't know anything about the visa he used or what firm you were referring to."

- When you guys traveled together last year, what visa did your husband use? My wife said "the temporary work visa thingy." Weird question. My wife would have no idea it's called an EAD or advance parole.

- What was the exact day of your husband's last time he re-entered the country? The answer was right, it was just awkward as she fumbled aloud to remember the exact day 8 months ago, and the interviewer acted as if that was the wrong answer, which further threw us off and made my wife nervous. 

- Who wrote and filed this application? My wife answered "he did" to which I corrected her out loud and said "together." I filled it all out but she printed all the papers, read them and signed them, but she doesn't really remember that as it was over 18 months ago. Just weird and awkward and looked bad for her to say I did it as if she wasn't involved. 

- Does your husband have a previous wife and/or kids? This is a normal question, but the interviewer asked it at least 3 times! By the 3rd time, she had made my wife so nervous and unsure of herself that she responded with "Not that I know of" which is not exactly a ringing endorsement of our relationship. 

- How do your parents feel about you marrying someone of a different culture and religion? I guess this is a normal question and the answer was fine. 

 

At this point the interview felt like it was going down in flames. We didn't have a single good and definitive answer by this point. Fortunately the next few were some standard job and family questions which we nailed. This is when the bona fides came out. We have been together 4 years and lived together for the past 3 years so we had a lot of evidence. The interviewer looked at and kept the following: a few photos (we brought ~100) including from our wedding with family and friends and on vacation, our joint lease and two annual renewals, some emails between us and our families dating back years, 4 joint electricity bills, joint health insurance, 3 joint international plane tickets, and two years of joint tax returns.

 

She then asked me the standard security questions and then said she had everything she needed. Did not give any indication one way or the other about how it went. So, does this sound like we did a good enough rescue job? if she really had concerns about our relationship, wouldn't she ask a lot more questions and spend more time working through the bona fides (ie she could have looked at all 100 photos and asked questions on them if she wanted to). Do you think there's any meaningful chance it was an outright denial? Lastly, we have an international vacation scheduled in 10 days (booked months ago), should I feel nervous about leaving the country and using my AP to get back in? Any and all feedback welcome, thank you for reading. 

 

 

I don’t think you have anything to worry about here.

I have attended several interviews and we always prep for them.  

 

This is my number one prep reminder.  No matter the question ”I don’t know” and “I’m not sure” and “I remember this detail but not that detail” and “I don’t remember” ARE ok answers.  For us?  The interviewer often turns from her to me.  I’m an incident investigator among other things.  I give the facts I know and nothing else.  Nobody rattles me. 

 

A common mistake?  Providing an inaccurate answer to something the interviewer has in front of them with the goal of “impressing the interviewer” by filling in every blank at any price which is NOT the point of the interview.   They get you then.  It does not sound like you guys made this what could be “fatal” error.

 

Good luck!

[USS_Voyager 1,971]

17 hours ago, Teemo said:

What if my application was approved while I was away on vacation (or approved shortly before but I didn't get green card in hand). Would I get denied using AP to get back in if the GC was sitting in my mailbox?

That happened to me. My GC was approved when I was out of the US. I showed up with AP and was admitted as LPR. The standard operating procedure for someone showing up with AP is to go to secondary to verify if there is still a pending I-485 or not and if they see the I-485 is approved then they admit as LPR.