Luckygoat

Did they ask you any question specifically that had anything to do with race? For example, "how do your parents feel about the fact that you entered into an inter-racial marriage?"

I'm curious, how did you gather that they were solely targetting you for your race? Surely, you have no idea what was going through the IO's mind either. You gave us your synopsis, I saw nothing race-related in it. I merely commented on what you disclosed to us.

And don't tell me to keep my thoughts to myself. It's an open, public forum. You posted your experience at the AOS interview and your thoughts. I gave my opinions. If you cannot listen to opinions other than yourself or only want those who will agree with you, then you should consider not posting in open forums.

Like I said, u wasnt there and u wad have to be there to feel the way we felt. Its almost as if he had his mind made up against our relationship before we even got there and the only thing that could have influence that was him seeing our photos on the application. Through out the whole interview he kept sayin everything looks good, and flippin through to find fault. If everything looked so good then why try find something to deny us? We were pre-judged before we even got there. And who knows, maybe it is apart of their criteria to look into couple with different backgrounds. I just know had we been the same race, considering all of the evidence and other things we brought, we would have left there approved. And again I feel very bad sayin this because don't like when people blaim everything race.

Hi luckygoat! Sorry to hear you have to go through this additional hassle. I didn't send in any affidavits at all and am now wondering if I should start asking people!

Um, by the way, you wouldn't happen to be drinking at the moment, would you? Just noticed your last post has a few more typos this time

lmfao lol I needed that. No I havent started drinking my life away just as yet.

If u dont have any affidavits dont worry about getting now. They are not required, and no interviewer ask for them. I am probably the first filer in history who got a request for them when I had 1000's of other things he could go off.

And to those saying it had nothing to do with race please keep your thoughts to yourself, u were not their with us so u dont know. U dont know what was going on inthe interviewer head. And I heard that they look at difference in backgrounds, race and cultures as redflag.

I'm sorry you had to go through this.

Let me ask you something.... you said your wife is not close to her mom and all that. Do you think it's possible that her mom was against the marriage and made a 'fraud claim' at the USCIS office? I don't mean to judge her or anything, it just seems weird that they were focused on her mom even though her grandma was the one who raised her....

Thats a intertestin question. lol

But when we got out we called her mom and she said she will do wat ever she has to do for us so I dont think so...i guess shes trying to get back on my wifes good side. Surprisingly her grandmother is one who is a little grumpy about doing the affidavit even tho she has way more knowledge of our relationship than her mom. Lol, this whole thing is just a mess. I cant wait for it to be over.

Hey Lucky Goat,

The first thing you need to do is to update ur timeline. Others and yourself will need to make reference to it at some point of time. Also as you would have realize from looking at other peoples 'timelines' that it is highly unlikely for things to go wrong. If you were going to be denied the IO would have told you he have plans to deny your application. I dont think race have anything to do with it as well. From what your saying here once you get those letters from your Mother-in-law and Grandmother you should be safe and from what I've seen the RFE should be proceed quickly because your sending it directly to ur local office.

Hey bro. thanks for the response. I do not know how to fo the timeline but i will try. Yea its def not a denial. I really dont want to come across like I am making a big deal out of this because I know all I have to do is send in the affidavit and im good. My wife was the one that had a hard time and I feel bad for her because I really dont know what her relationship with her mom have to do with proving our relationship. The time he spent quizzin my wife on her mom he could have used to find out more about our relationship. but at the end of the interview he told us that it wad only take a fee day becuz we live 15mins from the center.

In my humble opinion, I don't think you were targeted because you are other than white. If that was the case, all the spouses who were married to specifically white USCs would have been denied and this VJ would've been plummeted with all the complaints and such bad experiences. From my interview experience, and, for the record, my experience does not attest to all the previous examples, I got an impression that my IO wanted to see something genuine in my USC wife. When my IO asked me very simple questions, including, to my surprise, my parents' names, he was fully engaged in a conversation with my USC wife.

