Interview scheduled!

[Purple_Paladin 26]

We have our interview coming up end of April. 

My brother and sister-in-law are the co-sponsors for my husband and step-daughter. 

Should they come with us? 

The instructions say to bring all of the documentation "unless already submitted." 

We already gave them everything.

Should we print it all out and bring it again or will they even look at it?

 

 

I know I must bring our marriage certificate, his, my and step-daughters birth certificates v and translations for theirs. I'm assuming my and his divorce decrees and translation for his.

I've already submitted all this but the form does not say "unnless already submitted" here, so I'll bring it again.

I was thinking of uploading photos of us together at random events taken since the packet was sent. Should I bring hard copies as well?

 

What's suggested. Should I really bring a second copy of everything they already have? 

Do I need to bring my brother and sister-in-laws birth certificates as well, even though copies were sent?

It mentions letters from their employers proving employment and pay rate, is this a requirement or just one of the options for proving income.

We did already send in their tax transcripts for past 3 years.

I was thinking of bringing their income tax transcript for 2025 (I had sent '24, '23, and '22) So would that suffice or will they have to get letters from their employers as well?

And again, should they come with us?

 

TIA!

 

Edited to add: We applied for work auth for both of them at the time we sent the original packet. We haven't heard anything and the site shows only "current."

Does anyone know if they are even doing work auths? How long after the interview do people usually get the green card. If I'm not mistaken, that serves as work auth as well, correct?

Edited March 15 by Purple_Paladin

[Edward and Jaycel 2,657]

About a week before your interview, upload to the "Unsolicited Evidence" option on your online account any evidence of your marital bona fides that you have obtained since you filed (Joint bank account statements, joint utility bills, joint insurance policies, joint lease agreements, etc.) Focus on the evidence that shows that you two have joined your lives financially. A few photos are good too... with those, focus on pics that show you both with friends/family (public life as a couple), not just selfies. To the interview, bring a Cetrified True Copy (CTC) and a photocopy of all civil documents you submitted with the filing. Also bring IDs, Driver Licenses, husband and step daughter's passports with their entry stamp from when they entered the US. Also bring a hard copy of the evidence you upload prior to the interview in case the officer has trouble accessing it for whatever reason. Your Joint I-864 sponsor does not need to attend the interview. If you are at the interview stage, that means that the I-864 was qualified by USCIS during the NBC stage. The field office generally has nothing to do with the I-864 nor do they want to do anything with it. On this note however, if your joint sponsor has filed their 2025 taxes and has access to their Tax Return Transcript, it would be a good idea for you to bring a copy of that with you. Once approved, the Green Card is the work authorization so if your husband and step-daughter's EADs haven't been approved by the time they get the GC approval, those applications will just be administratively closed.  Best of luck!

Edited March 15 by Edward and Jaycel

[JeanneAdil 7,517]

1. yes,  end of april means 2025 tax transcripts 
2. doesn't mean the officer may look at them but don't take the chance and not take  them
3. also should have evidence of joint sponsor's Us resdiency
4. best to u both

[wildbug100420 459]

4 hours ago, Purple_Paladin said:

We have our interview coming up end of April. 

My brother and sister-in-law are the co-sponsors for my husband and step-daughter. 

Should they come with us? 

The instructions say to bring all of the documentation "unless already submitted." 

We already gave them everything.

Should we print it all out and bring it again or will they even look at it?

 

 

I know I must bring our marriage certificate, his, my and step-daughters birth certificates v and translations for theirs. I'm assuming my and his divorce decrees and translation for his.

I've already submitted all this but the form does not say "unnless already submitted" here, so I'll bring it again.

I was thinking of uploading photos of us together at random events taken since the packet was sent. Should I bring hard copies as well?

 

What's suggested. Should I really bring a second copy of everything they already have? 

Do I need to bring my brother and sister-in-laws birth certificates as well, even though copies were sent?

It mentions letters from their employers proving employment and pay rate, is this a requirement or just one of the options for proving income.

We did already send in their tax transcripts for past 3 years.

I was thinking of bringing their income tax transcript for 2025 (I had sent '24, '23, and '22) So would that suffice or will they have to get letters from their employers as well?

And again, should they come with us?

 

TIA!

 

Edited to add: We applied for work auth for both of them at the time we sent the original packet. We haven't heard anything and the site shows only "current."

Does anyone know if they are even doing work auths? How long after the interview do people usually get the green card. If I'm not mistaken, that serves as work auth as well, correct?

Please update your timelines. 

[Fr8dog 593]

Bring everything you have ever collected. Better to have a sore back the next day then to have an RFE because you left something at the house and they overlooked/lost it.

Have a copy available for them. If it's a document you cannot or don't want to be without, bring the original and a copy.

[Edward and Jaycel 2,657]

12 hours ago, Fr8dog said:

Bring everything you have ever collected. Better to have a sore back the next day then to have an RFE because you left something at the house and they overlooked/lost it.

