Brogeo

Hi melcab. This happened to us as well. Your evidence (at least as posted here) looks good, as I thought ours did. I wrote a post about the interview here, and the more general thread is here.

The consensus when I posted about it was that we were in the "random percentage" that are interviewed no matter what. We also never received any sort of RFE, as you have not - to me, reading these forums for years, this seems to be a reasonable indicator that you have been selected randomly. At the interview, this indeed seemed to be the case, as there was no difficult cross-examination or questioning.

In any case, as everyone here will attest - just both of you tell the truth at the interview. The system is byzantine and slow and frustrating, but in most cases, the correct result is achieved. Filing the forms is the worst part. All you have to do at the interview is be you.

Best of luck at the interview!

Assuming, as everyone else is here, that this is your 1st RoC interview (and 2nd overall, counting AoS), this also happened to us. I wrote a post about the interview here, and the more general thread is here.

In the end, for us, everything turned out fine and in fact my wife recieved her US passport just a few days ago (our RoC was over a year ago now). Good luck on your interview!

Is there anyone who undergo for an I-751 Interview here?

For those who did undergo, can you share what kind of questions were raised and how long did it take for you to receive an interview letter?

We had an interview. I have a thread about it here, and a post about the actual interview experience here (in that same thread).

The questions and relevant dates are in the thread. For us, it was a lot of stress just because it seemed "out of the ordinary", but the interview was painless and we got the 10-year card. Hope that post answers some of your questions.

I just had a look at the 03/22/12 and 06/17/11 editions of the forms side-by-side, and upon cursory examination I didn't see any differences at all. I wonder what they changed.

Hi all -

My father-in-law would like to come visit his daughter (a LPR currently in the naturalization process) and I in America in the autumn. He currently holds a B-2 visa, but his current visa will expire before then and he'll be applying for a new one.

His situation:

1. Is 65 years old, retired (was a civil engineer who worked for a large bank)
   
2. Lives in Amman, Jordan and has Jordanian nationality
   
3. Married, but his wife will not accompany him (she doesn't travel well and its a long trip to the west coast)
   
4. Owns property in Jordan (his own house and another piece of land)
   
5. Has another daughter in Amman with 2 boys of her own (my wife's nephews)
   
6. Numerous siblings and other relatives in Amman (and I do mean numerous. Arab families are so big and close )
   
7. Has applied for and recieved B-2 visas in the past
   
8. Has travelled to America to visit, and subsequently returned to his home country without overstay
   
9. Has no interest in staying in America permanently (I know this one isn't provable, but its true)
   

Normally, I'd think there would be no problem in applying for and receving another visa for more visits. However, one thing has changed since his last visa was granted: he retired and he and his wife no longer have any real money of their own in their bank accounts. They are now supported by his daughter and son-in-law who live in Amman. This situation is fairly common for older people in this area of the world (and even somewhat here in America, I suppose).

So my questions are these: will his lack of liquid assets cause him to be denied when he applies for a new visa? Does his advancing age matter to the visa process? Will his previous record of getting visas and not abusing them count in his favor? Does anyone else have experience with their older parents getting tourist visas to the US?

Thanks very much for any input you may provide.

Of particular note to your friend would be this paragraph from that document:

Failure to register for Selective Service will generally not prevent a man who was over 31 years of age on the day he filed his naturalization application from demonstrating that he is eligible for naturalization. Even if the applicant was required to register and the applicant’s failure to register was knowing and willful, the failure occurred outside of the statutory period during which the applicant is required to establish his attachment to the good order and happiness of the United States. The INS ma y, of course, consider a person's conduct before the beginning of this period. INA § 101(f) (last sentence) and § 316(e). If the INS denies naturalization to a man who is at least 31, based on his failure to register with Selective Service, the decision must state explicitly the basis for finding that the failure to register warrants denial of naturalization. As a practical matter, a male applicant over 31 years of age who failed to register with Selective Service should, ordinarily, be found eligible for naturalization unless INS has other evidence, in addition to the past failure to register, that demonstrates that the applicant is not well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States.

Its not clear to me though whether the 'time of application' would be now or in 1997 when he filed first.

We also printed our photos in color, 2-3 per page with captions on regular printer paper.

