SparklePony

My wife and daughter received their 2 yr Permanent Resident card today, after last Monday's interview on 11/06/17.  I want to wish good luck to everyone and to hang in there.  It is a frustrating journey for sure, but I know we'll all reach our destination somehow.  

Got email and text that my AOS application for my wife and daughter were approved on Nov. 7th and that their cards have been mailed on Nov. 9th.  

Just wanted to let you guys know that we had our AOS interview yesterday at the San Fernando Valley office here in Los Angeles CA.  We arrived 20 min. early to our appt. My wife and daughter were asked for their Employment authorization card to match the interview appointment notice and then we were given a number to be called for the interview.  We were called in by a woman immigration officer about 15 min later.  She did ask my wife if she understood English.  If not, she would see if there is an officer there that could translate Vietnamese, or see if there's anyone in the waiting room that could translate.  Otherwise, we'd need to reschedule.  My wife said that she understood as long as she was speaking slowly.
After sitting down in her office, she took pictures of my wife and our stepdaughter with her webcam.  She asked for our ids..driver licenses.  She then asked if we had originals of the birth certificates, passport, marriage certificate, divorce decrees and of my naturalization certificate.  ( I am a US Naturalized citizen).  I totally forgot about bringing my naturalization certificate and didn't think about bringing it with me since I'm the US citizen and brought my US passport with me.  She asked why didn't I bring it?  I just answered that I totally forgot about it.  She didn't say anything at that point.  I thought for sure she was going to reschedule the interview for missing that.  Anyways, she didn't and went on and inspected the original documents.  She basically compared the originals to the copies I had submitted with the AOS packet.  It was all in front of her and she would mark in red little notes to the copies in the packet.  She was curious as to why the date of my first divorce was different from the original I had.  I told her I wasn't sure.  It was still in the same month, but different date. She asked if she could keep the original and I said sure..keep whatever you want (didn't want to make thing difficult as it was).  
She also asked for the social security numbers of my wife and step-daughter and wrote them down on the application.  
Then she started asking questions to my wife about how she met me, how many times did I visit her, who the father of the child is and where he lived.  She then pointed to me and asked who I was and my birthdate.  Asked her if she's ever been to the US before.  While asking the questions, she was writing our answers on a piece of paper.  She then went over the packet and started asking her questions about the criminal section of the application such as had she ever been arrested, was she ever part of the Communist party etc...  On a few questions, my wife didn't quite understand so I had to tell her in English the meaning of it.  Like she asked if she was ever arrested...she didn't understand the word arrested, so I asked her in English, "Have you ever gone to jail?", and she said no.  The immigration officer was sort of smiling.  She did ask her one more time if she needed a translator and my wife said maybe.  I told her are you sure? (I didn't want a translator cause I didn't think we'd find one and we'd have to reschedule).  So my wife said..just speak slowly.  Finally she turned to our daughter and she asked her who's this? (pointing at me). And my daughter answered "Daddy".  My wife said step-daddy (NOOOO!!) but then the immigration officer said that it was ok...it was good for her to call me daddy (which she does at home).  So I think that sealed it for us.
She also looked at my tax transcripts and asked if I had the full form of tax year 2016.  I said no..I only brought my tax transcripts.  She said the reason is because on the tax transcript, it showed 4 lines of dependents even though there were no names and social security numbers there.  I told her no, it was only me and sometimes my daughter who I get to claim every other year.  She looked at it again but didn't say anything else.  Probably because I make good money and that even if there were 10 dependents, I'd still qualify to be a financial support for the application.  
She then asked if we had any other proof of our relationship... So I handed to her our joint bank account statements (she asked for our bank cards...I handed her mine but my wife didn't bring hers), life insurance showing being a beneficiary, my company health insurance summary showing them as dependents, join lease agreement with both of names on it, and pictures since she's been in the US.  She looked at them and pointed out one picture of us attending a high school graduation and she asked who that was in the picture with us.  My wife answered that it was my daughter (from a previous marriage).  
At this point, she then said, based on what she sees, there is no reason why my wife and daughter wouldn't be able to get a green card.  She said she would approve my daughter on the spot but then it would take 2 days to run another background check on my wife to make sure nothing has come up since the filling of the application.  And then after that, they would be getting their green card in about 2-3 weeks.  She did gave us a tip that for the removal of conditions (which is for the 10 year green card) that if we submitted every month of the joint bank statements since getting her 2 year green card, that there would likely be no interview when we applied for the 10 year green card.  Basically submit everything that we can to bypass the interview. I think I put everything that I can remember of what happened at the interview. Probably forgot some minor details.
I apologize for the detailed summary of our interview, but all in all, it took about 30 minutes for the interview.  To sum it up, bring all the originals of any documents you have...birth certificates, divorce decree, marriage certificate, naturalization certificate (if you became a US citizen via naturalization) and passports. Make sure you bring the actual Tax forms that were submitted to the IRS and not the tax transcripts that was sent with the AOS package in case they have any questions because it's much more detailed than the transcripts.  
Apart from that, it was nerve wrecking especially since we didn't have a couple of documents that she was asking about but it was a good experience as she was very nice with our daughter afterwards and joking with her.
 

