US Immigration from Brazil

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share our USCIS interview experience at the Atlanta FO yesterday (7/3). We are a B2 Tourist marriage-based AOS. I'm the husband (USC), and my wife is Brazilian. We were married in September of 2024 (Arrived in Orlando in March of 2024), and filed our I-130, I-485, I-765, and I-131 collectively in mid-January (1/14/25) through a local attorney. My wife was technically on an overstay at that point, but our attorney advised that this would be forgiven since she is the spouse of a US Citizen, and her overstay was very minor given the date we filed. I imagine we could have DIY'd, but I'm a firm believer in making sure everything is correct, and done right, so I'm not opposed to the extra cost of having representation. My wife's nerves have been running rampant throughout this process due to the media and multitudes of news sources sensationalizing the sensitivity around immigration and the stories being reported on. While our journey is entirely legal and the "right way", she has been in a near panic thinking ICE would be lurking in every corner of the AOS building just itching to haul her away. This is certainly not the case, nor would it happen, and I can personally attest to the fact that the only uniformed people at the building were the general security staff that screen you before entering the building.

Our appointment was scheduled for today @ 9:55am. We arrived around 9:10am. Our attorney arrived around 9:20am, and we explicitly followed their instruction not to enter until we were all collectively together. After entering, we proceeded through security with no issues. Everyone was relatively pleasant at this point. Immediately went to check-in and my wife had her picture taken and biometrics scanned. We were issued a call-number and were checked-in @ 9:41 am. Proceeded to the 3rd floor waiting room, and hunkered down for the wait. After several others passed us by, we were called in by our IO around 10:10am.

First impressions are always on deck, and she presented herself as a very pleasant person at the jump. Did not have any kind of demeanor that indicated she was terse, stern or unnecessarily serious. She greeted us very kindly and led us back to her office. She had a huge L-Shaped desk, so I took the opportunity to say..."Fancy Desk!!". She looked at me with a semi-sarcastic and smiling facial expression and said..."You sure...Really?". More or less breaking the ice between us and made me confident that being in her presence would not be daunting or overbearing. Prior to taking our seats, she swore us in, and the interview began.

**We were never separated** (This may not be the case for everyone, but this factor alone was a calming element to the experience as well)

Additional Context: In between some of the questioning, she took time to make entries on the computer, take notes and engage with us in a pleasant, sometimes comical back and forth conversation keeping the air in the room light. Clearly their systems were acting a bit slow, so to break up the monotony we had several moments of light and fun banter. We joked about coffee and the effects of caffeine as I have a very social personality, so she picked on me and asked if I had had coffee that morning because I can be talkative and friendly. This resulted in her openly admitting that she can't start the day without it, lifted her coffee thermos up like a trophy, and showed that she had caffeine pills in her desk. She also picked on me about stapling things in our supporting documentation as it made scanning more cumbersome. She said jokingly..."Next time...don't staple everything"...to which I said..."There shouldn't need to be a next time...this is forever right?"...to which she responded.."Yes, we don't want to see you back here unless it's to apply for her citizenship". All in all, very light-hearted and normal conversational banter.

Questions Asked:

(To Both) What is your spouses full name? What is their DOB? Is this both our first time filing a petition for marriage-based AOS?

(To My Wife) Did she come here for the purposes of Immigration benefits? When she applied for her visa, what did she say was the purpose of her visit? What made her say "Yes" to my proposal? Did she work before receiving her EAD? Did she drive? Did she overstay her visa? Did she have a State-issued ID? Is she currently working? And of course...General I-485 Q&A (Yes/No) stuff

(To Me) How did we meet? (This was asked to both, so for clarity we asked her who should answer). What led to the proposal, and when did I propose? What were the reasons for proposing to her?

After all of the questions, she did ask for any other supporting evidence we wanted to submit with regard to show anything we had jointly. We submitted Life Insurance and Medical Beneficiary documents, 2024 Tax Filings, Joint Bank Account Statement, Affidavits from friends, additional pictures (we have tons, so she only asked for 4 pages worth), Sam's Club, Costco, and finally a cruise booking confirmation for both of us next year. All the while she was very pleasant to speak to, and was not brooding or overbearing. The interview lasted about 45 minutes in total.