And, there's a thread where a lot of people have chipped in their thoughts, which is about the intent issue. When a foreigner comes to the U.S. and marries a USC, the USCIS wants to know if their marriage is bona fide and legit. In other words, you (not you) had an intent of obtaining a GC upon marriage without a good faith, you could be denied. But, then again, the conclusion on that thread is that it doesn't matter if you are married to a USC. No intent matters, unless you have background check problems, when these IOs can spot what is real and what is not. And obviously, that's not the case here. And even you overstayed or stayed illegally, or worked illegally, those don't apply once you marry a USC. Like a lot of VJers said over and over again, you automatically are forgiven.

So, once again, I don't think you were targeted because you are other than white in race, or other reasons you might want to speculate. Like you said that your in-laws have agreed to prepare affidavits for you, then you should be fine. That's what your IO asked for, isn't it, after all?

Cheers.

Thanks for your response. I dont know where you were headed in your comment but it is a knew fact that long overstays followed by marriage, or working illegally or entrance to the U.S this week and marriage next week will all be redflags and trigger the interviewer to give the couple a harder time eventhough overstayin and working are forgiven. Like I mention, I do not fall in any of the categories so there was nothing to make the interviewer believe I had immigration intent. I have 2 more years left on my visa to complete my master and I had plans to go back to my country and go back to my high paying job with a pay increase because of new degree. I never thought in my dreams that I would stay here or become a resident. Our interviewer didnt seem like he was tryin to engage in coversation like others i've read. he was very programmed, trained, and booked right down to his facial expressions. lol he was a horrible actor. I strongly feel if my wife was black our interview would have been easier because we submitted a perfect package which he digged & digged to find flaws.

P.S I am the last person to use race as excuse of thing. I hate when blk ppl do it to make excuses but this is one time that I can say it did play a factor.

It is crazy i would be extremely annoyed. I read your other post it sounds like you guys got people to fill them out so everything should be fine. The fact that it was not required to begin with and he is making a huge deal about it is silly. Good luck sorry you got someone who is apparently not the friendliest! I was going to add that you said he was almost tricking you into admitting a lie my IO did that too with asking me really quick questions to see if i would slip up.

Yeah I guess they are trained to do that. im over it now, im not gonna hurt my head about it. I will just send want he requested.

I was also wonder why in the world they moved the post. it looks like it still the place tho. They make me so upset when they move things for no reason. look how long this post been here and it is in the right place. SMH

I think you were targeted due to the perception of different backgrounds and the IOs are trained to probe deeper into such marriages. I am not familiar with your case, but there could be something else in your application that caused the IO to become curious. Remember, one of the first questions he asked was "if her mom knew we were married".

In anycase, obtain the affidavits and send them ASAP. I am sure you will be approved then.

There is no other reason why we would have a redflag because I never overstayed, I never worked illegally, im not from a high migration country. I still had a long time left on my student visa so its not like I there was anything to trigger him. Im black and my wife a white so I guess that automatically just made us a target, he couldnt find anything so decided focus on phone numbers which I will never understand.

Because it's a personal issue between your wife and your mother-in-law, I don't know if your mother-in-law would decline or not. But, I think that you also should get involved in it. If you have never done it, writing an affidavit is a very personal thing. Somebody may or may not care to do it for you. And in your case, that's what you guys need, so you guys must obtain it from your wife's mother and grandmother. Like Vanessa&Tony suggested, go overboard. Get more from her friends who are aware of your relationship and marriage. The AOS instructions read that you must provide at least 2 when you decide to provide affidavit as evidence.

Prior to the interview, I decided to gather affidavit as evidence. It wasn't a requirement, of course, but I wanted to collect any and every piece of evidence that I could find. So, I asked my mother-in-law, who couldn't attend our civil ceremony because we live far away from each other, and my wife's co-worker/friend, who was a witness along with his wife at our wedding to prepare affidavits. After exchanging several phone calls and sending her several affidavit samples I found on VJ leading up to our last phone call, my mother-in-law and I spent about another 4 hours to complete it. Because she didn't have a computer at home, only at work, I typed up everything that she wanted to say, and forwarded it to her by email, and she then printed it off and took it to the nearest bank on her lunch break and got it notarized it. After a few more chuckling episodes, she was able to mail it to me in time.

Once again, it is a personal thing. So, you or/and your wife have to make it work. The object is to obtain what you need. Good luck.

Cheers.