Have a copy available for them. If it's a document you cannot or don't want to be without, bring the original and a copy.

 

This is fantastic advice! We brought 2 portable filers with us to our interview with just about every piece of evidence we had generated since we had met just in case.  

[Purple_Paladin 26]

On 3/15/2026 at 6:08 PM, wildbug100420 said:

Please update your timelines.

I updated my signature. Timeline is there.

[Purple_Paladin 26]

I had a follow-up question regarding the interview process. 

My husband is here on the K1 and his daughter on the K2.

I read on the instructions that if they don't speak fluent English, they should bring an interpreter. 
I feel that he speaks English fluently and she speaks it well enough to communicate understandably. That is, she usually understands very well but is a bit shy/hesitant to speak.

That being said, when they are stressed, they both can freeze up a bit, her more than him. Also sometimes they might understand something a bit differently.

It's not significant in day to day but in a stressful situation, it might fluster them.

I'm well able to clarify these little things for him and he's able to translate well for her. 

 

Will this suffice? Meaning, can I act as the interpreter for them both?

Will we be separated during the interview process or will we all be together?

If we'll all stay together, I'm very confident in my ability to clarify for them. They realy don't need to be told things in French, more they sometimes need to have things explained differently, if that makes sense. They might be unfamiliar with a phrase or use of a particular word choice for something.

Again, he understands more than her and is able to translate to her anything she doesn't quite get that they want.

 

Has anyone here done the K1 with the K2 interview before that can shed some light here? I should mention that my step-daughter is 19 (20 by the time of interview).

 

TIA!

 

[TBoneTX 49,710]

A duplicate post in the wrong forum has been removed, along with a reply to it.  Please post only once.

[Purple_Paladin 26]

Just a quick update: 

We had our interview. We did spring for the certified translator. I think my step daughter used her once. My husband used her once.

We could have done without and been fine. C'est la vie.

 

Our interview was lovely. Very positive experience. I did have everything we had recieved from the beginning printed out and in giant binders for each of them along with original copies of birth certificates and ID's. 

He asked for the IDs (my husband's license, both passports, step-daughters French ID card, my husband's SS card), our marraige license, the letters of employment from our sponsor and co-sponsor, the last 3 paychecks from them, photos that were not previously sent (we gave photos from how we met since our original file for the I-485 only included photos from his time here in US since he came on the K1). I also provided proof thay they are on my health insurance, bank statements for them, proof of our divorces and custody settlement with the bank statement proving child support. He asked for school records from my step-daughter, which we didn't have because we were never asked this before. It wasn't an issue. He was able to verify on his own after.

 

I don't remember that he asked anything else. They already had it all to be fair. He thanked us for coming prepared and having the neccessary documents.
He asked us back and forth questions about our relationship, our previous marriages, number of children, and why we had divorced from previous relationships.

He asked the legal questions about eligiblity from the form.

He asked step-daughter the name of her fathers parents, when she last spoke with her mother, what she did in France for her studies. 

Mostly he seemed to be confirming the data he already had from our file. 

 

As I said, it was a positive experience. He was polite and thorough. He gave us time to answer. He repeated as neccessary.

 

So now, It looks like the green card is good for two years. I know others have said to start the next step early, but the card is valid until April 2028 and the website says that Removal of conditions (that is the next step, correct?)  can not be applied for before 90 days before this one expires so I don't see that it can be done earlier than that, please correct me if I'm wrong. At that point, it's 01/24/2028, and I think it's form I-751 and $700/each?

 

When and where do we do the FD-258 fingerprint cards?
Does my step-daughter file separately or with him? Any tips or links to how-tos are always appreciated. I've looked at the USCIS site just a bit. 

 

They will both focus on getting jobs now. We never received Employment Authorization, but we have the green cards now, so I guess that's a moot point. My step-daughter also received her SS# with the mailed I-485 approval notice. I just want to be prepared so that we know when we need to move. I hate surprises.

 

FWIW: From what I've read on here, I think our personal experience of having everything go relatively quickly once we got our financials in order had a lot to do with our extensive history of having been together for 10 years and the ease with which would could provide proof of that (shared trips, meeting families, photos of these and other milestones...)

My guess would be that the less time a couple is together before the marriage, the more they want you to prove it's realy because there isn't significant evidence established. I could be wrong and maybe we just got lucky, but the interviewer seemed confident in our file. 

 

Thank you all for the support, info and encouragement!

Purple & Paladin 💜

[Crazy Cat 46,563]

18 minutes ago, Purple_Paladin said:

can not be applied for before 90 days before this one expires so I don't see that it can be done earlier than that, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Congratulations!!!!  Correct.  I would wait until a few days after the 90 day window opens. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Crazy Cat

[Edward and Jaycel 2,657]

31 minutes ago, Purple_Paladin said:

When and where do we do the FD-258 fingerprint cards?

FD-258 cards are only required if you are filing the I-751 from outside the US due to military/government orders.