Dallas (Irving) TX I-485 Interview Experience

[Rachel n Tyler 256]

Hi guys! I figured I'd type out my experience. Especially since I haven't seen a lot of detailed experiences/reviews, might as well!

Our interview was the 10th of September. 9:30am, bright and early! We arrived at 9:07am and saw a few people arriving. There's a LOT of parking for visitors, so no need to worry about that. We left our phones in the car, but you do not have to. We walked in to the building and had to go through security. Have your appointment letter ready! That's the first thing they ask for. Then you have to put your phone, wallet etc in a little box for the xray thing. Walk through a detector. Then you walk over to a little podium where someone points you to the right window. There were about 4 couples in front of me, not too bad. They took my ID, appointment letter, photo and 2 fingerprints. She then wrote a number on my letter and told us to go upstairs. They'd call us by our names.

We then went up to the next floor and saw quite a few people waiting. I wanna say around 40. I kinda panicked knowing we didn't have our phones. Last time I did my K1 interview in Germany there was about the same amount of people, probably even less, and I waited for about 4-5 hours. Without food, entertainment... So that sent me back there. BUT, I think we waited for less than 15 minutes. We were fooling around checking receipts in our wallets when they called my name. 

We then followed the officer to her cubicle/room. She didn't say much, that made me nervous, but I just went with the flow. We got sworn in and she started by confirming our adress. We moved a week before and I had changed it in USCIS, but it hadn't changed on her end. So we confirmed my new one. She then asked How we met/how our relationship started. I started explaining, then my husband started adding information. I think she didn't hear me clearly or didn't listen, because she didn't understand we met online until AFTER my husband added some things to the story. She then asked How did you build your relationship/life since moving? It was something like this. My husband took the lead on this one and was very vague. This made me EXTREMELY nervous because I could tell the answer was not what she was looking for. But she continued with another question before I could add anything. She then asked Did you work unauthorized? I was honest and told her no. I even joked saying I was glad to not have to work for a little bit and just relax at home. She laughed, this put me at ease. She also added I'm a full time dog mom anyway (dog was mentioned in the previous questions+pictures). She asked if I had any new evidence to add, which I did, a new 864 due to a job change. She kinda skimmed it and didn't seem to want to do too much with it. I forgot to give her the paystubs and employer letter, so that sent me in a panic once I realised while we were driving back home.

She then started asking the yes/no questions. She began with the ones I put 'yes' on on the 485. It was 13 and 76 top of my head.  It was about overstaying/violating the terms of my visa. I explained that our AOS got rejected twice, and due to the rejections I overstayed/filed AOS too late. She nodded and seemed satisfied with the answer. A few questions were asked, like if I helped traffic people, drugs, if I ever killed someone, stuff like that. At one question, one about government assistance, my husband cleared his throat right after I said no. I looked at him in panic and said Babe now she thinks I'm lying!!!! We all laughed. She mentioned she is sniffly too due to the aircon being on on that side, another officer has a space heater and it trips up the AC. Was kinda funny.

She then asked if we had anything else to add. I said nope. I offered her stuff we brought like my husband's birth certificate, but she didn't need them. We joked about the BC since we had to drive to Oklahoma to get it, so it was a 7h round trip. She said it was a good bonding experience and we laughed.

She then explained that the case would now be reviewed again and once we hear back, it usually takes 30-60 days before you get the card. Something like that. She said a few other things but nothing that really stuck in my mind. I was honestly kind of dissapointed that we weren't approved on the spot. Atleast I thought. We then went to the car and it was 9:52. So that was crazy! I kept checking my USCIS account for news until Edward & Jaycel here told me that the system takes 24h to notify us of any changes. So then I gave up LOL. 

The next morning I woke up at 10:30, checked my phone and saw the email. 'We have taken an action on your case'. I quickly logged in, hoping but thinking it would just be the change to 'reviewing'. BUT! It said I got approved!!!! The email arrived 10am, so I'm guessing we were approved on the spot but just not told.

I think that's all? It all feels like a fever dream now LOL. 

[Edward and Jaycel 2,122]

Thank you for this great, detailed account of your experience!! and congrats again  

[OldUser 10,389]

39 minutes ago, Rachel n Tyler said:

We left our phones in the car, but you do not have to. 