Like I said we got her mom, grandmom and brother to agree to do 3. So im not worried anymore but I questions is how can we be denied for something that is not a requirement? How can u deny someone for not having affidavits when they brought tons of other supporting documents. I just feel we were targeted because we are different races. I am sure if my wife was black we wadnt have this issue. I read people interviews on here and sometimes the interviewer dont even ask for anything, yet we are preassured for not bringing 1 things.

That is very strange. I had affidavits that i sent in with my petition but my IO didn't even really say anything about it. It sounds like the only choice you have is to get the letters. If not then i don't know what i would do. It seems kind of silly some people just are not close with there parents and for him to base approval on her writing an affidavit seems stupid. Did you have affidavits from your parents? If not then that was just unfair. What exactly does the letter say? Like what exactly is he asking her mother/grandmother to write.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It has 2 boxes checked.

1. asking for 3 statements from friends or family confirming our relationship and they has to be notarized.

2. affidavits from my wife mom and grandmother and they must be notarized.

I am still unclear if how much he wants because he said we only need those 2 but we are going to send in 3. I was fine all day and I considered our interview a success but thinkin about it now really makes me upset and my wife looks like she is down. I just dont understand how our interview turned into what type of relationship you have with you mother. He was askin her questions about her own mother. lol. It was just bizzare. So if she didnt know her moms age (which she didnt kno the exact age) does that mean we dont have a real relationship. lol its crazy.

Thanks for the repsonse. There are 2 boxes ticked.

1. One says that I need 3 people to make statments confirming our relationship and the statements has to be notarized.

2. It says that I need affidavits from my wife mom and grandmother and they have to be notarized.

He said that the box says 3 but we only need 2. We will still send in 3 because it this point i really believe he is just looking for a reason to deny us. Her mom, grandmom and brother said they will write one.

My question is, should we have 5 in total or just that 2 of 3 has to be mom and grandmom? I am confused what he is asking for.

Just got back from my interview and guess whats in the mail. MY EAD...thank god! I posted my interview in another forum but i will copy if here

My wife and I just got back from our interview. We arrived at 10:00am for a 10:30am appointment but didnt get called until 11:30am. We had a very strange interview that lasted only about 15mins, ill try to sum it and not do too much writing.

We were greeted by a white guy that seem pretty pleasant and was invited into his office. We swore and was seated. He started off my asking 3 questions: What is our addresss, how we met and if her mom knew we were married. We confirmed our address, and stated that we met through her best friend and that her mom knew we were married.

So after that he asked if we brought any documents with us and we handed him a stack of documents. He had a sheet and started ticking off everything we had. He asked if we had affidavits from her family, which was the only thing we didnt have. We explained to him that we didnt know that that was a requirment but we brought photos with her family. He took a look at those and ask a few questions about her family. He seemed pleased continued to look through the things we brought and notice that we had transcipts from the same school and said, "Oh you both go to USF, thats where u met right"? And we both said no, we met throught her best friend Lucy, who also goes to that school. I thought it was very strange that we had already told him that at the begining and watched him wrote down we met through a friend, yet he still tried to imply that we met somewhere else. He continued to do this a few others times....he would say "Your address is 1234 right"? which wasnt our address instead of just asking what is your address? Obviously this was his tactic and he was trying to confuse us and catch us in a lie but we had nothing to lie about and was quick in correcting him.

So after he realize that that wasnt working he ask us what would my wife mother say if he called her and ask her what was her daugther marital status and we said she would say shes married. So he said well give me her # let me call her. My wife replied I dont know my moms # out of my head but its in my phone I can go get it out of the car. So the interview starts going all out saying that is unbelieveable that she doesnt know her own mothers # and how everyone know their mothers #. For the next 5mins he was basically asking my wife to verify questions about her moms age, date of birth and address which she answered all. He threw his pen on the desk and started to crazy asking who doesnt know their moms #. (at the point I am just laughing in my head because he looked so scripted, it was almost like watchin a bad actor. you can tell he is a nice guy but was trying to act hard but really wasnt intimidating us at all). This was when I stepped in and was liek dude, my wife and her mom doesnt have a close relationship, we don't call her that often that she would know her # out of her head and besides who remembers #'s, we store #'s in our phones we don't remember #'s out of our head. I went onto explain that my wife grew up with her grandmother and she is closer with her grandmother, we even offered to give him her grandmother # which we knew out of our head.

