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JeffandDona

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Posts posted by JeffandDona

  1. Just want to thank everyone on VJ for all their advice. You guvs have been a great help to me. Richo, Keweul, Lol you guys are like the grandma's here always offering advise to everyone around here, keep it up. Thanks to everyone who wished me luck and congratulated me. Congrats to everyone who got approved lately and good luck to everyone who's gonna have their interview soon. WOOOHOOO! NO NO MORE USCIS FOR A FEW MONTHS! :dance::dance::dance:

    Congrats JeffandDona on your GC approval!! It's great that you can finally travel to see your kids!!

    Thanks! Hope you guys get some news soon. Thanks again richo! Just keep checking your old residence as often as possible for your GC.

  2. Just want to thank everyone on VJ for all their advice. You guvs have been a great help to me. Richo, Keweul, Lol you guys are like the grandma's here always offering advise to everyone around here, keep it up. Thanks to everyone who wished me luck and congratulated me. Congrats to everyone who got approved lately and good luck to everyone who's gonna have their interview soon. WOOOHOOO! NO NO MORE USCIS FOR A FEW MONTHS! :dance::dance::dance:

    :dance: congrats, My Hubby and I first met in ST Lucia it is our very special place. best of wishes to you and yours. Enjoy your break from the USCIS lol.

    Love and light-

    Afroamerapole

    Thank you. lol. I hope that means you will be visiting St Lucia again.

  3. hey GFL

    ich wish u a nice christmas too...

    btw i was thinking all the time about u and the interview wich runs so bad and i rode it ever and ever again to find the point...

    i spoke to my husband about that..i said well i try to prepare all perfect but maybe perfect is not good enough

    i said that u had all ur stuff together and u haf more proofs then us and that really makes me worried..and he told me they are locking for reality not fir a perfect presentation...

    i think...its only my opinion and i hope i can help u a little bit with that...because i really thought alot about u and ur case...

    soo...i think the problem was this..u showed up there and the officer knows u worked in the states before with the mortage

    so he was thinking..moment...she is not working but all money goes on her account??whats that??

    then...when the buisness runs so good in the past that she could buy a mercedes,why she did not apply for a E visa....mh now buisness runs bad and she married...ahahaha...do u know what i mean???

    then all is so perfect ...why is all so perfect and well organized....do they wanna hide anything???

    maybe that was the problem....hope i could help u a little bit and let me know how thinks work out

    Think you are right about that. Congrats! Happy to hear that you finally got your SSN. :dance::dance: Congrats Jundp and nhido! :dance::dance:

  4. Just want to thank everyone on VJ for all their advice. You guvs have been a great help to me. Richo, Keweul, Lol you guys are like the grandma's here always offering advise to everyone around here, keep it up. Thanks to everyone who wished me luck and congratulated me. Congrats to everyone who got approved lately and good luck to everyone who's gonna have their interview soon. WOOOHOOO! NO NO MORE USCIS FOR A FEW MONTHS! :dance::dance::dance:

  5. Thanks evervone! I started posting earlier but my pc stopped responding. Appointment was at 12:30 but we got there about 11:00 because I had to lie to my husband about the appointment time. Last night he told me that he does not need the printout form mapquest to get to the place although he had no idea where he was going. lol. Last time that happened he did that we ended up reaching a party 3hrs after it started. Anyway we entered the place at 12:15, did security check and went to the booth to show our appointment letters. The lady ask us to sit in the waiting room with the red chairs. There were about 15 couples sitting in the area. After 10 mins she came with a stack of appointment letters, called out the names on the leters, asked everyone to line up and follow her up the stairs. There were about 10 couples. She took us to another waiting room asked us to sit and wait till we are called in. We waited about an hour during which my hubbie and I laughed then had a big arguement. lol. Everyone was just staring at us like are they nuts? (nice place to fight right). I noticed one couple walked out looking very sad. Anyway about 1:45 a short grown lady galled us in. She introduced herself and led us to her office. She swore us in and gave us a few documents form our file (pay stubs, taxes form joint sponsor, copy of marriage certificate). She said that she does not like the file to be too bulky. Then she asked:

    To both: How did you guys meet? Hubbie said in the subway. I was like wow a woman thats taller than me. how tall are you?

