MyNameIsEarl

Thanks for the inputs. I think my friends can help. I will ask them. 

*** Moved from AOS from K1 Visas forum to AOS from Work/Student/Tourist Visas forum ***
 
 
No.  Your unemployment benefits are not meant to continue for a long time.
 
Do you have any relatives or maybe even close friends who may be willing to sign as joint sponsor?
 

Thanks everyone for all the inputs guys. I spoke to my buddy again and I will answer to the questions some of you asked here,
 
1. Why is he not here? He is not aware of this forum and he said he follows some FB 751 and n400 groups. I told him to join but in the meanwhile I posted this because I am here anyway. In addition, he is very low. So I thought to help him a little. I provided my personal inputs and wanted to get more from here.
 
2. Which country he is from ? India
 
3. Why he has an attorney? Well he his using him from i130 filing and I don't see any specific reason. It's just like how some ppl think attorneys make thing easier. Maybe if you have seen my previous posts here, I asked should I hire attorney for my n400/i751 interview and half of the responses suggested to get one.
 
4.Thanks for pointing out the name 'stokes interview' , not aware of it. 
 
5. Attorney prepared them for interview and gave them mock questionnaire but I don't think he did a good job. In addition, it's fault of my friend and his wife as well to not prepare well and I get it.
 
6. Regarding the questions asked,
    1. When did you first meet and where ? The wife answered it correctly
    2. Draw the layout of the house? She drew it right. They are living in the same house
    3. House rent - The wife said something in 1300s and not sure. Husband said it varies because of changes in monthly trash, water bills and its's between 1350-1400. The right answer is 1380 at least for the last month.
    4. Bankruptcy - VO asked the amount and my friend said it's around $100k. I am not sure how VO knows this and I think the officer did prepare well before the interview. 
    5. Other financials - Officer asked things like who spends on grocery to the wife and asked if she gets money for shopping etc from husband as she makes very less compared to him.
    6. Wife's work details - officer asked wife's supervisor name, her desk number etc. Not sure why.
    7. House details - Officer opened google maps, earth and asked about the house they are living, time to drive to work etc. Then asked the wife to draw the layout. She did answer correctly. They live in a 2 bd and they expected he would ask why 2 bed? but he didn't but that probably gave him red flag!
    8. Car details - she gave the VO correct details about the colors of the car but not the year for both cars.
    9. Age gap - She is 5 years older to him and he just said to the wife like, oh! you are older than him...okay! They don't have kids and he didn't ask anything about it.
  10. They have a joint credit card account and officer went through it.
 
7. That's good point @Family about him saying that she is gorgeous etc but i don't think my friend is such spontaneous..lol. That's a smart answer.
 
8. Regarding F-1, yes he was on f-1 and he didn't get h1b and so he did another masters and extended f-1 before the marriage.
 
9.  Attorney response - He says it's common and the couple did good job. But, I don't think it's common too like most of you here. Attorney also said that he will sue uscis if required. Attorney told my friend that the officer is new and he is still in the learning process, it's a common thing to deal with new officers and nothing to be worried about. Attorney alaso said if the VO has more doubts of the couple didn't answer right, uscis won't send them home that soon and they would have asked more questions about sleeping habits, sex, what they did yesterday, more about their personal habits etc and told not to get worried about n400 and they will schedule it soon. 
 
 

No, they have joint lease, tax returns, electricity, internet, phone bills, pics with girls family during thanksgiving and Christmas, amazon shopping list, car insurance 
Lol. Seema Auntie approves this post

No, they have joint lease, tax returns, electricity, internet, phone bills, pics with girls family during thanksgiving and Christmas, amazon shopping list, car insurance 
Lol. Seema Auntie approves this post

@Boiler i can’t follow - I’m sorry. Can you elaborate? You should net fly them in? Who is flying? (genuine question) 
 
@MyNameIsEarl I‘m sorry all of this happened to your friend. I can’t imagine the stress he must going through. Never the less. When people get nervous, oftentimes they just forgot. It’s human. We are no machines. I do believe in honesty. As Long as your friend and his USC-Wife are honest and got married in good faith and they have evidence together. He has nothing to fear. But yes, I had no idea either, but a stokes interview is usually not a good sign. Does your friend have strong evidence of their bona fide marriage or absolutely nothing? Do you know? 