So after this episode he goes, "Very good, very good". Everything looks good but I will need 2 affidavit from your mom and grandmother. I will approve your I-485 now and approve your I-130 when you send the affidavit in. He gave us a letter that state that we have 30 days to send in the material and when every we send it in that I can come back and have my passport stamped.

So my questions are:

Can we be denied if my in-laws decide they dont want to get invole? Im sure we wadnt have a problem gettin these but like I said my wife and her mom relationship is up & down so what if she doesnt want to do it? Can we get other family members or friends to make an affidavit? To me this is crazy because we had tons of other documents (lease, insurance, bills etc) that he even tried to hand us back and I had to tell him no you keep those for your files. How in the world can he tell us what type of documents to bring in, moreso how can he choose who must write a affidavit for us?

My wife and I just got back from our interview. We arrived at 10:00am for a 10:30am appointment but didnt get called until 11:30am. We had a very strange interview that lasted only about 15mins, ill try to sum it and not do too much writing.

We were greeted by a white guy that seem pretty pleasant and was invited into his office. We swore and was seated. He started off my asking 3 questions: What is our addresss, how we met and if her mom knew we were married. We confirmed our address, and stated that we met through her best friend and that her mom knew we were married.

So after that he asked if we brought any documents with us and we handed him a stack of documents. He had a sheet and started ticking off everything we had. He asked if we had affidavits from her family, which was the only thing we didnt have. We explained to him that we didnt know that that was a requirment but we brought photos with her family. He took a look at those and ask a few questions about her family. He seemed pleased continued to look through the things we brought and notice that we had transcipts from the same school and said, "Oh you both go to USF, thats where u met right"? And we both said no, we met throught her best friend Lucy, who also goes to that school. I thought it was very strange that we had already told him that at the begining and watched him wrote down we met through a friend, yet he still tried to imply that we met somewhere else. He continued to do this a few others times....he would say "Your address is 1234 right"? which wasnt our address instead of just asking what is your address? Obviously this was his tactic and he was trying to confuse us and catch us in a lie but we had nothing to lie about and was quick in correcting him.

So after he realize that that wasnt working he ask us what would my wife mother say if he called her and ask her what was her daugther marital status and we said she would say shes married. So he said well give me her # let me call her. My wife replied I dont know my moms # out of my head but its in my phone I can go get it out of the car. So the interview starts going all out saying that is unbelieveable that she doesnt know her own mothers # and how everyone know their mothers #. For the next 5mins he was basically asking my wife to verify questions about her moms age, date of birth and address which she answered all. He threw his pen on the desk and started to crazy asking who doesnt know their moms #. (at the point I am just laughing in my head because he looked so scripted, it was almost like watchin a bad actor. you can tell he is a nice guy but was trying to act hard but really wasnt intimidating us at all). This was when I stepped in and was liek dude, my wife and her mom doesnt have a close relationship, we don't call her that often that she would know her # out of her head and besides who remembers #'s, we store #'s in our phones we don't remember #'s out of our head. I went onto explain that my wife grew up with her grandmother and she is closer with her grandmother, we even offered to give him her grandmother # which we knew out of our head.

So after this episode he goes, "Very good, very good". Everything looks good but I will need 2 affidavit from your mom and grandmother. I will approve your I-485 now and approve your I-130 when you send the affidavit in. He gave us a letter that state that we have 30 days to send in the material and when every we send it in that I can come back and have my passport stamped.

So my questions are:

Can we be denied if my in-laws decide they dont want to get invole? Im sure we wadnt have a problem gettin these but like I said my wife and her mom relationship is up & down so what if she doesnt want to do it? Can we get other family members or friends to make an affidavit? To me this is crazy because we had tons of other documents (lease, insurance, bills etc) that he even tried to hand us back and I had to tell him no you keep those for your files. How in the world can he tell us what type of documents to bring in, moreso how can he choose who must write a affidavit for us?

Well I just got back from my interview and i was APPROVED!! The weight on my shoulders and gut sickness is gone lol!!