**Side Note ~ She did have my wife sign an admission statement on a tablet to the aspect of answering "yes" to overstaying her visa. (While generally concerning, we have to remember that her overstay is forgiven based on legal marriage to a USC)

Upon conclusion of the questioning, scanning documents, and entries on the PC she handed us back the remainder of our supporting evidence documents (she made copies) and ID's indicating the interview was complete. We waited to ultimately hear that we had been approved on the spot, but instead, she made the comment: "This part is done, and you should receive a notification in the mail, I can't give you the time frame on that, but your case remains under review and if we need anything else, we'll contact you.". At that point she handed me a document stating the same. "Case is under review". Our attorney's opinion along with ours is that the interview went extremely well, and there's shouldn't be any reason to think we won't receive an approval soon. The agents have absolutely no obligation to offer any information regarding approval or denial after the interview is complete. We are subject to their process and responses whether we like it or not.

I will close with this: Not the outcome we were really wanting today, but she did make a couple comments during the interview that indicated it went very well...One being..."Yes, we don't want to see you back here again unless its for her application for citizenship." I don't think she would have said that if there wasn't a possibility of us receiving her GC. The collective opinion was that the IO did not have the authority to approve the GC on the spot, and needed a supervisor's sign off first. (I could see her filling out a form that said "Supervisor Review: AOS". So now we wait!! We feel confident, but until the cases move to "Approved", we aren't fully satisfied. We are a simple case, no historical legal issues, and just two people eager to move forward in our marriage and in life. To those who have pending interviews, our advice is to be prepared, organize and have ready to present additional evidence, and just be calm, relaxed, and answer the questions honestly and genuinely. Remember you are a valid, true and bonafide relationship, so there shouldn't be any reason to be nervous about the process. You only have the truth to tell. The continued wait will be a frustrating period of time for us, but good luck to everyone out there!! Your dreams will be realized!!

So my husband has an F-1 (opt) visa. He's been here since 2016. His opt began in 2024. We began the marriage based green card process in January 2025. He received his EAD in March. However, the green card application is still processing, but his visa is expiring in July of 2025. Should we fill out the form I-539, or is it okay to wait until the green card application processes. I understand without this form and the green card is denied he has to leave, so should we do it as precaution? Or is it necessary because his visa is expiring?

Hello All,

I'm sure all of us who are "in-waiting" pay attention to the estimated times for acceptances, biometrics, interviews and the like. I know those are based on the most extreme case averages mostly. I'm not certain this would be any metric for anything, but my wife and I filed in early January of 2025, and we just got an update to both our I-485 and I-130 cases. Both elements have now had an interview scheduled for early July. We're excited that it seems the progress is much quicker than expected given we were originally told 15-18 months to even get an interview or potentially receive the GC. We understand that it could be some time after the interview before the GC is mailed, but we're thrilled this seems to be moving along rather reasonably. Is this time frame aligning with others in our same situation?

My wife already has her EAD, so that was adjudicated prior. The disappointment was that we filed an I-131 for Advanced Parole, and now it appears we may get the GC before the Advanced Parole is even approved. Only reason we did that was because we were told the Advanced Parole would most likely come before the GC. The downside there is the money spent for the form, to not even get the cost out of expenditure. All that matters to us is that we get some of this process behind us and can happily continue forward!!

I m currently filing my wife's N-400 online and gathering the documents to apply based on the 5-year rule. She has been a permanent resident since October 2017 and has only traveled outside the U.S. once, for two weeks. However, I noticed that her passport does not have a re-entry stamp showing her return to the U.S. What should I do in this case?

HI. My Husband filed my petition online (I-130) in hopes of getting the Receipt notice immediately, and save papers when mailing the I-485 (AOS) concurrently. However, it has been 40 days and no mail of the receipt notice received, and no PDF file of the receipt notice available for printing on his online USCIS account. We only have the receipt number as provided on the online status ("Case Received and notice of receipt has been sent"). My husband is a US. I am from Brazil. This is my second time to visit US and decided to stay for good. my I-94 recent travel has stay validity until July 2025 though. We are very anxious on how long can be a concurrent filing be accepted since we cant mail the I-485 without the actual copy of the receipt notice. We now regret this move and should've just filed I-130 by paper together with I-485 as concurrent.

We are wondering if a receipt number is enough, and writing a statement to explain why there's no notice of receipt received to be attached on the concurrent filing, and provide the payment receipt of the online I130 and the page copy of the online USCIS account of my husband that details the status, history, and receipt number of the online I130 filed. Reddit and Youtube are not helpful either.

If someone had a similar situation, I would greatly appreciate if you share your experience, and provide the steps you took with this situation.