My DV AOS experience

[greg_dv2006]

Hi there,

Yesterday, my wife and I had our DV AOS appointmet. We came to the Immigration Office pretty early since our interview was scheduled at 7:45 am. Frankly, I expected to see, perhaps, 4-10 more people not counting us. To my surprise, I suddenly realized I was in the middle of the room with circa 150 other people waiting for their interviews. This number soon doubled. It is probably why we were called after almost 4 hours of waiting.
We followed an immigration officer to her room. We took an oath standing, and then we started showing to her all the required documents: birth certificates, a marriage certificate, DV fee receipt, and my high school diploma (I asked her if she wanted to see my college diploma, but she said it wasn't necessary).
Because, my wife was an H1B visa holder, the officer wanted to see an employment letter from her job and the recent pay stubs, the last year tax return and she asked her some job related things. In the meantime, while checking some documents and making some notes, she started asking us all those have-you-ever questions that you can find in the I-485 Form. Then she asked me if I had a job offer, and since I did I handed it to her.
Everything was pretty smooth until she looked at the I-134 Affidavit of Support and said that she didn't see a copy of the sponsor's green card.
Since I didn't have it on me, and honestly didn't even know I needed it, I told her that I wasn't aware it was necessary but I knew his A number was written down in the form. She answered very politely that it is my responsibility to deliver the proof, and not hers to find it. At this point I felt a little helpless and confused.
Fortunately, I recalled that I had a transleted bank statement from my country showing that I had some investments over there so I gave it to her asking if this could be used instead.
She checked it out, asked if we had any savings here, checked that out as well, took another look at tax returns and said that it would do.
Then she took the original I-94s from our passports and asked us to wait outside.
She called us after about 10 minutes and handed our passports over to us with the I-551s stamped to them. I don't have to tell you how good it felt at that point 'cause everybody who went through a successful interview knows what I'm talkin about. I wish everybody still waiting for their turns the same.
So we made it, and now are waiting for our creen cards in the mail

I want to thank you Hmz, Borya, Alincosma, Afraid, Canonurum, Marvadur, Vk96 and others for sharing your thoughts on this forum. It was very helpful on my way to the Green Card. Thanks to this forum I did everything myself with no lawer involved.

Thanks, and good luck

Greg_DV2006

[borya]

Congratulations !

[afraid]

Congratulations and thank you for writting your experience detailed.
In what state did you have the interview?
I am still waitting for the third notice and the good news is that I have a contract for next year what I can show. I do not have the Green Card of the person who made me the Affidavit of Support and that is because they are citizens since 1980'.
Another thing is that when I have sent my documents to Chicago, I attached everything:
- medical exam
- affidavit of support
all forms and fees, even a copy of the KKC fee

I hope I did well sending all those papers.
afraid

[alincosma]

greg
best of wishes to you and your family and enjoy the winning.
one question, does the person who signs the Affidavit of Support have to be US citizen or resident is just fine. I heard some people saying that it is necessary to be citizen.

[greg_dv2006]

to Borya
Thanks
to Afraid
Thank you Afraid. I had my interview in New York. In terms of documents, my opinion is that the more of them you send with your AOS form the better off you are in the future, because they have them already on file when it comes to your interview.
to Alincocma
Thanks a lot. Hope you'll get yours soon. As far as Affidavit of Support is concerned a permanent resident's signature is absolutely sufficient.

Good luck,

Greg_DV2006

[researcher29]

Hi, I just wanted to mention that the I-134 can also be signed by the actual AOSer, if he/she can prove sufficient assets. I'm in the US on an H1B visa and called USCIS to ask how to prove that I won't be a public charge. I don't have any relatives or friends in the US who qualify, because most of my friends are just a few years out of grad school and still in debt. Anyway, the representative I spoke to said that I could sign the I-134 myself and told me to list whatever savings I have and any current salary info. She says that even if my assets/criteria don't strictly meet the poverty limit, showing that I have enough to "survive without public assistance" between jobs will help my case. Of course, this situation is MUCH less secure than having complete, guaranteed support but I just wanted to mention that it's not hopeless if you don't have a sponsor. By the way, I'm not an expert, just another AOSer trying to figure things out (so check the facts out yourself). Good luck to all.

[vk96]

Hi researcher29,

I, like you, just submitted my AOS paperwork because I waited until my number became current. Hopefully we have enough time to get adjusted.

What is your local office?