Because they are trying to build a profile on her and see if she’s the type of person that would engage in fraud. 
 
Why were they expecting the officer to ask that? That’s odd. 
 
Did he graduate?
 
I have never ever heard of an officer pull out Google maps in the interview, so not common.
 
… and to think that the attorney makes good money… sigh 
l have seen tons of couples here with seemingly fine, short interviews being called again for another interview because something doesn’t add up.

So, you say they have a "joint" credit card. Since that's all you mention, is that it? That's the only evidence they have of a bonafide marriage?

This is proof positive you have to send everything you have as evidence. The amount of people on here that seem to claim you only should send a couple months of each type of evidence - bank, utilities etc…is just plain wrong and leading people into trouble.
 
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it til I’m blue in the face…drown them in evidence! It’s not our job to decide what they want to see. This is what they are paid to do. Send them every single thing you got. 
 
Hope this person can send more in and get this situation resolved. 

I also thought so, and I was surprised to be the only person without a lawyer in the waiting area before the N-400 interview. When I got to the waiting area, the first question I was asked by a person checking your interview invitation was if my lawyer was running late. I waited for about 10-15 min before I was called to an interview room, so during that time I could hear lawyers talking to their clients to the left of me, to the right of me, behind me and in front of me 😅  Based on the questions I've heard, it seemed like most of them met their clients for the first time in person. Maybe people hire lawyers to accompany them just to feel more confident 🤔  Idk, I think I would be more stressed seeing that a lawyer is reading your case for the first time right in front of you. 

Ouch. Not normal. Not good. Don’t see how this ends well as everyone else has been saying.  Stokes for 751 is extremely rare from what I understand…yikes 

Reminds me of when my wife and I were arriving home to the UK after traveling to South America.
 
My wife was on a work visa which required a renewal or an update whenever the visa holder was given a pay increase or job title change. We had just arrived back from Lima tired and with a grumpy 2 year old. Mam is called to the border control officer and presents her US passport open at the visa page
 
Officer: Hello Love (my wife goes weak whenever she's called "love" which is all the time in the UK) I see you've been working here now for 10 months. How are you enjoying your job?
Mam: I love it
Officer: Really, that is good. Are they still having you do the same old things? 
Mam: Yes, nothing has changed.
Officer: What?! Almost a year and still doing the same?! Not even a pay raise for all your hard work?
Mam: Nope, not one extra penny!
Officer: That's a shame! Anyway, welcome home Love.

I was bought in for N 400  interview /i believe for our age difference / only asked simple questions as / we had done a lot to commingle assest/  he  was on deed to house even before he got his visa 
friday interview /  Monday approved 
 
Hacking site also says from  the site i posted
https://hackinglawpractice.com/bring-lawyer-to-uscis-interview/
 
 in 2016. The first question the officer said, "So, who'd you vote for?" I mean, that was the first question out of his mouth. Not, "What's your name?" He was just acting like he was engaging in conversation, but what he was trying to figure out was whether our client had ever registered to vote or voted. And seeing as this was a naturalization interview, we know for a fact that he wasn't already a US citizen. So it was a pretty sneaky trick, but that's mild compared to a lot of the tricks that we've seen, both at interviews that we get to see after on video and based on things that our clients or potential clients tell us during consultation.
 
 
But all in all being  said "this case OP told us about had issues"   what issues ?   USC should join and tell the VJ community for advice  or hire the Best immigration lawyer

~~Hijack posts and all related replies have been removed. Please do not post questions about your own case in other member's threads. The Hijack post was previously addressed.~~

Agreed, USCIS will do their job regardless whether a lawyer is present or not. However, I'm a strong believer an IO will have less incentive asking irrelevant questions or be borderline when it comes to legal side of things. The presence of a lawyer, who can take notes to be used for suing USCIS, will likely make IO stick to official guidelines at all times.
 