We did have an interview, and the officer looked at and discussed the photos with us. We actually spent a good bit of the interview talking about one of our vacations - he seemed absolutely fine with the printouts.

This is a very helpful thread. Before filing for Mrs. T-B.'s ROC, I asked a very sharp immigration attorney about the seeming requirement for affidavits. He said, "Affidavits are for people whose other evidence is very thin. Most people don't even need to think about including affidavits."

I'm sure this is indeed true, and in our case (complete with interview) the affadavits (which we did have) were not mentioned at all. However, they're also one of the easiest pieces of evidence to obtain if the relationship is genuine. If you can get them, its hard to see how they could do any harm - you even get the chance to vet them and decide on their inclusion yourself.

Wow, that's interesting. We received nothing like that attachment with our interview notice. Admittedly the I-751 instructions themselves are a bit vague (essentially "Show us anything you can think of that might make us believe you"), but I'd never have thought to get letters from my employer or our bank. Nor did we bring new copies (or translations) of birth certificates - that was all in the initial AoS packet.

Even though its a little bit of a pain, though, I think its good of them to send you a slightly more qualified list of stuff they'd like to see. A lot of the questions here in this very forum relate to the vagueness of the original form's instructions, and our interview letter provided no clarification at all on what to bring with us (except to bring originals of what we'd submitted copies of with the packet). We felt that we were largely "flying blind" with regard to evidence.

Our interview was about two months ago. I'm the USC, my wife the LPR.

Firstly, the supplement that came with the interview notice (the one which details what evidence is required) asks for "two passport sized photographs". That means of me (the LPR), correct? Sounds obvious but it doesn't say whether they should be of me or my USC wife!

I can't imagine why they'd want pictures of the USC. Although for our interview the letter did not state that we should bring pictures of anyone, and we didn't. No problems for us.

Second, the IO's tend to retain the 2yr green card at the interview don't they?

If they do, and if they don't make a decision promptly (horror stories of no decisions for months after interviews abound) then InfoPass will still give me a passport stamp, even if my 1-year extension expires (this coming March), won't they?

In our case, yes, the IO retained the card. This was a little surprising, and we had international travel scheduled. The IO did not stamp my wife's passport at the interview, but emphasized to us that if the date of travel was approaching (it was about 30 days after the interview) and we still hadn't received the 10-year GC, that a quick InfoPass appointment would be enough to get the stamp. We asked about this very specifically, but never found out if it was really the case, as the GC arrived before our departure.

For us, biometrics came first, then interview notice. We never received an RFE, but I believe they can come either before or after the interview.

From what I've gathered here on the forums, it would be highly unlikely for anything to come before biometrics.

We received the physical green card today. My wife was practically doing cartwheels on the lawn.

Are you referring to interview for request for ROC

or AOS?

Sorry I didn't notice this before - we went out of the country for a few weeks. I was referring to the ROC interview notice.

which come first biometric, RFE, interview notice

For us, biometrics came first, then interview notice. We never received an RFE, but I believe they can come either before or after the interview.

From what I've gathered here on the forums, it would be highly unlikely for anything to come before biometrics.

We received the physical green card today. My wife was practically doing cartwheels on the lawn.

And finally:

On September 27, 2011, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you.

So take heart, those of you who have interviews scheduled. For us at least, it worked out in the end. It just took a little while.

How did the interview go, Brogeo?

I'm curious because I had a friendly, casual AOS interview at the San Jose office, and I've not yet been approved for ROC, so wondering if I might have another interview, too.

For the detailed answer, check here, but the short answer is that it was even more casual than our (also) casual AoS interview at San Jose. The officer indicated that we'd be approved soon, but we haven't seen anything yet. So still have our fingers crossed.

Card Production Ordered!!

Congrats! When was your interview? And did you find out about the card production through the USCIS site, or in the mail?

Our interview was last Thursday - still no update on status.

So the interview was scheduled for today at 12:30 at the San Jose office. Here's what happened:

We arrived about 45 minutes early because the letter said to allow that much time for security screening, but that took all of about 3 minutes. We made our way upstairs to the AOS waiting room and dropped our appointment letter in the box. We were in the (large) waiting room for about 55 minutes, and during that time saw no other applicants or customers. It was a little creepy.