They have different rooms for foreign applicants if you will. And it's not big, so maybe that's it. I don't know for sure. I I'm not mistaken it was also mentioned in my letter. It didn't matter to me since my husband wasn't even in the Netherlands at that time. And I think I read someone's experience on vj journey that the fiance was with them but had to wait or something. 

Received an email this morning that my Green Card is being produced!
 
No interview for me. YAY!!

Very happy right now: just received the email notifications that both cards have been ordered to production!
 
K2 AOS approved right at the 6-month time frame, with no RFEs, no interview and no need to re-do the medical, even though it has expired by now (it hadn't when we filed). So relieved!

You always have to file for ROC because you need a valid greencard to apply for citizenship. It is such a money-suck, and ROC tends to take forever to get approved, so many times people will file for citizenship and that kicks ROC into approval so they can get the citizenship done.
 
In other news, I just received the email notifications that my daughters' greencards have been ordered in production (adjusting from K2 visas). I am so relieved - no interview, and they didn't request a new medical even though the visa one has expired by now (it hadn't when we filed). So so relieved!

My husband is a K1 and he got approved for his AOS with interview last Thursday. We are now waiting for the card to be sent to us. 

See, that's the thing - K1s have already been interviewed to establish that theirs is a bonafide relationship - and the visa has the specific intent of marriage and follow-up AOS. Why re-interview? There's really not much to gain from it. For all intents and purposes, USCIS has already deemed your relationship to be valid, and AOS is merely paperwork to make sure you kept with the terms of the K1 visa.
 
Other visas, though, are not given with the intent to AOS based on marriage, so when it happens, they want to make sure the marriage is real and valid - hence the interview. The interview you had before entering the country has nothing to do with the relationship you later developed with the USC spouse.
 
Even though there is no rhyme or reason to approvals, the trend I see is that non-K1 visas get sent to field offices for interviews, whereas K1s get approved with a waiver - which can take longer. They used to issue waiver letters - I received one when I did my AOS - but they don't anymore, I don't know why. Anyway, that's why I asked.

I'm seeing a lot of people on here get interviews (and pass, yay!) and get AOS done with, but it seems to me they're adjusting from F1s, H1Bs and the like. Are there any March filers who are adjusting from K1 visas who have had interviews? Or had their greencards approved already without interview?

Congratulations ! This is a big step for both of you! Celebrate and welcome to America   !!!
 
Guys, I hope everyone is doing great! I just passed to drop some good vibes! I hope everyone get good news soon, also congratulate to those who have gotten approvals!
Tomorrow we are having our interview! I am so nervous but excited at the same time! I am just so ready to get over with this hahaha! I will be writing my experience in the next couple of days. Hopefully everything goes great and we get good news!
Wish everyone the best.
Dearly Kirkuvan !

You can try an early walk-in in Seattle, but if you get turned away, it's usually not the best situation to miss the appointment you do have. I wouldn't personally wait until the 11th for the Seattle walk-in simply because that's the date for your appointment. If it doesn't work out, you have no way of making it to the selected location, and then what? USCIS won't accept "I was on vacation" as an excuse for missing biometrics.

Hi, everyone 

I just want to let you know that my I-130 and I-485 have been approved. Our interview was last week, July 12th at the Raleigh Durham office. The approval notice for I-130 was delivered Monday and the I-485/Welcome Notice was received today.

Our interview was okay. Tbh, I cannot say that it was good because of two things: my anxiety and the mini-argument at the end between IO and our lawyer.

So, after we swore in, Immigration Officer explained to us that there will be two parts of that interview: first is going through the forms and verifying all the information and second will be our story. Everything was going well on the first part, we answered each question without any problem. When it was time for the second part, which was about our story, my nervousness got me, I froze!! I was only able to say 3 sentences and my mind stopped. It should have been very easy because I did not have a reason to be scared but my anxiety got the best of me. Good thing my husband was able to do it and I was able to redeem myself at the end but recalling it now still makes me want to punch myself :)))) 

Anyway, after all questions were asked IO told us that he is going to approve us. At this point I was already relieved,however, before the it actually finished,  IO and our lawyer had an argument about my married name so despite hearing earlier the word "approved", we left the office without anything in our hands, not even a paper that says " we will review your file", nothing. In short, we were left hanging. I think the IO got upset on the argument so he just told us to wait for the decision in the mail, that's it. Two days of agony and I did not hear anything from them until I received an email on the third day with a change of online status that says card is in production for my I-485 case, whew!!! Thank you very much dear God!