YAY! Congrats, great job but u kno u cant come on here with just that and no details. Details please!!!

Do you mean all the supporting evidence? Or do i have to bring in my copy of the whole packet i sent in? all forms included cause that is a lot more copying lol.

To be on the safe side I have a copy of every single thing I sent in with the original application in addition to supporting documents. I dont want them to ask for anything and I dont have it.

Mine arrived in the mail yesterday! Yay!

Good thing 'cuz I have a part-time job that starts tomorrow (though I was prepared to whip out my CPT authorization if it had been delayed)

Thats awsome. I got a mail from USCIS on saturday I was so excited because I was almost certain it was my EAD considerin all the updates on the site, but to my surprise it was my advance patrol....the same advance patrol that I stated I needed for last month on my application lol. Its funny because I still dont have any updates for my advance patrol from the frist day, yet I received it. lol

Ok if you guys could just look over my list and tell me if i have everything right so that if i am missing something i just fix it tomorrow.

Joint cable bill,health insurance,car insurance,vet bills,e-mails and pictures

Both our Birth Certificates

Marriage Certificate

Pay stubs (couldn't submit any when i sent forms)

I feel like i am missing something if you guys could help me out that would be very helpful!!!

Thanks!

Looks good, a lease agreement would make it perfect, if not its still fine. What documents did u use to come into the us (F1 visa, tourist visa, I-94) make you bring them as well.

I wish everyone a great interview. Its time for the February filers to DO IT! Best wishes and keep all informed. Thanks for detailed info on the interviews. I spent my entire afternoon sifting through stuff for our interview in 8 days time.

Thanks, good luck to u as well. Our interview is on the same day. Make sure u come back and let us know how it was.

Most of the people there had lawyers with them, and translators. And some of them were dressed so super casually!! One lady was just in a tracksuit, and there was a teenage girl there in tiny shorts and flip flops. So much for dressing neatly, LOL! Anyway, our appointment was scheduled for one, but it was one thirty before we were called. Meanwhile, I tried to keep an eye on who was going in, so I could let you guys know. It seemed that they called people in together, but sometimes they would send one person back out again for AGES. We were called together.

Wow I guess it depends on your personality because I would never go to any sort of interview not professionally dressed. Tracksuit? lol to me thats so inappropiate and tacky. What did the people there look, im just curious to know what would trigger the interviewer to seperate the couple.

I'm back... and we were approved!! He printed out a congratulations letter and said I'll receive my GC in the next few weeks.

Now, to the story. Because I know you guys want every detail, LOL!

We arrived REAAALLY early because we were paranoid about long lines. It took us nearly 25 minutes to find parking (there was also lots of traffic because of a cop's funeral in downtown LA) but when we got to the building the line was fairly short. In fact, one of the guys operating the scanner commented that he'd rarely seen so few people at that hour of the day!

Sadly, inside was a different story. We went on up to the fourth floor where a very nice officer at a help desk asked us how early we were. When we said over an hour, she laughed and told us to go get food because there were lots of people ahead of us and all the officers were on lunch. So we went outside again and wandered around until noon, but there was really nothing to do so we ended up back upstairs again. We handed in the notice and sat down to wait.

Most of the people there had lawyers with them, and translators. And some of them were dressed so super casually!! One lady was just in a tracksuit, and there was a teenage girl there in tiny shorts and flip flops. So much for dressing neatly, LOL! Anyway, our appointment was scheduled for one, but it was one thirty before we were called. Meanwhile, I tried to keep an eye on who was going in, so I could let you guys know. It seemed that they called people in together, but sometimes they would send one person back out again for AGES. We were called together.

The officer was a very nice African guy, really friendly and easy-going. He swore us in, then handed me back the photos, certified birth cert and certified marriage cert that I'd send in originally. We gave him our IDs and he asked me to verify my name, address, date of birth, and parents' names for the form. Then he asked my husband how we met. Tony gave him the brief background story, and the guy was happy enough with that. He then asked me if I had any documents to show we were currently living together. I handed over the lease agreement, back account records, phone records, gym membership and Netflix account statement. He looked them over and joked a bit about having a gym membership but never using it, which we agreed with. He asked if I needed him to photocopy anything so I could take the originals and I said they were all copied already so he could hang on to them, which he was happy about. Then he just said, "In two years time you will have to make sure you get the 10 year residency card, because if you don't and this expires you may be subject to deportation." I just stared at him for a minute then said, "Does this mean I have a green card?" and he laughed and said, "Yes, congratulations to you both."

