cosmonauts

I got my GC in the mail yesterday

I got my GC in the mail yesterday

Thanks Tamara, I posted this before I asked you.

Aweee thank you tamaara, I actually red your review before my interview it was very helpful for me. thank you for shaing!!:)
 

Yay San Bernardino office! Congratulations!
Very good suggestions too.

Today I had my interview with my husband and we got approved on the spot!:)
We had our interview at 8:55am in San Bernardino Filed Office, but we got called by around 9:20am.
 
The officer is a very nice and professional man.
We first took the oath and the officer assigned us the seats.
Then he letted us to show our ID (my husband's passport + driver license, my passport + work permit + driving instruction permit).
I feel like other than identity verification, an another important thing the officer was looking for is our current address on them.
 
Then He took the picture again for me, I though it should be a very important picture so I just asked him if I can smile, he said yes. And I just gave the camera a big smile:).
Then he asked us how we met? is this our first marriage? do we have kids? How long time we were dating each other before marriage?
In the same time he checked carefully our paperwork and signed or did a mark on different pages.
 
Then He asked us if we have any evidences to add? And we just put everything we had on the table (Originals + Copies): Joint names Bank Statements, Joint names Health Insurance card + medical bills, Joint car insurances, our photos of marriage, travels, families (but he didn't take any of our photos because he said we already submitted some in our original application package).
 
And then some questions in i-485: have you ever committed any crimes in the US? deportations? communists? No No No.
 
Then he just went out of the office to make the copies of our IDs. 
When he came back, he took a hole on my work permit and gave me the approval letter and said congratulations and I was approved to be a permanent resident here!:)
I am happy and my husband was tearful at that time! lol after the interview he told me that the moment that he saw the the officer stamped approved on our paperwork, he was full of emotions. Finally we can book our flights for our next year travel in China!:)
 
In 4pm the same day of my interview, the online status changed to "new card is being produced":)
 
 
My personal suggestions:
1 Be well prepared, get all the evidences of your bona fide marriage to the interview. especially bank, health, cars, to show that you are really financially and physically attached to each other.
2 Tell the truth. It is very very important.
3 If you are a bona fide couples, try to be relaxed, I feel like a lot of officers have been working on this position for many years, if it is true, and your status is eligible,then you should not have a problem:)

My husband received his green card in the mail today eight days after approval! We're done with USCIS for 1 year and 9 months. 

We had our interview today in Detroit. Just wanted to share our experience.
 
We arrived about 25 minutes early. After we went through security and reception, we were told to sit in the waiting room where my name would be called.
 
The appointment was at 13:10. We were called at about 12:55. I'm assuming we were in the system as "arrived" or something since we were called early. We literally walked in, took an oath to tell the truth, verified our names, address and birthday and left. Our application had apparently already been approved. The woman explained that they used to be able to waive the interviews, which we knew, but now they are required to see everyone face to face. Even if there is no real reason. We were back on the road at 13:07.
 
She told us that my green card would arrive in 2 weeks and to please keep our address updated in the system for when we have to file the i-751.
 
Simple as that! 
 
 

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.
 
***We were never asked to show the approved I-612 waiver but we assume it's because they could check electronically since it's also a USCIS case. The lawyer we consulted with told us to be honest but if they didn't ask about something we didn't need to bring it up.
***They let people take their phones in the office, we weren't sure about this so we left them in the car.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.
 
***We were never asked to show the approved I-612 waiver but we assume it's because they could check electronically since it's also a USCIS case. The lawyer we consulted with told us to be honest but if they didn't ask about something we didn't need to bring it up.
***They let people take their phones in the office, we weren't sure about this so we left them in the car.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

