Hello All,
First things first - thank you all for the best wishes and the help over the several past months. Had it not been for this forum and the helpful members here, we'd never have been prepared even half as much.
A little background
We got married last year in May here in US at my parent's place and a week later we left for India. About a month after our first marriage, we had another one at his parent's place as per his customs. Later we came back to US on Aug 27th last year and I filed I-130 in Nov. At the time,we knew close to nothing about the process. All we knew was through a friend of ours who filed for his wife while he was an LPR and she took the CP route, where once the I-130 was approved, he received a notice to send I-864 and she received a letter to chose an agent. So when I filed I-130, we also kindda waited to hear from USCIS, not knowing abt the process of AOS. We thought AOS and GC were two diff things and tht after my husband gets the GC he can adjust his status anytime later if he is still here in US
. (
Call us stupid or whatever, but we really were clueless about all this and we even managed to piss off Amishah in the begining with our stupid questions. Later she/he helped us in understanding the process and so did Jane n Rex that made us file I-485). Well, when we didn't hear anything from USCIS apart from the NoA for I-130, we started to get a bit worried and then I discovered this forum. I registered and since then life had been easy as far as understanding the process was concerned
- Thanks to Ari, Pat, Rex, Jen, Amishah, Jen, Payala, justnew, ocworker, hubert, eadhelp, Cherr, Suzy977, visaapplicant, tapskap, toro (phew!!!!) and everyone!!!
The interview preparation
Well the preparation started more than a couple of months back after we received his FP notice... after the FP, we started putting together whatever documents we could - greeting cards from before the marriage, pictures, joint acc statements, utility bills, tax transcripts... anything and everything that we could think of. He organized all the documents in two different folders - originals and copies and indexed them. We printed around 150 pics from our engagement ceremony, the two weddings and the reception party, plus the pics from our honeymoon, the stay in India (
visits to his relatives n family friends), our excursions in the US since last Sep. We also collected all the cards we could find that we sent to each other during our long distance relationship of over four years.
On Sun, he decided that we should drive up to the San Jose DO, so that we know the route well for today - so we did that and I think it was a good thing to do, because the driving directions from yahoo were slightly off and that made us go in circles in the the downtown for about half an hour!
The Interview
The interview was scheduled for 12:30, we arrived at the DO at 11:45 am, went through the security and headed for suite #200. The security guy made us laugh and the mood was set to light - a good begining. Reached the suite #200 and found three couples waiting in there. We placed the interview letter in the tray and waited... at 12:25 officer Capuno called my husband's name and asked us if our attorney was present (???), my husband told him that we didn't have one so he just asked us to wait. He reappeared in 2-3 mins introduced himself and signalled us to follow him. Once in his room (#211) we took the oath and then seated ourselves. Here are the questions he asked and our answers:
1. Your Ids, passports, marriage certificate and naturalization certificate.
We laid them out on his desk. He reviewed them all.
2. (
To my husband) When was the last time you entered US? Did you leave US since your last entry?
Aug 2005... no I haven't been out of US since my last entry in Aug.
3. (
To me) - Your full name, date of birth and address
I gave him the answers.
4. (
To my husband) - Your full name, date of birth and address
He gave the answers
5. (
To me) Where do you work?
I answered.
6. You've worked for California state dept right?
Yes I have... now I work for SSI.
5. (
To my husband) All those questions from 485.
He answered them all in No (
in fact my husband seemed a little amused at how rhetoric those questions seemed to him, but the officer maitained a serious face, so my husband quickly wiped off the smile ). He was stamping the 485 and and writing something on it. Later he asked my husband to sign underneath something that he wrote on I-485 (
my husband later told me that it looked like he's made a few corrections in I-485 and wanted me to sign)
7. Do you have latest tax transcript
My husband pulled it out of the folder and placed it on his desk. He briefly inspected the tax transcript and then proceeded to check something in the originally filed documents.
8. (
To Us) You have a co-sponsor too... right..? But you make enough... ~sounding confused~
We told him that I didn't make enough in 2004 and at the time of filing the application, we hadn't done our taxes for 2005 and thus the co-sponsor. Mr. Capuno wasn't even interested in knowing the details of the co-sponsor, even though we offered.
9. Okay, do you have any joint documents for me? Apt lease? etc.
Yes! and my husband laid out the joint acc statements (
he explained tht we have three joint accs), the lease document, the auto insurance, the health insurance... and before he could pull out more, the officer said 'That's enough...!'
After this he told us that the interview was over and that he would make the decision later in the day and if he approves, the GC will arrive in 3-6 weeks. He asked us if we have any questions and my husband asked him if the namecheck was complete to which he answered 'Yes!'. He looked a bit surprised at namecheck question though. Then my husband asked him if he wanted to see anything more - he said 'no I don't everything is alright'. My husband insisted (
I wonder why, I guess he wanted to make sure that he doesn't leave a doubt in officer's mind) - 'We have a lot of pictures', to which the officer replied 'Uhmm do you have wedding pics?' My husband said 'Ofcourse' as he laid out the album on the desk. The officer asked me if my parents were present at the wedding and I said 'yes'. Then he asked us to show only one pic in which the family was present. I showed him the one with my family and pulled it out to give it to him. He said he didn't need it.
After this he asked us if we had any plans to leave the country and my husband told him that we are planning for either next month if ev thing goes fine (
ie he gets the GC. I knew he was trying to get something out of the officer). The officer asked us the dates of travel and we told him that we will finalize today most likely and the date of travel may depend on the best available deal for airline tickets. He told us that it may take 3-6 weeks for the LPR card to arrive. We thanked him, he thanked us and we left.
The interview (
because of the details) may seem long but we were back in the car at 12:41, which means the total time we spent in that room was less than 10 mins. We have a feeling that we are approved and it is now only a matter of time... but my husband - well... wonder if he could ever stop worrying
is not completely out of it yet. He was okay while we walked down the stairs and we both hugged as we reached the exit... but as we got into the car - he goes 'But he didn't say anything about removing the conditions - IOs usually tell you abt that if you are approved.' So he still has his fingers crossed and has his breath held
But I think its time to celebrate.
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Originally Posted by a_usc
