A few questions for those who recently had their interview

[Ellie G 0]

I'm wondering about whether the officers are taking covid into account. We don't have wedding pictures or any proof of a reception because we didn't have one! I arrived in January and in March we just paid an online officiant and met him so we could get the marriage before everything was shut down. We had a plan to take part in an art marriage event but that obviously got cancelled. And then when my family were coming to visit in August we were going to have a family celebration, but obviously their tickets got cancelled. So no marriage event happened.

 

I'm going to bring proof of the event being cancelled, my family's tickets being cancelled but I'm wondering if anyone was in a similar position. 

 

Also, due to covid, my husband has been unemployed which is another spanner in the works. I only got my employment authorization 2 days ago so not employed yet lol. We're fine for money (unemployment pay, my sponsor (MIL) is wealthy) but I want to know how important this is to officers. 

[payxibka 10,044]

11 minutes ago, Ellie G said:

I'm wondering about whether the officers are taking covid into account. We don't have wedding pictures or any proof of a reception because we didn't have one! I arrived in January and in March we just paid an online officiant and met him so we could get the marriage before everything was shut down. We had a plan to take part in an art marriage event but that obviously got cancelled. And then when my family were coming to visit in August we were going to have a family celebration, but obviously their tickets got cancelled. So no marriage event happened.

 

I'm going to bring proof of the event being cancelled, my family's tickets being cancelled but I'm wondering if anyone was in a similar position. 

 

Also, due to covid, my husband has been unemployed which is another spanner in the works. I only got my employment authorization 2 days ago so not employed yet lol. We're fine for money (unemployment pay, my sponsor (MIL) is wealthy) but I want to know how important this is to officers. 

We didn't have any pictures.   Wasn't even a question and this was before covid.   Much ado about nothing 

Edited October 14, 2020 by payxibka

[Ellie G 0]

5 minutes ago, payxibka said:

We didn't have any pictures.   Wasn't even a question 

That's interesting! Would you mind telling me what they asked for or were interested in?

[payxibka 10,044]

8 minutes ago, Ellie G said:

That's interesting! Would you mind telling me what they asked for or were interested in?

Was only interested in what we gave them,  such as health insurance on my plan, joint tax, name change on DL & passport.   

[Ayrton 965]

27 minutes ago, Ellie G said:

I'm wondering about whether the officers are taking covid into account. We don't have wedding pictures or any proof of a reception because we didn't have one! I arrived in January and in March we just paid an online officiant and met him so we could get the marriage before everything was shut down. We had a plan to take part in an art marriage event but that obviously got cancelled. And then when my family were coming to visit in August we were going to have a family celebration, but obviously their tickets got cancelled. So no marriage event happened.

 

I'm going to bring proof of the event being cancelled, my family's tickets being cancelled but I'm wondering if anyone was in a similar position. 

 

Also, due to covid, my husband has been unemployed which is another spanner in the works. I only got my employment authorization 2 days ago so not employed yet lol. We're fine for money (unemployment pay, my sponsor (MIL) is wealthy) but I want to know how important this is to officers. 

Imagine if a wedding reception was a requirement for AOS interview?! All the ones done at a courthouse would be excluded.

 

From the day you got married, they are only interested in your marriage certificate.

[payxibka 10,044]

7 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

Imagine if a wedding reception was a requirement for AOS interview?! All the ones done at a courthouse would be excluded.

 

From the day you got married, they are only interested in your marriage certificate.

For the application maybe, but for tbe interview a lityle more evidence of a commingled life is expected 

[Ayrton 965]

26 minutes ago, payxibka said:

For the application maybe, but for tbe interview a lityle more evidence of a commingled life is expected 

I was talking about the day of the marriage itself.

 

OP didn't have a reception and it was worried about it. There's no requirement to have parties, and that's what I meant.

Edited October 14, 2020 by Ayrton

[whiterose123 76]

2 hours ago, Ellie G said:

I'm wondering about whether the officers are taking covid into account. We don't have wedding pictures or any proof of a reception because we didn't have one! I arrived in January and in March we just paid an online officiant and met him so we could get the marriage before everything was shut down. We had a plan to take part in an art marriage event but that obviously got cancelled. And then when my family were coming to visit in August we were going to have a family celebration, but obviously their tickets got cancelled. So no marriage event happened.

 

I'm going to bring proof of the event being cancelled, my family's tickets being cancelled but I'm wondering if anyone was in a similar position. 

 

Also, due to covid, my husband has been unemployed which is another spanner in the works. I only got my employment authorization 2 days ago so not employed yet lol. We're fine for money (unemployment pay, my sponsor (MIL) is wealthy) but I want to know how important this is to officers. 

