I had my oath earlier today (well, yesterday now) in Dallas. There were 110 people being naturalised from 35 different countries, with the most being 23 from India and 24 from Mexico.
There was a minor issue where I had to scribble out the name of my home town on the "Signed at" location on the N-445 questionnaire, since I had already filled that in before arriving. The MC announced that only Dallas or Irving was acceptable there, but it was a quick fix.
Other than that it was a nice event, with a lot of people there, and friends and family. One of the cops I know from the PD showed up, which was a really nice touch and meant a lot.
So, this chapter of my life is now over. Onto the next...
Hi everyone,
haven't posted on this thread yet, but I've been lurking for a few months, as I am a Dallas filer myself.
I want to share my story as a Dallas i-485 applicant, I feel that we're a completely different animal from applicants at any of the other offices
Quick background: my wife and I met in 2008, lived together since 2010, moved to Dallas for grad school and got engaged in 2014. We decided to have the wedding of our dreams on a beach on an italian island (which is where I'm from) and we realistically planned it for summer 2016. Meanwhile, we had a private court wedding -and when I say private I mean the two of us. We obviously told close friends and immediate family, but we didn't want to taint the big wedding. It was actually fun to celebrate something like that just the two of us, sharing a moment without having strangers saying hi and congrats.
We applied for AOS about 2 months after getting married. The employment authorization process was as smooth as it could be. Biometrics after a few weeks, card in hand after 2 and a half months. Piece of cake.
The actual AOS process was a different ball game. I first got an RFE for the financial affidavit: I forgot to sum the number of people in the household on the form, so I literally lost about 2 weeks for forgetting to write 2 in a box, the sum of 1+1 .
After i sent in the RFE, the waiting game began. I didn't hear anything from USCIS for about 8 months. I had heard that the Dallas office was beyond backlogged, so I was not worried. The only concern was that our wedding was scheduled for June 25. Come March, the fun began. I started panicking, realizing that the 10 month period I predicted was looking more like a 13-14 month period in Dallas, as the office was getting even more overwhelmed. I was scared that they would schedule the interview during the period of time we were gonna be in Italy (we are leaving on June 12th).
At the apex of my 2-month panic-attack, I finally get a interview notice. I got all excited, until I started doing the worst thing possible: checking the internet for everything that could go wrong at an AOS interview. I spent a month reading horror stories about canceled interviews rescheduled after 6 months, genuine marriages that were denied, wrong information from fbi name checks of individuals with your same name. It's like google-ing your symptoms when you're simply sleepy and ending up believing that you have cancer. Don't do it. Ever. If you have a honest, legit marriage, stay away from google at all costs.
Now my interview day. I went to the office in Irving. Great office, sort of new, very polite and nice staff - different experience from any public office I've ever been to. I got to my interview 15 minutes early. Officer came out and recognized us, she said she had been looking at the pictures I sent as initial evidence.I was like good, i brought 200 more. She made us swear in and then we went into the actual interview. Let me start by saying that we got THE BEST OFFICER EVER. Very nice, young, conversational and really helped me feel more at ease, although I was obviously nervous. She started with basic bio questions about each other - asked my wife my name, my dob, my mom's name..then she did the same thing with me, asking for her info. I think throughout the interview I was asked my wife's date of birth about 6 times -- I know that I will NEVER forget a birthday from now on . The rest of the interview was seriously very, very smooth, it was a very nice conversation. Talked about how we met, and when we mentioned we met in 2008 she had a look like oh ok this is an easy one. We talked a bit about our story, without going into much detail. For some reason we ended up talking about dogs for a minute, since we mentioned that we have a puppy. She looked at our pictures from 2009 to 2016, I brought pictures abroad, pictures with family, halloween pictures. Then she asked for supporting documents that weren't sent in as initial evidence: I gave her the copy of our two past leases, wife's life insurance documents with my name as a beneficiary, health and auto insurance with both names, last tax return filed jointly and maybe something else I forgot. She didn't even ask for her birth certificate, american passport was enough. Mind that I was pretty nervous and she could tell, she kept telling me there was no need to.
At the end of what I thought was the best interview in history, she hands us a letter saying that a decision could not be made, and she mentions that it takes on average 2 months. I freaked out for 2 reasons: a) my EAD is about to expire; b) we were 3 weeks away from going to Italy. She noticed that and she said that ours should not take that long. I obviously went home and started looking at catastrophic cases where there are huge delays after the interview
Long story short (yeah right) i did not get any text or online update, my case status was stuck on "interview scheduled" . Then monday I check the mail, and find the approval notices for the I-485 and I-131. Online status was not updated until today, when I got a message saying my card was mailed yesterday.
So if you're a Dallas applicant, here are some takeaways:
1) it's a long process, it's not their fault, they're really overwhelmed. It will take time so don't worry if you don't hear anything for a while, just make sure you renew any temporary permit in time.
2) DO NOT sweat the interview. If you are a legit couple, this should not be a stressful event, there is nothing to fear, nobody will trick you into a blackhole. Rather than stressing about everything that could go wrong, like I did, ENJOY this big step with your wife/husband, make it a fun experience.
3) The officers are there to help you get something you have a legal right to. They know people are nervous, and at least in my experience they are trained to make you feel at ease. It's not a trial, it's a conversation!
4) Don't rely too much on the online status, sometimes it does not get updated
5) Last minor thing...it's ok to say "I don't remember" ..don't try to memorize stuff, if you have a looong relationship it is ok to forget what you guys ate 475 days ago.
Hopefully this was not too long and dry, I really hope my post can help some applicants make this into a more enjoyable experience. Nothing to stress about!!
If an immigration lawyer told you so, I request you reveal their information here so that they cannot trap any victims. People should get away from those sort of lawyers who consider themselves as immigration lawyers but have no idea what they are talking about.
I noticed this subject comes up most of the time after the person receives the GC... until he/she gets the permanent GC everything seems fine...it's odd huh.
Here we go again. If I had a penny for every US citizen spouse who threatened deportation, etc. I'd be so so so rich. The next time she starts with that nonsense tell your friend the appropriate response is "Bye, Felicia!".
I don't think you should. I completed my Biometrics on March 7th and there hasn't been any recent updates on the uscis.gov. the last update is dated 02.22.2016....
i'm convincing myself that it's a good news.
Your statement is a judgement and NOT helpful at all . I didn't come here for this. I came here to looking for guidance and some sort of good advice . If you can't provide that then please refrain.
hi
he can't adjust status because you are only a LPR. the process takes close to 2 years
you can only file the i130 for him and he will have his interview via consular processing in his country of origin
now did you get your GC through marriage to a USC? if so, then your husband can file for him
My husband and I both had divorce decrees that were sent in to USCIS (twice, for 2 different applications) and they were just copies, not even certified copies. We were never asked for any other copies and we got approvals with no problems.
Guesa it just depends on who is reviewing your application.
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