Interview Experience-Detroit Field Office:
Priority Date: May 9th
Interview Date: September 21st
We had our interview today at 10:30 am and our case status just updated to "New Card Is Being Produced."
We arrived at 10:07 am. As we entered the building, we had to walk through the security checkpoint and check in at the front desk. We were called in at 10:45 by a very pleasant officer who smiled the entire time he was interviewing us and who made jokes and movie references constantly. The entire interview was extremely relaxed and seemed more like us talking. He first took a picture of my husband (I'm the US citizen) and took fingerprints to verify that he was who he said he was. He laughed about my husband not having any accent despite being from Germany and generally made it a very comfortable atmosphere. He asked me to state my husband's full name and for my husband to state mine and then asked me to tell him our address. He then went through the I-485 yes or no questions and changed the "List your present or past membership in or affiliation with every organization, association, fund, foundation, party, club, society,or similar group in the United States or in other places since your 16th birthday." answer from no to yes since he's currently part of our local fire department. He then asked to see the K-1 Visa, my original birth certificate, our marriage certificate and any proof of combined leases. He kept our car insurance information, joint phone plan, joint bank account statement, and joint gym membership. He looked through our wedding photos and asked who was in them. Besides that, he only asked around four actual questions that weren't included in the forms. "How did you meet? When did you first meet in person and where? Who proposed and how? Where did you get married and when?" Those questions were brought up in conversation and flowed very well. It was a great experience and at the end the officer told us about removal of conditions and when to do it, how a conditional green card works, and that we would likely get a response within two weeks. He said that it looked like everything was heading in the right direction and that he just had to check a couple things on our case. We did not receive an on the spot approval but six hours later our online status updated to "New Card Is Being Produced."  The interview lasted around 30 minutes. All in all, the officers at the Detroit Field Office were extremely professional and pleasant. We even talked a couple minutes with the security guards on the way out and ended up leaving while laughing.

Congratulations! I love hearing about all the good news this week! At least three approvals... This is great!  Thank you for posting about your experience.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

Can't believe I'm finally writing this, today my green card was approved!
 
Our appointment was at 7:15am at the San Bernardino Field Office CA, we arrived at 6:45 but were let in at around 7.
We went through security (just like at the airport) and then up to the second floor.
They called our name at 7:40, the officer was extremely nice and we followed her to her office. She made me take an oath (not my husband, the USC)
She took my fingerprints again and a picture. Then proceeded to check both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, my passport.
She asked all the yes/no questions from the I-485, verified our address, asked about any children, about whether I was part of any organization, criminal records.
She asked how we met, where our first date was, how my parents felt about the wedding
Then, she asked for evidence of bonafide marriage. We gave her copies of bank statements, health and life insurance, car title and car insurance. She was happy that we had copies of everything but said she could have taken photocopies if we hadn't. She also asked about a lease agreement but my husband owns our house so it was ok not to have that.
After this, she asked about pictures. She was happy with our court house pictures, even though we had a "real/proper" wedding after (we had prepared a whole album) and photocopied them.
Laughingly said she didn't need to separate us and then proceeded to tell us we had been approved. She printed a letter confirming this and that in 90 days tops we should receive the card but that it usually takes about 3 weeks.
 
It sounds like a lot but we were out of the office by 8am. We were her first interview and she commented that she was happy to start her day on a happy note.
As we got into the car I received an update saying that card was being produced.

We had our final interview today. All went really well. We were approved on the spot. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL THE DOCUMENTS THEY REQUEST EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SENT THEM IN! They lost one paper we had submitted previously and had we not brought copies that would have been an additional wait. Take the time to be thorough, you never know what they are going to screw up.
 
Best of luck to all those still waiting. PM me if anyone has further questions. I wish I could hug all of you for the support I've gotten over the last 2 years. We couldn't have done it without all the amazing people here and RapidVisa. (No, they didn't pay me to plug this. They just made the process so much easier that it would be remiss of me to not mention them and they get my wholehearted endorsement for ANYONE trying to go through this process.)

just submit all the photocopies.  You need to take the originals and certified copies to the interview with you.

Right but your J-1 is not part of your continuous stay in the US because you left. Honestly, it wouldn't hurt to send it, if they don't need it they won't use it I guess. You will need to submit the waiver though I think, there's a questions about that so what's another document

In that case I believe you need a Russian passport to get into Russia. Your consulate should be able to answer with more authority what to do about your name change.
 
 

It seems that EADs are being approved after 110 or 120 days so it should be very soon for you!