We didn't have our wedding ceremony either only the courthouse one, we planned our wedding for summer 2020 but covid cancelled everything.. I'm not worried for that bc it's not an obligation or something that necessarily proves or denies the legitimacy of a marriage especially with this pandemic..

[Orangesapples 1,954]

18 hours ago, Ellie G said:

I'm wondering about whether the officers are taking covid into account. We don't have wedding pictures or any proof of a reception because we didn't have one! I arrived in January and in March we just paid an online officiant and met him so we could get the marriage before everything was shut down. We had a plan to take part in an art marriage event but that obviously got cancelled. And then when my family were coming to visit in August we were going to have a family celebration, but obviously their tickets got cancelled. So no marriage event happened.

 

I'm going to bring proof of the event being cancelled, my family's tickets being cancelled but I'm wondering if anyone was in a similar position. 

 

Also, due to covid, my husband has been unemployed which is another spanner in the works. I only got my employment authorization 2 days ago so not employed yet lol. We're fine for money (unemployment pay, my sponsor (MIL) is wealthy) but I want to know how important this is to officers. 

Not a problem, we didn't bring any photos from our ceremony either because it was just me, him and one witness. There is no requirement to have a wedding, many couples never do and they're just as married if they have a marriage certificate. I am anti ring, too, so no rings either, no problem with that at all. 

 

I did bring a bunch of photos to the AOS interview though, we travel a lot, so we had a bunch of them. Also, many of them with family and friends. The IO looked through all of them and commented on them, mostly about the locations. I don't know if photos are required or it was just the most interesting part for him, I imagine it's pretty dull to be looking at official documents all day. But people above are saying that they brought zero photos and it wasn't an issue. So if you have photos together and with family, bring them, if not, don't worry about it. 

[Fe.Ta 857]

I also have a question regarding the beneficiary being employed.  My husband got his EAD/AP in the mail exactly two weeks prior to Florida going into full lockdown.  Then, we didn't feel comfortable during Phase 1 (or 2) to try to keep looking for a job because my parents (elderly, in their 70s and with several illnesses) live with us and we didn't want to put them at risk.  We are going to start looking for jobs now but still we have to be careful because of this situation.  Would this be an issue at the interview?  Or would they consider COVID, limited jobs, my parents' situation, etc.?

[payxibka 10,044]

2 minutes ago, Fe.Ta said:

I also have a question regarding the beneficiary being employed.  My husband got his EAD/AP in the mail exactly two weeks prior to Florida going into full lockdown.  Then, we didn't feel comfortable during Phase 1 (or 2) to try to keep looking for a job because my parents (elderly, in their 70s and with several illnesses) live with us and we didn't want to put them at risk.  We are going to start looking for jobs now but still we have to be careful because of this situation.  Would this be an issue at the interview?  Or would they consider COVID, limited jobs, my parents' situation, etc.?

You need a qualified sponsor,  whether it is you or someone else.  No exceptions. 

[Fe.Ta 857]

5 minutes ago, payxibka said:

You need a qualified sponsor,  whether it is you or someone else.  No exceptions. 

I am a qualified sponsor.  Didn't need a co-sponsor or anything for my husband either.  Our affidavit meets all the requirements for our case (we were pre-public charge too).  So, I was just asking out of the curiousness of if him being unemployed (after getting EAD/AP) would create a red flag.

[payxibka 10,044]

Just now, Fe.Ta said:

I am a qualified sponsor.  Didn't need a co-sponsor or anything for my husband either.  Our affidavit meets all the requirements for our case (we were pre-public charge too).  So, I was just asking out of the curiousness of if him being unemployed (after getting EAD/AP) would create a red flag.

Alien is not required to work 

[SalishSea 16,772]

We eloped two years ago, and only had our AOS interview this year on 30th January.  Our wedding was just us, at a small inn on a nearby island.  Our photos are selfies.  We did print them out and also some family photos taken subsequently, like when my husband's daughters visited.

 

Our USCIS interviewer was actually interested in seeing the photos.  He also asked each of us the full names and birthdates of all of our kids (husband has two and I have two, they're all adults),  plus the updating of the I-485 form, such as my husband's work info.  He seemed less interested in the financial commingling, although we had brought our bank account,  joint car purchase, and health insurance info.

 

Perhaps because there was quite a length of time between our wedding and the interview, there was more to update.

[Fe.Ta 857]

1 minute ago, payxibka said:

Alien is not required to work 

Thank you!