Actually, this is smart. There's been instances when USCIS asked to browse petitioner's and beneficiary's phones at the interview in search of images, text etc that could harm the case

[OldUser 10,389]

41 minutes ago, Rachel n Tyler said:

She then asked How we met/how our relationship started. I started explaining, then my husband started adding information. I think she didn't hear me clearly or didn't listen, because she didn't understand we met online until AFTER my husband added some things to the story. 

This is a natural thing to do, but can harm some applicants. I did my adjustment with a lawyer, and recommendation was to give short answers, stories was a big no-no.

 

So the question how we met was answered in a short sentence: "we met at a conference".

And this was enough and satisfactory.

The problem with stories:

 

1) Officer doesn't have time to listen

2) When they do, they may use details against you! Or ask to elaborate on each point

 

So unless they ask for long answer, general advice is to keep things short!

[Rachel n Tyler 256]

5 minutes ago, OldUser said:

This is a natural thing to do, but can harm some applicants. I did my adjustment with a lawyer, and recommendation was to give short answers, stories was a big no-no.

 

So the question how we met was answered in a short sentence: "we met at a conference".

And this was enough and satisfactory.

The problem with stories:

 

1) Officer doesn't have time to listen

2) When they do, they may use details against you! Or ask to elaborate on each point

 

So unless they ask for long answer, general advice is to keep things short!

My worry was sounding too rehearsed/robotic. And my husband is a talker, so I doubt he'll ever give short answers LOL. But we'll keep this in mind for the next time, if needed.

And yeah, there's nothing on my phone I'm worried they'll find, but one thing out of context can get you in so much trouble... So that's also partially why I didn't want to risk it at all!

[OldUser 10,389]

24 minutes ago, Rachel n Tyler said:

My worry was sounding too rehearsed/robotic. And my husband is a talker, so I doubt he'll ever give short answers LOL. But we'll keep this in mind for the next time, if needed.

And yeah, there's nothing on my phone I'm worried they'll find, but one thing out of context can get you in so much trouble... So that's also partially why I didn't want to risk it at all!

The thing is, officer isn't a friend. I gave absolute "robotic" answers, giving bare minimum but to the point, and it wasn't an issue.  My docs and evidence told the story.

 

I thought of it as if it was a DMV or SSA appointment. I don't tell how I got my first car and how many miles I drove when renewing license. I came to USCIS for immigration benefit, not chat

Edited yesterday at 09:54 PM by OldUser

[Fr8dog 474]

Gefeliciteerd.

 

For potential future candidates that read this post to get some insight;

 

There are a lot of officers that are allowed to do the interviews and most of the paperwork but are not allowed to make the final decision. Throughout the years I have noticed on this forum that they are less likely to say "your approved" and started sliding from the "I'll be recommending approval" to the "I think we have everything and we will let you know our decision shortly". Now we appear to be at stage of the "we'll make a decision within 90 days" stage. It makes for a lot of stressed-out applicants.

 

 

 

[TBoneTX 47,922]

6 hours ago, Rachel n Tyler said:

I figured I'd type out my experience. Especially since I haven't seen a lot of detailed experiences/reviews

You painted an excellent picture of not only the substance of the interview, but the mood -- from your side and the officer's.  Thanks for this, and congratulations on your approval!

[JeanneAdil 7,237]

congratulation

 

[sompsyth 2]

Congratulations! Must have been hard and stressful going through all those rejections. Would appreciate if you could share what the reasons were for the rejection. I would like to see a section dedicated to interview experiences.. It will be very helpful

[Rachel n Tyler 256]

Just now, sompsyth said:

Congratulations! Must have been hard and stressful going through all those rejections. Would appreciate if you could share what the reasons were for the rejection. I would like to see a section dedicated to interview experiences.. It will be very helpful

The first one was due to a mistake on the 485. I accidentally marked that I was filing as a spouse of a USC, but I was filing as a K1 visa holder. Very confusing as I am a spouse lol. The second one was due to money. The bank took some money related to a car loan (even though it had been paid off, just a fee or something months after) that made our balance a little lower than the amount they tried to pull... So that's another rejection lol. We went with money orders after that to not have that risk again. Really simple dumb rejections haha