ausmad

Oh good!

Well I am so surprised, went yesterday to my biometric appt, woke up this morning to this GREAT NEWS
May 22, 2019
New Card Is Being Produced

Any individual retirement plans where the other spouse is listed the beneficiary?
Any wills, DPOAs, Living Wills drawn up listing each other as the beneficiary?
Be sure to include ALL months, since inception of the marriage, of any and all financial and bank statements. We got an RFE for only including the cumulative quarterly summaries. So we sent Everything!

1) You can add life insurance beneficiary. It might take a few bucks added but it is totally doable. You can choose either term life insurance or permanent life insurance, but term life insurance would be definitely cheaper. Often time, it is 10-50$ per months, and you will gain strong evidence in financial comingling. I would recommend to do it at least until I 751 is completed and cancel the life insurance upon the approval. I think it is worth it albeit it depends on personal financial health. I have my work AD&D insurance (one that most employer automatically enroll for work-related death or disability) and personal life insurance, so I did include both. 
 
2) If you have friends or family, just ask them to write statement that the relationship is genuine. To save the time, I did write affidavit for them based on my experience and interaction with them (things that I wished they would include in the affidavit to enhance my case albeit everything is truthful), and just emailed them to print, and sign on it with their driver license scanned all together (as a side note, this is how I was able to get the best recommendation letter to my graduate school, so it is not something I haven't done! "Professor XXX, I have completed recommendation letter, and please review it and feel free to edit it if things are not accurate, but please make sure you send it to the graduate school application. Thanks").
There are some formats that you can find. 
It seems that affidavit is arguably considered less credible evidence, which would be true if it is just written essay that is not verifiable and just copied and pasted from online, but I do believe that with affidavit's originators' ID and signature as well as "Under the penalty of perjury" statement, it will really enhance the credibility as an evidence when IO is reviewing your case. 
 
3) As a USC, if you write the 1-2 pages of essay describing how the relationship evolved from first to current and why you think your wife is an awesome person and you believe she is the ONE, that will also help a lot. USCIS generally tends to give credits to USC, rather than an immigrant, so your written testimony will boost a chance without RFE (of course your signature required!) This is something I noticed many I 751 filers forget to include. 
 
Hope this helps! 
 

I'd also suggest tax transcripts.  They are considerably better evidence than the returns themselves and then you don't need to send the W-2.

Hi everyone,
 
I was so incredibly worried and hopeless, so I just want to share my story as it may be helpful to someone who is in a similar situation. 
 
My ex-husband and I moved apart in May 2017 as our relationship wasn't going well for about 6 months. We still did not feel the need to get a divorce then, both for financial and practical reasons.
In late June 2017 we filed for ROC jointly and were very honest about it. I can't remember the exact day, but the NOA is dated July 17th. I explained the situation, said that we were very young when we got married (20) and submitted all the evidence I had, which wasn't much since we were merely college students living college student lives. I said that we were still thinking about whether we wanted to get divorced or not since that is a drastic decision, but that as of that Summer we were looking for new careers in separate cities even. We both signed everything.
A year later, we finally started our divorce process. It was finalized July 2018, so I sent a divorce waiver request as soon as I had the final decree. Again, I was honest, and mentioned how I had been honest in my original petition just to be safe. I was expecting at least an interview, so it was a total surprise.
I got my approval letter today (but it's dated 11/15)! 
 
So I hope this serves as encouragement for anyone who needs it. I am only 24 and I did it all by myself while in college, including my own divorce. It is possible!
 
Let me know if you have more questions about my case & good luck!

So you came with the intention of staying? Great. No wonder those of us who do things the right way get so much grief from CBP officers. 

Had our interview and it was great. Wife is the AOS applicant and I am USC.
 
The interview was very easy. Whole interview was 15 minutes at most. 
 