He printed off the letters and we chatted a bit more about making sure I notified them of an address change while waiting for the green card, and he said my married name would be on it. I asked about travel and he said my passport being in my maiden name shouldn't be a problem but if I wanted to be extra cautious I could carry my marriage cert to show the officers at the border. Then he gave me the letters. As he did so, he noticed the huge pile of photo albums and scrapbooks I had lugged into the room and he jokingly said to my husband, "I'm guessing your wife spent a lot of time making these, I'd better look at them or she'll go away saying what a mean man I am for not taking the time." So he flipped through the photos, complimented me on the scrapbooks (though he really wasn't paying attention; typical man. Sigh) and then he asked us to follow him outside to photocopy our IDs. He reminded me to cut up my EAD once I got my green card, showed us the exit and wished us all the best of luck in our lives together.

It took ten minutes, if even that long. And now all the stress is behind us - at least for another 18 months.

WOOP WOOP...lets pop some champagne for Emvee. lol. ok now let me go back and read details now.

I would advised your friend to not waste 12,000 on a lawyer. Use that money and start a life in her home country. It is clearly written out that any serious crime/felony will hinder your chances of getting a GC. She has a 1% chance of fighting this situation and I would be even hurt if she spent her money and still get sent back home. My heart goes out to her. I just wish she didnt say anything at the interview....they say be truthful at the interview but you have to use common sense. I know she thought she was doing the right thing but her crime falls in the line of an immidiate denial, deportion and ban. Sorry

Thank you all for your reply.

I started job searching as soon as I got married, because I'm living in a different city from my hubby now due to my job (currently on H1b). So I thought since the economy is bad it might take me a while. Plus I figured I should get a new job in his town ASAP so they won't start questioning us living apart during the interview. To my surprise job searching was fairly easy so now I have a different problem =/

BTW I have a question regarding AOS date... I see two dates on my receipt, one is the received date (Mar 18) the other is the receipt date (Mar 25). Which one is the "AOS date" people refer to here?

If u get stamped at the interview u can use that for the job. Thats is what I am hopin because my EAD is in production and im suppose to start a new job today, however, my interview is next week so I will ask for a stamp.

I have a grey bodycon dress with a black belt from my "secretary" days. LOL. So I'll probably wear that. My husband is going to wear charcoal slacks and a grey button-up shirt. Basically, we're dressing as though it's a job interview.

But I'm sure as long as you look neat and well put-together, it should be fine. They just don't want people arriving in the clothes they wore the night before, or gym shorts.

LMAO @ Secretary days...sounds nice. I just realize your interview is tomorrow. Good luck, cant wait until u get back tomo and let us know that your interview was only 5mins, approved and passport stamped. Thats was we're hopin for, lol. wishful thinkin.

Hey guys, I got my EAD card production order on the 24th, uscis updated 26th (today). Hopefully its mailed out this week because im suppose to report to work tomorrow for my first day.

As for the above comment, we will just leave our phones in the car to safe.

Off topic...what are you guys wearing, lol. I know this is funny but we went out shopping for things to wear today. We're pretty big on style so we use any opportunity to dress up. My wife wants me to wear a tie but I don't want to over do it. I just got a button up and gray slacks, and she got a really dressy blouse and some gray slacks as well. I heard some people say they just wear anything, jeans or whatever...I guess its whatever fits your personality.

And how about phone text messages? Has anyone heard of someone showing the IO their phone during the interview? My phone shows hundreds of text messages from the day we met.

really, how do u save them in there for so long?

Yeah i was going to do that too. I sent in my originals with my forms so i am going to have to make copies of copies that i have lol. I don't have it all together i am still waiting for the cable bill in the mail and i have to copy everything still, go through old e-mails i am not prepared i need to get my butt in gear my interview is in a little over a week lol.

ur takin emails? im still dont kno if i shud take them. i was thinkin about takin our school transcripts with the same address and same school. what u think?