I can hardly imagine IO shouting or humiliating the immigrant (this forum seen examples of this) when a lawyer is present. Surely, this can still happen, but with lower probability. Just like red light traffic cameras discourage drivers from driving through red light, a good lawyer can discourage IO doing something utterly wrong.
 
This is my opinion only.

I have never seen Hacking say that.

No matter what Hacking posts, USCIS won’t stop a Stokes interview nor refrain from their line of questioning. They will, if attorney pushes tell them not to interfere at all.
 

Op not answering these questions is interesting. 

or its a green card marriage

Tbf, he may not know the answers to these questions, since he is posting on behalf of his friend.
 
His friend needs to join VJ to get advice.
 
The couple in question better hope they actually live together because I'd be willing to bet they are getting a surprise visit sometime in the near future. 
 
It's unfortunate that the USC wife blundered questions so badly. Either there is truly something fishy going on, or she got really taken off guard and drew a blank on certain answers, or she had legitimate reasons for not knowing certain things but failed to adequately explain. For example, it's possible she doesn't know the exact amount of rent because the husband handles all finances/pays all bills. But if she just fumbled and threw out an incorrect number, it looks quite bad. And I don't personally know my husband's full SSN by heart ( I do know the last 4), but I can tell you for certain my husband has no clue what my SSN is. 😂 It's all the little things that seem "off" that add up and paint an bad picture for USCIS. 

Must an attorney with no experience.  This is far, far from common.  Why did they have an attorney present in the first place?  There is normally no need for one.

I agree, I am sure there is a lot more to this story, none of the information is first hand and even basic details are unknown.
 
For example I have come across stories where the client has blindsided the Lawyer, you see it on here plenty of times where the real issues have to be dragged out. 
 
USCIS went full on with this one, it appears to me that something spiked their interest beforehand, my impression in most cases is that the first time the Officer has reviewed the papers is just before the interview.
 
They went with a Lawyer, now nothing says you can not but how often does that happen?

It looks like the case is problematic by itself and nothing to do with the lawyer’s actions or inactions. Clearly they suspect fraud and they don’t typically suspect fraud for nothing although sometimes they’re unreasonable. His complete refusal to review the 400 indicates he’s very confident something is not kosher because that would only be an extra 20 minutes of his time.
 
Personally from the little third hand information we’re getting, I won’t blame the lawyer. Ultimately if the marriage is bonafide, it will be approved.
 
My $0.02!

1st  USCIS says this
 
When you need legal advice on immigration matters, make sure the person helping you is an attorney or an accredited representative working for a Department of Justice recognized organization. Nobody else is authorized to give you legal advice about immigration matters.
https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/avoid-scams
 
2nd Nolo law advises:   The lawyer can't stop USCIS from asking any of these questions, and can't answer the questions for you. In fact, you'll find that the lawyer has to sit quietly through much of the interview.   Moreover, the officer might have information about you from sources other than what you provided in your application. Assume that USCIS knows almost everything about you! If the officer has any questions about whether you should get citizenship, based on information you gave or information obtained from other sources, you will need to provide truthful answers at the interview.   https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-expect-your-naturalization-interview.html   And Hacking says: So, the great benefit of having an immigration lawyer in your interview when you're trying to get a benefit is that the lawyer knows the law. The lawyer, most likely, and hopefully, knows the law better than the immigration officers. So if things go off the rails, the lawyer can stop the interview and ask for a supervisor. The lawyer can ask you to go outside and discuss something. You can go outside of the little office where you are with the officer https://hackinglawpractice.com/bring-lawyer-to-uscis-interview/   the lawyer in this case did not  carefully go over what would be asked and what would happen in interview/  could be he took the money to represent but he,  himself ,  did not believe fully in the client(s)

From what you have shared about your friend's experience, the I-751 interview was nearly 2 hours, which is unheard of and clearly shows that the officer does not think the marriage is bona fide.  The officer did not "refuse" to do the N-400 interview, it was simply not possible because I-751 has to be approved first per USCIS policy.  Advise your friend to hire a more experienced attorney.