On Tuesday, my status changed to card was mailed to me and if the delivery period will be the same as my EAD's, I will get the greencard tomorrow. 

By the way, when I received the welcome notice today, I read it more than 10 times. In bold letters it said, "WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA". 
It felt so good reading it again and again because I have been waiting for this moment for a long time and finally, it is here!!!

Good luck everyone!!! 
I am sending you the all the good vibes that you need!! 
(Hi @nikaero, my update above as promised :)

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My advice on those who will have interview soon:
--- STOP READING about interview horror stories. You will not benefit anything from it but anxiety. 
--- At least, 3 days before the interview, do not read anymore experiences of other people. Focus on calming your mind and spirit. 
--- Not all interviews about your relationship are on a Q&A format, some IO would want you to narrate your story. That's what happened to us.
--- Your relationship is real, you have nothing to hide so you got this!! 



 

DorothyLa,
 
  I worked at McDonald's for 3 years and paid many bills with that job when I was your age (in Florida!).  It also taught me so much about life.  That is noble work.  Keep going.  University education is nice but not necessary.  I work for a fortune 100 company as a network engineer now.  I never graduated from college.

Positive vibes for everyone, and I hope this month brings everyone the good news they are waiting for.  

@SparklePony wow!! It is a bumper joy in your family. Congratulations and good luck in all
 

Hello everyone! Have been super busy with a new baby, and moving to a new house - crazy crazy for us - but I did want to pop in to let everyone know that my kids' K2-AOS have had the EAD (and hopefully the AP too) approved today. Got the email notifications that Card is Under Production for them both, and the USCIS website has been updated as well!

A lot of people get confused with the receipt number from the NOA and the case number from NVC. Basically, when you file for the I-129f you're asking USCIS to allow your fiancé to apply for a visa. That's the first step of the process, it comes with its own receipt number and approval - the NOAs. But that's all it is - an authorization for the alien fiancé to apply for a visa. They can't apply for a fiancé visa on their own, there has to be this authorization in first. Once that's handled, USCIS sends the paperwork to the NVC, which creates a case through which the alien fiancé can then apply for the visa. That's why it's a separate case number. It's embassy specific (the first letters refer to the embassy where the visa will be handled), if there are K2 children involved they get their case numbers too, and it is then sent to the specific embassy which will process the visa. That's also why you then use a different website to track your case - it's now a different process, handled by a different branch of the government.

Congrats to all who have received such positive updates! Awesome news all around!

LOTS of people have filed for Mexico - check in the regional forums.

All of us who have gone before you felt like this too: we're just two people in love who want to start their lives together, why is everything so complicated? And yet, once that stage of things is over and we're finally married, it all seems like it passed in the blink of an eye. Patience is the name of the game with USCIS - we've all been there, we know how it goes, and stressing over it or feeling like your case is different and special won't help you - quite the opposite, it will leave you frustrated and anxious. And your fiance is from a low fraud country, so things will most likely end up being fairly easy, smooth and fast for you once your I-129F is approved. Some countries have it a LOT worse: hard interviews, a need for the USC to be present at the interview otherwise it gets denied, or even very very long Administrative Processing times after the interview, only to end up with a denial.
 
Really, as hard as it may feel right now, relax. You're only just beginning your journey.

Sending in evidence is no guarantee of an interview waiver. When I filed for AOS I had no evidence at all, and still got approved without an interview.

Not so much in terms of savings, but having an emergency fund is always a good idea, because life happens when you least expect it to. And setting up something like a 401K through work isn't a bad idea either. The rest I think looks easily explained. The way you guys both add money to a joint account is actually a neat case of co-mingled finances from my perspective. From what I've read, USCIS also likes to see joint assets, so having both names on car deeds or house deeds/leases are another good way of showing that. 

Thank you so much for the reassurance. We haven't started shopping for rings. My husband and I will go to Walmart this weekend to try some. We don't know our ring sizes or what kind of fit we might like. E.g. someone suggested the comfort fit, which sounds great. I didn't know that was a thing.
 
You're right about setting boundaries with friends. The advice we got, with regard to price and type, were intimidating. Some female friends told me to pester my husband to buy an expensive, belated engagement ring ("it's an investment!"; "you deserve it!"). This amused me because these friends consider themselves to be very egalitarian, open-minded, feminist, etc. 
 
My husband and I will likely get two durable and inexpensive rings, split the costs, and see if we like wearing them. If not, we'll keep them as mementos from a misadventure.
 
Everyone on this thread has been so wonderful with ideas and encouragement. I'm grateful to you all and am glad to have stumbled upon VisaJourney!

My ring is a silver unicorn, and my husband has a silvery Batman ring. We couldn't afford the nice ones so we decided to go for something that's totally us. We have the pics from our wedding and everything. People always love it when we explain, and they're totally personal to us.