At about 12:45, the door opened and the officer called us in to his office. He introduced himself to us and quickly swore us in. He asked us both for identification and asked my wife for her conditional green card. He did not ask either one of us for a passport.

At this point, something unexpected happened. He informed us that he would be keeping the expired conditional green card. He put it in a clear plastic bag and stapled it into the file. He told us that if we wanted to travel before we received the unconditional card, we should make an infopass appointment and get the I-551 stamp, and travel with the NOA1 letter.

Then he started to go through our file. He asked us questions about our living situation, specifically concerning whether we had lived together for our entire marriage so far, and (curiously) if at any point during our marriage anyone else had ever lived with us. For us, easy answers - we've only ever lived in the one house and no one else has ever lived with us.

He asked my wife how she came to be in the United States (she came as an international student) and how her school/career path had eventually led her to meet me. He went through the I-751 we'd submitted and asked my wife, under oath, all of the questions like "Have you ever been in deportation proceedings?" and "Have you ever been arrested for any crime?". He looked through our pictures and inquired about our vacations.

Then, he asked us if we had any new information for the file. After learning during the AOS interview that this stuff is all about the file, we were ready for this. We had copies of the complete histories of everything we'd submitted samples of in the original packet. Bank statements, credit card statements, insurance claims, car lease statements, etc, etc. At one point he actually said "I can't tell you to stop giving me stuff, but I can tell you that there's enough here already to convince me." One thing he did emphasize at this stage though, is that building the file is important if you intend to file for citizenship on the basis of marriage (after 3 years, not 5). The same file will be referenced in that case, so its good to show continuing evidence of a valid marriage.

So we gave him a few more items and then he told us that our file would be submitted to another unit who would keep it for a day or so and then return it to him, at which time our petition would be approved (I get the feeling that this other unit is a bookkeeping unit to make sure that fees have been paid, forms signed, biometrics obtained, deportation proceedings not in effect, etc).

He asked us if we had any questions and we asked again about travel - my wife was a little nervous to leave without her green card. He reassured us that an infopass appointment and I-551 stamp were enough - I hope this is true.

So, all in all, no big deal. A lot of preparation and worrying for not much. Still, we're glad its finally over and looking forward to getting the 10-year card.

Forgot to update the general thread:

We got the letter yesterday informing us of our interview date: September 15. So in our case it took a little over 2 weeks from the initial letter informing us of the case relocation until the interview letter. And the interview date was a little more than a month hence.

Just in case anyone is following along, we got the letter today informing us of our interview date: September 15. So in our case it took a little over 2 weeks from the initial letter informing us of the case relocation until the interview letter. And the interview date was a little more than a month hence.

I'll post about the interview (and the results, if we know them) afterwards. Until then, I'll be busy scrapbooking all of our evidence.

Can those of you who get interviews for RoC please state if you were interviewed for AoS, so we can see if there is any pattern to it, or just random. Thanks.

Yes, we were interviewed (together) for AoS. I actually thought this happened to everyone. It was very casual - the agent asked us about our relationship in general for about 15 minutes and then approved us.

Hi Brogeo,

I saw your thread here , does your spouse send money home on a regular basis. Apparently that is a big NO..NO with IO's now a days and get called for interview.

No, she doesn't. We did send her brother a monetary gift on the occasion of his own marriage, but that's the extent of the money sent home.

Nice idea!

We received a letter on July 23 (dated June 27) notifying us that the case has been relocated to our disctrict office in San Jose. Still waiting on actual interview notification.

It took about 2.5 months after recieving the notification of interview until the letter scheduling our interview arrived. The interview is about two weeks in the future from the date of the letter.

I would guess interview delays depend on how busy the local office is. I would think a two week lead time would be typical between informing you and the actual date of the interview.

This concerns me a bit - we're going to be out of the country in late October / early November for about two and a half weeks (the aforementioned wedding for one of my wife's cousins, plus general family visiting). If the gap between notification and interview is really as little as two weeks, then it would be possible for us to miss the interview without ever hearing of it if the timing is right (our mail will be stopped and piling up at the post office while we're away).