When we came into a room the officer said we can have a seat and offered to swear in while we were standing so we did.
Started with two three basic question based on two front pages of AOS application. Then he began asking usual questions for 20 or so questions about crime, terrorism, being affiliated with groups, and such. I noticed that first three question he asked word for word and put check mark next to them. After asking next question he put check mark on 4-5 questions, followed my another question or two while he put check marks next to other 10 questions.
 
Then he asked my wife when if she visited in 2015, followed by how we met and why her first visit with parents was with us. Then officer looked over papers and said everything looks good including affidavit of support and noticed that they got the medical form as well. Then asked if we have something to submit to which I replied with a question if he meant items to support our bona fide. He said yes and I offered bank statement with our names and copy of car title with our names as well. While he was filing those into his folder I also grabbed 4 photos that we had. After small chit chat about photos the officer looked through some papers again and said that everything looks good. He noted that our case is pretty simple and easy and we are approved. Green card will arrive in about 3 weeks. He clarified that wife can apply for citizenship three years (minus 90 days) after she receives the greencard. Before that we will have to remove conditions regardless if we have been together more than two years or not.
 
Officer was very polite and very easy to talk to. This was my second interview that I attended at USCIS and so far I am 100% satisfied with staff at Portland, OR office.
 
I also wanted to ask about medical form for everyone else still waiting but kind of forgot after he said that we are approved xD

Had the interview yesterday. Our application was was approved & card was ordered on the spot.
 
Here's some detail on the experience which I hope will help you plan for yours, should you have an interview.
 
Los Angeles Downtown Office
Appointment time 715 am
 
Entry & Check-in
 
Arrived at 615 am, we lined up behind 3 early birds. 
By 645 am there were perhaps 500 people lined up around the corner and out of view.
At 7am officers split out the lines so that the earliest appointments were taken first, retaining the order of the line.
We were in first in the 715am line, which itself had a count of about 100.
Lines were split further to utilize two entrances & security centers concurrently.
They were very well organized to say the least.
 
Security was what you'd experience at an airport. After repacking our stuff we immediately went upstairs to our assigned floor and room. The Office was a large waiting room with plenty of seating and a small children area with about 6 processing windows. Check in was as simple as a greeting and handing over the interview form at the first window.
We then sat for a bit before being called for the beneficiary to have another photo taken then we were both called, greeted then invited into the interview suite by our interviewer. On our way photocopies were taken of some original documents then we were invited into a small office for the interview.
 
The Interview ~ 45 minutes
 
The officer was polite and genuinely interested in how we were feeling. In front of us on an office desk lay our i-130 i-485 (including i-693 and i-864) and i-765 packets, now bound on as a single 3 inch slab with pages well worn. 
 
First we went through the i130 (probably not relevant in a K-1 but I'd recommend taking your approved I-129) and confirmed the details were all correct and still valid.
Next was the I-485; we ran through the details of the petitioner and beneficiary then the officer asks for responses on all of the I-485 Part 3 Yes/No answers, followed by the remainder of the application. Neither the I-693 (Medical) nor the 864 (Affidavit of Support) were reviewed in the interview. The officer made a note that they had reviewed all documents prior to our interview.
 
The officer then asked us to give a background on our story, from before we first met to the present.  We also were asked about our wedding, who was there etc; whether my wife had been to my home country, to which she described her two visits, one of which prior to engagement. It really seemed just like a conversation you'd have with a new neighbor or a social event.
 
The officer then wanted see any new supporting evidence since filing, should it be available. The interest was essentially focused on evidence of joint documents.
Given our original packet was extremely thorough & it had only been 6 months since filing we didn't really had much to add. So we noted this then moved to work through the various documents we had submitted:
- Joint lease, bank account, car insurance, life insurance (separate but being each other's beneficiary), flights, wedding receipts, photos.
 
While we didn't review every supporting document we had far more than what you'd consider reasonable.
This is where the additional copy of your packet comes in very handy as you can help the officer work through the original packet to locate each item.
While the original packet had filing labels on everything, table of contents for the whole and for each form & supporting documents and filing labels the packet was a bit different at the interview. All sticky labels had been removed and some items were out of order in a trivial way, but enough so you'd be in a bit of bother figuring things out if you didn't have a copy. The interviewer asked about more recent tax returns however we had submitted 2016 as a joint application in the original packet so we reviewed that together.
 
