Green card not stamped

[LSS 0]

Hi,

I had the AOS interview with my US citizen wife a couple of days ago at the Seattle office. I have a H1B visa which expires in 2009. The interviewer called just my wife in first, with the papers. I think just looking at our application (she is older than me and we are different cultural backgrounds), he thought that we are committing marriage fraud and that is why he started off by interviewing us separately. Anyways, I had arranged all the papers and my wife didn't know very well how it was organised. So after interviewing my wife for some time he called me in and I gave him all the required paperwork. Also, he asked me the questions he had asked my wife (my wife was also present during all this) and obviously he got the same answers from me. He was concerned about my wife not having id from the Washington and that is because we plan to move soon (blame the rain).

After asking all the questions, he just said that we would receive a letter in the mail saying the next action. He did not say if the application was denied or approved. He took my I-94. When I asked him if I needed to keep it (it is multiple entry I-94) for travel (since I am on H1B right now), he gave it back to me. It was around 4 in the evening by then and he really wanted to leave. His phone was contantly ringing. So he did not look at our photos.

The questions I have are:

1) He did not mention background check or that any papers were missing. So what are we waiting for?

2) Did the guy have the right to interview us separately without interviewing us together first?

3) He was very unfriendly. No greetings etc. He was not professional at all. My wife is sick (on prescription medication) and was coughing during the interview. He did not even offer water. He just made an assumption that I work for Microsoft, when the papers clearly mention my current employer which is not microsoft. Has anyone else faced a similar situation?

4) Will getting a lawyer for my case help in anyway? How should I interpret his not looking at out photo albums?

Thanks in advance..

LS

[athena_ny 1]

Hi,

I had the AOS interview with my US citizen wife a couple of days ago at the Seattle office. I have a H1B visa which expires in 2009. The interviewer called just my wife in first, with the papers. I think just looking at our application (she is older than me and we are different cultural backgrounds), he thought that we are committing marriage fraud and that is why he started off by interviewing us separately. Anyways, I had arranged all the papers and my wife didn't know very well how it was organised. So after interviewing my wife for some time he called me in and I gave him all the required paperwork. Also, he asked me the questions he had asked my wife (my wife was also present during all this) and obviously he got the same answers from me. He was concerned about my wife not having id from the Washington and that is because we plan to move soon (blame the rain).

After asking all the questions, he just said that we would receive a letter in the mail saying the next action. He did not say if the application was denied or approved. He took my I-94. When I asked him if I needed to keep it (it is multiple entry I-94) for travel (since I am on H1B right now), he gave it back to me. It was around 4 in the evening by then and he really wanted to leave. His phone was contantly ringing. So he did not look at our photos.

The questions I have are:

1) He did not mention background check or that any papers were missing. So what are we waiting for?

2) Did the guy have the right to interview us separately without interviewing us together first?

3) He was very unfriendly. No greetings etc. He was not professional at all. My wife is sick (on prescription medication) and was coughing during the interview. He did not even offer water. He just made an assumption that I work for Microsoft, when the papers clearly mention my current employer which is not microsoft. Has anyone else faced a similar situation?

4) Will getting a lawyer for my case help in anyway? How should I interpret his not looking at out photo albums?

Thanks in advance..

LS

Sometimes newer officers may need supervisor approval, et cetera to approve an application. They are well within their rights not to interview you first together. Not all officers are friendly either, and they don't have to offer water to someone coughing, I'm not sure what bearing this really has on your case - our's wasn't friendly either, but we got our approval. She didn't look at our photo albums either, but again - got our approval.

He was going to take the I-94 which sometimes is a sign you're going toward an approval, but there's no hard and fast rule.

I'd wait until you get a notice of intent to deny or something along those lines before you get a lawyer involved - or if more than 3 or so weeks goes by without hearing anything.

[bradcanuck 1]

He could have just had a bad day, along with you guys being nervous means a sour feeling in general.