    Io said: Lots o men ar intimidated by a tall woman. I wish I was taller.

    hubbie continued: we spoke for a while then we exchanged numbers. We spoke for about three weeks then I asked her out. We went ot the movies on our first date.

    To both: Do you have kids? Both answered: Yes but not with eachother hubbie has three and I have three

    To me: How old are your kids? I said 12, 7 and my hubbie answered 5

    To me: What are your plans for the kids? I said my hubbie thinks that we should have them up here.

    To me: Does your kids know that you are married? I said: no, we want to tell them in person, cuz we don't know how they will react.

    To hubbie: Does your kids approve of your marriage? My stubborn hubbie answered: I don't care what they think, I am a grown man and I make my own decisions. lol. Thats what I am stuck with for the rest of my life. Then I said: the kids and I get along fine, I spoke to one of them yesterday cuz I sent money to her. My hubbie then said that I speak to them more often than him and I send anly two days ago he foun out that I sent money to one of them when her grandma died in March.

    To Both: do you have photos I gave he about 20 of them (I made extra prints of our wedding, wedding reception, the 2 of us in Coney Island, in Atlantic City, at his nephew's 50th Bithday Party, at home, and when we started dating).

    Hubbie said: show her the albums

    She said: Oh yea, show them to me. She flipped through the albums, handed them back then said I need two photos, one of the wedding and a casual one. I handed the wedding one first but could not decide which one to give her. my hubbie chose on.

    IO asked: Any bills?

    I answered: yes

    IO: I need only one. Any bank statements?

    I answered: Yes

    IO: I need only one. Any credit cards?

    I answered: Yes

    IO: I need one. Any insurance?

    Hubbie answered: No. Well I want to take up a policy but we can't afford it right now cuz we have too many things to do. we had to buy everything for our house. bed chairs etc.

    She noded.

    She asked for my Passport, flipped through the pages, tore off my I-94, then asked me did you ever get an extention?

    I answered: no

    Then she said your Passport is expired. If it wasn't I woul give You a stamp so you can travel while you await you GC. I wanted to scream at that point but I said to myself, GIRL KEEP IT COOL, KEEP IT COOL GIRL. lol.

    I said: My passport is not expired. Then I flipped to the back I showed her. She had looked at the date my previous pp expired at the front.

    She apologized, entered some info into the computer, put my PP into the file and told me she has to keep the PP for a few mins to get it stamped. She explained the removal of conditions briefly and citizenship, then told us to go to the waiting area on the ground floor to collect the pp.

    IO asked: any questions?

    I said: Did you say I can use the stamp to travel?

    she answered: you can travel tonight if you want. I looked at my hubbie and smiled.

    She asked you guys travelling?

    I answered: Yes. Hubbie said: to see her kids. Then we thanked herand she walked us out.

  6. Best wishes on upcoming interviews (Jeffanddonna, you'll be approved so don't forget to come back and tell us how it went)...see you guys in 3 yrs (citizenship), thank God no removal of conditions :whistle::wub:

    Thank you! I will post from my phone as soon as I walk out of the Immigration Office. Will give full details when I get home. Yea Thank god you dont have to worry about having to deal with them anytime soon.

  7. Greencard received in mail today...yeah...time to update status with social security....Best wishes to everyone waiting for interviews and CONGRATS to those who got APPROVED...

    So happy for you :dance::dance: Congrats :dance::dance:

    Thanks yours should be on it's way by the end of the week of b4 midweek next week...fingers crossed...