Still we were able to supply some items not included in our original packet 
- Additional bank & paypal transactions from the time we have known each other
- A photocopy was taken of our car insurance card that has both our names on it
- Honeymoon photos
 
The officer indicated he would approve the case and order the card immediately. Several minutes passed in complete calm and we got the confirmation with an approval letter printed on the spot indicating the card has been ordered. Case status updates followed as we drove away from the office.
 
My thoughts
 
It is a privilege to become a permanent resident of any country. I am happy with the process and understand that the USCIS departments across the country work on processing millions of documents per year.  We feel lucky to have been blessed with a 6 month time frame and an approval. 
 
My advice

Be punctual and prepared:
- Arrive very early
- Ensure you have exactly what is asked for on the interview notice
- Take copies of everything you have submitted to USCIS.  Do not assume the packet you submitted is complete at your interview nor in order. Mistakes happen and the packet is thoroughly examined at NBC and your local office.
- Print quality photos of yourself with context that supports your case. Photos with family, friends, wedding, holidays, whatever
- Bring any new supporting evidence that is became available since submission. This can include affidavits of support, evidence of travel/accommodation together & tax returns
- It is OK to be nervous
- For those about to submit use thick paper stock. They loved it.
 
If you're late don't abandon your hope. Turn up regardless of how late you are or if you've left supporting material behind. An RFE is far preferable to re-submission.
 
Thoughts are with you all and I hope this interview experience helps. If you have questions please ask.

Green Card approved. My Case Status updated less than 2 hours later to card production.
Ours was because the vaccinations were in question, but we alleviated that by resubmitting a sheet of paper.
She said that it is sometimes sent out to inform you IF you go over a year.
 
The lady we had Ms Harrison was very friendly. (She was the supervisor)
Not really much in the way of questions and such, just going over our forms making sure they were filled out the same still.
 
Took no longer than 30 minutes.
 
For the Fresno couple - don't park at the parking meters. 2 hours max wait. We were in there for 2.5 hours ish and got ticketed. And its a pain to walk out and back in.

Congrats! Mine is also March 29th but my case is not moving.

Totally didn't realise this whole thread was here... would have been so helpful in all that time waiting haha
Anyway, received my green card in the mail today! Filed March 29th  
Good luck all! Hopefully you hear good news soon x

Totally didn't realise this whole thread was here... would have been so helpful in all that time waiting haha
Anyway, received my green card in the mail today! Filed March 29th  
Good luck all! Hopefully you hear good news soon x

Fingers crossed! We received the EAD approval notice and the card itself on the same day (it was a very exciting mail day)
Yeah ours went smoothly and we weren't too impatient so I didn't hang out on the forums worrying myself of all the things that could go wrong 😏

Ausmad, your cover letter looks good. Depending on the length of your marriage, you can add the bona fide evidence that you have and bring the originals and any additional evidence to the interview.  These can include wills, life insurance beneficiary, joint bank statements, joint health insurance etc. The I-130 instructions for evidence of bona fide marriage states:

(1) Documentation showing joint ownership of property;
(2) A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence, meaning you both live at the same address together;
(3) Documentation showing that you and your spouse have combined your financial resources;
(4) Birth certificates of children born to you and your spouse together;
(5) Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fides of the marital
relationship. Each affidavit must contain the full name and address of the person making the affidavit; date
and place of birth of the person making the affidavit; and complete information and details explaining how the
person acquired his or her knowledge of your marriage; or
(6) Any other relevant documentation to establish that there is an ongoing marital union.
 
Of course, as an immediate relative of a US citizen who is currently residing in the US you can submit I-130 and I-485 together. If you have not already done this, go through the guides on VJ  http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2
 
Good luck!