Is there some way we can be pro-active about notifying our local office about this? Or just about scheduling the interview in general? The 2.5 month period, if somewhat standard, would be right in the danger zone of missing the interview.

I'm going through the same process with the Santa Ana office. The letter was dated June 14th, but didn't arrive until July 1st. Still no contact from the local office. Another person I know (at yet another local service center) has been waiting nearly 3 months with no word from the local office.

Oh. Well in that case I won't hold my breath. Thanks!

Thanks for your support - I thought it was likely that it was random as well, but its nice to hear others chime in.

Anyone who's been interviewed know how long it takes for the interview to get scheduled?

Did you receive an RFE before the apointment letter?

It may just be random, it sounds like there is nothing to worry about

Good luck

Nope, no RFE. Which is actually good, because I don't know what else I would have submitted. We kind of threw the kitchen sink at them the first time.

Hi everyone. I've been lurking these forums since back in the AoS days (incredibly helpful), but finally have a reason to sign up and post.

I'm the USC husband, my wife is the permanent resident looking to remove her conditions. We successfully adjusted her status (from F-1 student) to LPR two years ago, and this April submitted our I-751 packet. Got NOA on April 7, went to biometrics on May 12, and everything seemed fine.

Then, yesterday (July 23) she received a letter (dated June 27) stating that her case has been relocated to our district office (San Jose, CA) for adjudication. They say the local office will contact us with an appointment time.

I have a few questions about this:

1. How long will it take them to contact us with an appointment time? Is this local office dependent? Anyone have any experience with timing at San Jose?
   
2. Once they do contact us, how far in the future is the appointment likely to be? I ask because we're about to make overseas travel plans for late October (one of my wife's cousins is getting married) and I don't want to miss the appointment, but don't want to miss the wedding either.
   
3. And, of course, the most important question: what's the likely reason we're being interviewed? I actually thought our packet was pretty good. We submitted:
   
   • Yearly leases on our apartment from June 2008 - June 2009, and June 2009 - June 2010
     
   • A letter from our landlord attesting that we still reside together in our apartment since the lease became a month-to-month agreement in June 2010
     
   • A copy of a University of California Retirement Savings Program statement from June 2009 showing wife's address at our apartment
     
   • A copy of a Macy's credit card statement of December 2009 showing wife's address at our apartment.
     
   • A copy of a credit card statement of February 2011 from USE Credit Union showing wife's address at our apartment
     
   • A copy of the statement from our joint bank account (checking and savings) at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. from January 2011
     
   • Transcripts of tax returns filed jointly for 2008, 2009, and 2010, issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service
     
   • A copy of the Beneficiary Designation form from The Hartford showing wife as primary beneficiary of life insurance policy for me
     
   • A copy of a letter from Blue Shield of California stating that from the December 12, 2008 until January 1, 2011 (when she became covered under her own policy) wife was covered by my health insurance policy
     
   • Copies of our joint credit card statement from Virgin America Visa from December 2009 and March 2011
     
   • Copy of policy from USAA showing joint coverage on auto insurance
     
   • Travel document from Virgin America regarding our joint trip to New York to visit friends in May 2009
     
   • Travel document from Orbitz regarding our joint trip to Jordan and Egypt to visit family in December 2009 and January 2010
     
   • Travel document from Virgin America regarding our joint trip to Boston, MA to visit friends in October 2010
     
   • Travel document from Virgin America regarding our joint trip to Cancun, Mexico for a friend's wedding in March 2011
     
   • Copies of wedding invitations addressed to us both
     
   • Copies of holiday cards and other correspondence addressed to us both
     
   • Labelled photos from our honeymoon in Vail, Colorado, our trips to New York, Jordan, Egypt, Boston and Mexico showing us with family and friends as well as family photos
     
   • Affidavit from friend 1 attesting to his knowledge of our relationship
     
   • Affidavit from friend 2 attesting to her knowledge of our relationship
     

We don't have any children or own any property yet, but I thought we'd covered all the other bases pretty well. Anyone have any experience with the San Jose office and RoC interviews? I'm actually kind of hoping they just do a real Stokes interview on us, because we'll be fine. But my wife is freaking out that this isn't going 'normally'.

Thanks!