    Yes i was looking the timeline of a few people in here and usually its 10 to 15 days but my 10th day after my interview is the 20th which is our move out date :wacko: ANyways, think positive..think positive..that it will reach my hand and not get lost.lol Congrats again :dance::dance::dance: No more USCIS for yah for 3 years :dance::dance::dance:

    lucky you. lol. Unfortunately, if I get approved I have to deal with them in 18 months. errrhhh! I hope you get your GC by this weekend.

    Yes lucky keweul :dance: I will have to deal with them too on september 10, 2010..See you on the removal of conditions forum soon. lol :star: But first good luck to your interview tomorrow :thumbs:

    Thank you! lol. See me? wow! I think I am gonna stick to I hope we meet in the September Removal of Conditions Forum soon. lol. I am a nervous chicken today.

  8. Greencard received in mail today...yeah...time to update status with social security....Best wishes to everyone waiting for interviews and CONGRATS to those who got APPROVED...

    So happy for you :dance::dance: Congrats :dance::dance:

    Thanks yours should be on it's way by the end of the week of b4 midweek next week...fingers crossed...

    Yes i was looking the timeline of a few people in here and usually its 10 to 15 days but my 10th day after my interview is the 20th which is our move out date :wacko: ANyways, think positive..think positive..that it will reach my hand and not get lost.lol Congrats again :dance::dance::dance: No more USCIS for yah for 3 years :dance::dance::dance:

    lucky you. lol. Unfortunately, if I get approved I have to deal with them in 18 months. errrhhh! I hope you get your GC by this weekend.

  9. Hey guys .. Thank you for your regards!! I really appreciate it. I know things will be better the second time around.

    Okay, now here it is .. all the details about my experience on Monday:

    First, I want to say that everybody's case is unique and all interviews are different. So let's hope that your experience will be better than mine. :thumbs:

    After stressing like a crazy person the last 2 days before the interview, preparing all the documents, putting everything in order, printing all are pictures, organizing 2 albums .. I go to sleep at 3 a.m. to wake up at 8:30 a.m. to get ready for interview at 11:30.

    We get to the office at 11:20 a.m.. The main door is locked, a security officer puts his head out the door every 2 minutes and call some people in, so you wait outside the building for a little bit. So he called and I showed him my interview letter. We go right in and pass through security. The office is crowded, people everywhere. So I asked them, where do we go now? Another security officer said, I will take this (the interview letter) .. just go to the end of the hall and wait there until your name is called.

    We go and sit there. Hall is in form of an C shape, so wasn't sure where to sit. Well the IOs go through the halls calling people's name when there time is up. Very strange and disorganized. I felt like I was in Brazil .. LOL So we decide to go to another side of the hall where it said all interviews wait here.

    Okay, we wait .. 30 minutes passed and nothing. They were calling everybody else, but us. I started to wonder if the security officer had given them my letter and if they knew we where there. I had originally thought that everything was going to be quick and by noon we would've been out there. :wacko: Right!

    So we asked an IO walking by to a locked door where they were calling people in and she said it is very typical for the office to be running late! Okay .. we think .. just got to have some patience here. In the meantime, IOs were walking back and forth to their offices about a million times, it seemed that all they did was walk around. I noticed that they were calling couples individually, one first then the other.. so I was ready for them to call us separate too. Another half an hour passes by, 12:30 and nothing .. 1:00pm nothing ..1:30pm .. nothing ... :whistle: ... so my husband says .. let's go ask that officer and make sure he did give them the letter, because this is ridiculous. I go and ask, the guy says .. it is normal! They just called a gentleman who got here at 10:30 am!!! Wow .. :o I could not believe it.

    What happened was that I think they took their lunch and just let us waiting for them. So finally at 2:20 pm he calls me in. Almost 3 hours later!!!! Ridiculous!

    I asked him if I should bring all the documents with me, he says, yes, bring everything. He asked me who the man was sitting next to me, I said, my husband. He says, then you come in too. He didn't even know this was a family based petition.

    We follow him to his cubicle, he swears us in and have us sit down. Goes through the file slowly without saying a word, then finally starts shooting questions at me.

    * Can I see some identification please?