[esojrd 0]

Well, damn, a human being would offer water to someone visibly sick and coughing. This guy obviously wasn't one. Sorry to hear you had to be interviewed by this person.

On a related note, I think it is imperative that both the petitioner and the beneficiary get accustomed to the paperwork because you never know who they're going to ask what. I'm our case I prepared everything and my wife didn't really go over the paperwork, and as luck would have it the interviewer asked her something about one of the papers. As I was about to answer he firmly but politely said that he wants her to answer. Luckily it was a simple question that she knew the answer to. Bottom line, both of you should go through all the paperwork the night before the interview.

[patiently_waiting 0]

I would wait this out before getting an attorney. I would not expect them to be pleasant bc they want to rattle those who are being fraudulent. Interviews being held seperate are the norm and not getting an answer before you leave is also common.

[zqt3344 21]

Not sure where it says they have to approve immediately after interview, have had others tell me that it is up to the case officer interviewing you what they decide or want to do, can make you wait for awhile, or can be rude as they want and some have an office manager/supervisor that makes them approve everything through them first, and then some offices are run differently than others, so who knows, sadly it is just the way it works in AOS process. Good luck.

Hi,

I had the AOS interview with my US citizen wife a couple of days ago at the Seattle office. I have a H1B visa which expires in 2009. The interviewer called just my wife in first, with the papers. I think just looking at our application (she is older than me and we are different cultural backgrounds), he thought that we are committing marriage fraud and that is why he started off by interviewing us separately. Anyways, I had arranged all the papers and my wife didn't know very well how it was organised. So after interviewing my wife for some time he called me in and I gave him all the required paperwork. Also, he asked me the questions he had asked my wife (my wife was also present during all this) and obviously he got the same answers from me. He was concerned about my wife not having id from the Washington and that is because we plan to move soon (blame the rain).

After asking all the questions, he just said that we would receive a letter in the mail saying the next action. He did not say if the application was denied or approved. He took my I-94. When I asked him if I needed to keep it (it is multiple entry I-94) for travel (since I am on H1B right now), he gave it back to me. It was around 4 in the evening by then and he really wanted to leave. His phone was contantly ringing. So he did not look at our photos.

The questions I have are:

1) He did not mention background check or that any papers were missing. So what are we waiting for?

2) Did the guy have the right to interview us separately without interviewing us together first?

3) He was very unfriendly. No greetings etc. He was not professional at all. My wife is sick (on prescription medication) and was coughing during the interview. He did not even offer water. He just made an assumption that I work for Microsoft, when the papers clearly mention my current employer which is not microsoft. Has anyone else faced a similar situation?

4) Will getting a lawyer for my case help in anyway? How should I interpret his not looking at out photo albums?

Thanks in advance..

LS

[Nanusia & Lukaszek 0]

It was 4pm and he wanted to get outta there, and whomever was calling him, was rushing. He (officer) took the papers you gave and will review later, and probably pass onto a supervisor for final decision.

Our officer after about 30 minutes said "ok it seems were running out of time", but it was closer to lunch time we believe So she took all the proof of living together we brought and just made some small notes, and took a couple pics we prepared for her to keep. She didnt have time to review the picture albums we brought.

[LSS 0]

Thanks everyone for your help. The inputs are really valuable. I guess we just have to sit tight and wait for the process to take its due course. That water thing still pisses me off. The law says that you are innocent until proven guilty however we saw the opposite that night.

[athena_ny 1]

Thanks everyone for your help. The inputs are really valuable. I guess we just have to sit tight and wait for the process to take its due course. That water thing still pisses me off. The law says that you are innocent until proven guilty however we saw the opposite that night.

Actually, in immigration matters, the onus is on you to prove you're not guilty. Innocent until proven guilty is in courts of criminal law

[Singers 0]

If you need a referal for an immigration attorney in Seattle, I'd be happy to pass you one. They are very reasonable and have a LOT of experience. I doubt it will come to that though...