[researcher29]

Hi, vk96 and other readers, my local USCIS office is in Columbus, OH, but I filed at the Chicago Lockbox. I have also been trying to acquire statistics about locations and timelines. Although the cases are marriage-related, I have found some help in looking at the timelines at
http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/...,10,11&op8=All
You can just choose to look at cases specific to where you live or sort in many other useful ways.

Anyway, like you (vk96), I waited to file as per the advice of USCIS officials. I think that April still leaves us a lot of time until Sep, so it should all be fine.

To those interested, I have collected several detailed postings of personal AOS experiences into one document (it contains examples from other forums, too) and I have an Excel file of the past 2-3 years of DV priority dates. PM me if you would like these files. I can't guarantee accuracy but they might be useful to some of you.

I plan to write a detailed account of my experiences when it's all done. Anyway, for those interested, my AOS package contained the following:
-cover letter explaining my current situation (H1B winner of DV-2006) with a specific request to consider the Sep 30 DV-2006 expiration
-I-485
-G-325A
-I-134 (signed by myself) + bank letter + letter of employment (temp job)
-SEALED I-693
-I-131 (just in case my H1B status expires before I get the GC)
-I-765 (again, just in case...)
-supporting docs (NL, barcode, HS diploma, BS diplomsa, MS diploma, PhD diploma, copy of DV fee receipt and money order stub, tax returns 2003-2005, letter of employment, passport ID and H1-B visa pages, I-94)

Good luck to all.

[hmz]

Congrats!

[greg_dv2006]

Today I received the forth notice (Welcome Notice), dated April 24th.
Right now, I'm expecting to get my Green Gard in the mail any day soon.
Good luck to all of you out there still waiting for their DV interviews
Greg_DV2006

To HMZ,
Thank you

[afraid]

hi

Who sent the interview notice? The local office or Chicago office?

afraid

[greg_dv2006]

Hi Afraid,
Neither one. The Notice was sent from Lee's Summit, Missouri
Take care,
Greg_DV2006

[tak2]

Hi Afraid,
Neither one. The Notice was sent from Lee's Summit, Missouri
Take care,
Greg_DV2006

Hi! Afraid:

Interview notice send from local office and welcome letter send from Lee's summit, Missouri.

Thanks

[greg_dv2006]

Afraid,
Tak2 is absolutely right. For some reason I thought you were asking about the Welcome Notice. Sorry about that

[hmz]

I've never received a Welcome letter.

[afraid]

Thanks guys.
I will wait until the end of the week and if I do not get the thied notice I will go to the local Office, but I have the feeling that they will tell me to wait.

Thank you for your information.
afraid

[greg_dv2006]

Hi there,
Today my wife and I received our Green Cards in the mail so I guess it's more or less it.
I wish everybody out there still being in the middle of the AOS or CP procedure a quick and "happy ending"
Good luck,
Greg_DV2006

[afraid]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am happy for you.

Take care.

afraid

[greg_dv2006]

Thanks Afraid.
I hope you will soon get your third notice with the interview date.
You still have plenty of time (almost 5 months) to finish your case though on the other hand I understand that it's not easy to be patient when the case is time sensitive. Anyway, I'm sure you'll be ok.
All the best,
Greg_DV2006

[greg_dv2006]

Zaryun,

I'm so happy that your name check has eventually been cleared.
Congratulations! And all the best for the future.
I hope that Dianac will soon have the name check cleared as well.

Good luck to evryone still waiting

Greg_DV2006

[Anahit]

Hi there,
Today my wife and I received our Green Cards in the mail so I guess it's more or less it.
I wish everybody out there still being in the middle of the AOS or CP procedure a quick and "happy ending"
Good luck,
Greg_DV2006

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[greg_dv2006]

Thank you, Anahit

[Jugnu786]

Guys how far in advance one can take medicals?Our case number is very low in Rank and will be current in October 06.We will also be doing AOS.

Thank you all....

[greg_dv2006]

Hi Jugnu786,

I had my medical examination done one month before I actually sent my AOS package. As far as I recall the I-693 form is valid for one year.

[Jugnu786]

Hi Greg,thanks a lot!!!

[vk96]

Medicals are valid for one year (as far as I remember). I did mine August 2005 and submitted my AOS April 2006.

[afraid]

wHAT IS YOUR CASE NUMBER?
AND WHERE IS YOUR LOCAL OFFICE?


AFRAID

[vk96]

case number EU00014xxx
local office St Louis