    * Can I see any/all travel documents?

    * Is this your first marriage? (looks at me and my husband)

    * Do you have any children together? Do you have any children anywhere in this world? (we say, NO.) lol

    * Do I know his mother? Does his mother like?

    * Where is his mother from? Where does she live know?

    * To my husband: Does her father like you?

    * Where did you meet? When did you meet?

    * Where you on vacation there?

    * To me: Where do you live now? I said the name of the city, he says where? I gave him the address.

    * Where did you get married?

    * What is (the name of his company)? What do they do? My husband told them.

    * Asked me, did anybody help you prepare this file? Nobody?? (He didn't believe me!)

    * Can I see his tax returns? (Was already in the file, yet gave him the IRS original tax transcript).

    * What are these vaccines here?? I said, what vaccines? All this here. I said, I don't know, the doctor gave me a TB test and I had to come back but everything was fine. So he checks off the list on the exam form. As he is asking me all these questions, he is checking off a list on a separate piece of paper.

    * Did anybody help you prepare these documents? Nobody at all?? (Asks me again!)

    * Where do my parents live?

    * Where did I live before?

    * What was my husband's previous address? As he looks the bio sheet I filled out.

    * What about the address previous to that? (I was so nervous, could not remember and I didn't know my husband 5 years ago.) He asked, where did he live? It was a different city so I told him.

    * What did you do for your honeymoon? We said nothing. We wanted to go out of the country, so we didn't do anything. And both of our families were here so we only stayed at a hotel by the beach for one night.

    * Can I see some bonafide marriage documents please?

    * Do you work? I said no, he said why not? I told him I just got my EAD card 2 weeks ago and I am looking for work. He says, what about before, all these months you've been here? Do you not work because you choose not to? My husband and I looked at each other and said, yes. I said I didn't really have to work and I just got my employment card. I said I did mortgages before, where I used to live (northeast). He says, well that business is done now, huh? I said, yes it is.

    So I gave him: car title, car insurance, car registration, utility bills, copies of 2 joint credit cards, copy of a blank check showing joint bank account, lease, letter from apartment community confirming the lease .. my husband offers the pictures for him to look at. He says, it's okay. Okay, ok show them to me. My husband flips through the album with our wedding pictures and starts showing him who's who, our family .. the guy is not even looking!! He was so rude.

    I then, gave him a copy of the front page of our bank statement, that's when he started implicating.. He kept asking .. I need to see how you pay your rent .. How do I know you're paying your rent? (I am thinking .. what??? Is this a mortgage loan application, where we need proof of rent history? When I had just given him the lease and a letter from the apartment community confirming the lease and saying we pay the rent on time!?)

    He took the car title and asked ME, of course, .. what kind of car do you drive? (as he is looking the car title) I said, a Mercedes (he said wow!), who's car was it first? I said mine. That was from the good times in the mortgage business. But now it is his car, he's the one who drives it. :) He said you only have one car? We said yes.

    He says I want to see the other pages of the bank statement with all activity. So I gave him .. now the problem is that my husband and I have been procrastinating and not added his name to my account yet. We have his account and a savings account together. But all our bills and income come and go from my account. He is the only one working and his paychecks are directly deposited to my account and I manage all the bills. The account we kept that was his is just spare money that we use for gas and going out sometimes. He started giving us a hard time about it, saying that it didn't make sense to him. The husband is the only one working and all the income and bill payments come from your individual account? I told him, we procrastinated on adding his name to it and didn't care too much about it, doesn't really matter to us, it's all our money and our bills (plus I showed they were all joint). He just thought we had a fake marriage!!! :o I could not believe it. He thought everything was a setup!!! Everything is too well prepared to be true! Everything he asked me for, I had. All the documents were extremely well organized on the original application, nothing missing, nothing wrong. Everything in order. I had all the proof he wanted for everything .. Therefore the J*%k did not believe us!!! :angry:

    Then, he starts typing on his computer and says that he will need to see more documentation before he can approve this for us. I am thinking okay, ask me whatever you want, I have 3 binders with everything .. He prints out a piece of paper saying request for evidence .. :crying: So, I immediately realized that that was it. Was not going to happen today, after hours and hours of waiting, and all this questioning .. I was so disappointed, could not believe it. It seemed like he had already made the decision he was going to deny his next applicant and we happened to be the lucky ones. I honestly think that he thought this was all fraud. My husband hadn't realized that he had not approved it. He's like, okay .. we'll mail you the documents then. As I am trying to hold myself together until I get back to the car. I broke down! I was so upset and disappointed you guys cannot believe. I was so rebelled of the fact that he thinks our marriage is fake!! Are you kidding me? I was ready to tell him to come knock on my door if he wants to! :( Aggggrrhhh .. we were planning on going to the Bahamas for New Year's .. :(

    Oh, well .. there you guys have it. Everything with all the details of details of details of what happened. :)

    I hope this helps you guys.

    Moral of story, my conclusion is that this whole thing can be very subjective. They'll approve you if they want to, if they don't feel like it, or the time is up to deny somebody, they will. I guess he has to show to his boss he is working!

    Sorry for the looooonnnng post.

    God bless you all.

    Gotta get help on my RFE now. :bonk:

    Sorry about your mishaps..I think so too that early on it looks like they have their mind set already if they will approve someone or not..but just the interview is just like a confirmationof what is in their mind that they will do...i still hope everyhting will go well with you..good luck and God bless

    You're so right! This thing is totally subjective. I mean, think of it,

    1) First of all it is known to everybody that USCIS makes seperate piles of applications of people who are gonna be interviewed and not. Based on what? Of course, they can check things but isn't it strange that most people's application are send to CSC (meaning the chance of being interviewed already being eliminated by 90%) very early in the process. Sometimes even before they do the background check. I would think that if a decision is to be made on who to interview, it would be later in the process after doing more background checks.

    2) This guy told you your bonds are too perfect but you also told him that you haven't added your husband to all the bills yet. What's so perfect about that? He could have asked you everyhing else he wanted. Hell, most people don't have all there things up in the first couple of months. Reminds me of my wife who thought it would be a good idea to add me on the mortgage she just took two years ago. You know what ING said. "Sure we can add your husband to the mortgage but we have to tell you, you have to break it open and the pay closing costs again." Does USCIS think we're gonna pay couple thousands of dollars just to show them we have a real marriage? We're newly weds, not dumb, No way! After all it didn't matter, I was one of the CSC people who got his GC without one extra question. Filed it 4 months ago, visited local office for fingerprints and done was Manu. I'm of course very happy but I get very angry about people who did their research, went to bed at 3.00 AM to make sure everythng is there, getting an RFE. That pisses me off.

    Conclusion: The guy is even that much of a coward he didn't even deny the case there and then. He gave you the RFE (which you could have fixed right there but he didn't let you) just to get rid of you and to increase his denial rate. I suspect this guy even being jalous at your Mercedes ;) Next time, don't tell them you drive a Mercedes just tell them you drive a sedan, station wagon or whatever kind of car it is. Only answer it with the brand if that is the specific question.

    The good thing is, that you will get a new interview and that you most likely will be approved in that one. Approval rates are forunately very high. Chances of a nicer IO in that sense are good too.

    Thanks for sharing your experience. I will definitely keep it in mind in case they want to interview me in condition removal procedure.

    I am not sure about getting a nicer IO for a second interview. It is usually conducted by the fraud department.

  10. Hi all,

    I've just got back from Denver, Colorado after having my interview at 8:50 this morning.

    I'M APPROVED and now a conditional permanent resident.

    The lovely lady who interview Laura and I said she would be approving us later today and I should receive my green card within the next week or two.

    NO MORE FILING AND PAPERWORK for nearly 2 years until I can lift my conditional status, then a further year until I can apply to become a citizen.

    Best of luck to everyone else who is awaiting their interview, and congratulations to everyone who recently was approved.

    Thanks so much to everyone on Visa Journey for providing us with so much help and assistance over the past 18 months that this whole process has taken. It's been invaluable and it's hard to comprehend that my personal visa journey is drawing to a close and now Laura and I can put all our energies into building our lives together. Anyway, gotta run I'm desparate to go and pick up my twin daughters who have been staying at my brother in laws since last night.

    Congrats!! :dance:

  11. Ok my fellow

    Ok my fellow July filers...here's how it went:

    We Left home at 11:30 am (interview was for 12:30pm), got there a little after noon. When we arrived it was closed for lunch until 12:30pm so we hung out outside (seeing as the day was nice) and waited for the doors to open...Once opened the security guard asked to see our interview letter and ID's then led us through the metal detector (we had to put all loose items in a container to be scanned through that machine while we walked through the metal detector)...then we went to the interview "window" where we gave the guy behind the window our appointment letter, then he asked us to have a seat until our names were called (FYI i didn't have any sense of time becuase i left my phone in the car and was to anxious to look around the room for a clock)...LOL...we had 2 ppl ahead of us...the wait I'd say might have been about 10 mins. top to be called...while waiting, the first ppl to be called in got called by a "mean looking" guy, my hubby and I were only praying that we didn't get him, hehehe...When this african american, friendly faced lady called us I said thank God...(not that her race meant anything...but just for reference)...she lead us to her office...Swore us in and we sat down....

    Here's the fun part...she asked the basic questions ( directed to me) i guess to verify what was on the application such as my name, date of birth, kids names...she asked my hubby how we met (it was through a mutual friend) then she asked if it was "arranged" I said maybe I'm not sure (ok I'm thinking arranged as "blind date" not arranged as "let's get you married for greencard" so not sure what she was referring to (hence my answer above (hubby said I shouldn't have said that, once we were outside, so he interrupted and said that his friend didn't "arrange" it , the meeting "just happened....

    She asked us why we waited so long to get married ( we were together about 3-4 yrs before we got married) so we explained that My mom had initially petitioned for me and after getting thousands of different answers from customer service (we all know how they are) we didn't want to take the chance of me having to start ALL OVER again...so she was like "so" , that shouldn't mean anything...( let me just say, she was very friendly and funny...we laughed and joked with her)...after explaining that we finally decided to just get married (my husband qualified for citizenship at the point we got married, he's originally from Trinidad) and he'll petition for me...Oh after my "verification questions she asked the Yes/no questions...(that was easy)...side bar I found out then that my stepfather had also petitioned for me when i was like 7 (didn't know about this) so she was trying to see how he came into the picture because his name was no where on this current application...I was shocked to find that out and told her my mom had briefly mentioned it but i knew nothing about the case...so i told her that he was my stepdad (not my biological dad) and he passed away yrs ago so I knew nothing on that case....hmmm let me see what else...she started teasing my husband saying that I can leave him at this point (because I'll be getting the 10yr card) I guess she already made up her mind at this point...so he laughed and said she signed on for life, I said i'm at the point of no return LOL...she also asked how our marriage is going (good so far of course, after 2 kids it better be LOL)....We had small talk for a few minutes...she asked for anything we wanted to give her to show cohabitation so i gave her our utilities bill, bank statement, and hubby's life insurance (she put them in my file, good thing i had copies)...then she looked at our album...stamped my passport and said I should receive the card in a few days...

    soooooooooo if you haven't gathered yet ... I'M APPROVED I wanted to shout and dance but kept my composure and hubby said wait at least til we're out of the parking lot :hehe:

    Oh and by the time I got home saw this:

    Receipt Number: MSC**********

    Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

    Current Status: Card production ordered. On December 4, 2008, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

    YeaaaaH! congrats! :dance::dance: I have been checking all day to hear the results of your interview. :bonk: lol. next time don't wait so long to let us know what happen. What am I talking about? It's over for now. woohoooo!

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