AOS Interview Experiences: Collection

Well first of all, my husband works from home, and usually gets up between 8-9am, since we live an hour - with no traffic which is impossible - from San Francisco and the interview was at 10am we needed to leave the house at 8am the latest. He only needs half an hour to get ready so I let him sleep until 7:30am (big mistake), he didn’t get up until 7:45am. We got out of the house around 8:15am, the he needed to put gas, the traffic was TERRIBLE, it was 9:30am and we had not pass the toll plaza at the Bay Bridge (if anyone knows the area will know exactly what I’m talking about.) We got to the front of the building exactly at 10am while going through security it was 10:05am when I handed the Interview paper to the receptionist. You can imaging during all this time and while watching the clock, I’m getting sick of my stomach, I literally almost threw up, I wanted to go to the bathroom really bad, and of course wanted to kill my husband – no the best moment to do that . I went to the ladies room and my husband wasn’t in the waiting area when I came back and a lady told me that he went towards the offices; he was already talking to the gentleman who interviewed us.

This interviewer was very serious and asked a lot of questions, first asked for identifications (DL or ID, passports, EAD) then started with personal questions to each of us, then the I-485 questions, then asked me questions about my husband, he barely asked anything to my husband. We commented later-on that he asked ME questions about MY parents, and asked my husband questions about his parents-weird. Then he asked for joint receipts, we gave him a savings and health insurance but he wanted more which we don’t have for reasons that I won’t explain since this is already too long. So finally he was happy to see pictures and hear about my husband's kids. I think this last detail was what convinced him, because he looked more relaxed once we started talking about them. Who know, at the end he gave me this letter I mentioned in my original posting, explained few things, and walked us to the door. It lasted about 45min. not as fast as RareGold’s, but with the same happy result.
 
Interview Experience in Miami, approved!!

First of all, I want to thank all of you guys. This forum has been really helpful in understanding and providing information on the interview procedures and papers to take and everything. Thanks ari4u, especially. You are a keystone in this forum!!

the interview went smooth and fast, it lasted only about 20 minutes. The interviewer was a very kind gentleman. He first asked for our DLs in the corridor before getting to the interview room and took copies of them right there (i had copies, though). He led as to the room, he swore us in as soon as we were in there. Immediately, he proceeded to verify our names and address. He asked me all the questions on form I-485 about being involved in communist party, terrorism, and so on. I answered them (no, no, no...)
After that, by checking my files, he asked me if this was my first marriage (yes), if I had any children (no) and if my phone number on records was ok. Then she asked my wife (USC) the same questions.
He asked us for the originals of our birth certificates and marriage license. We showed them to him and he checked these originals with the copies he had in our files on record (we had submitted copies last year). He gave the originals back to us. He looked again at the files... I could see all the paperwork we submitted last year was there.
Then he asked for the 2005 taxes (we had filed jointly). As my wife had signed my affidavit of support, the officer asked us for her employer letter and her tax returns of 2004 and 2003.
He asked us if we were living in our own house or were in a lease. We had a lease, and gave him a copy.
He asked if we had any joint account. We gave him our checking and savings statements (we had several from all the year round).
He asked us also if we had health insurance. We gave him the copies of our health insurance cards (which we've got through my wife's job).
He asked us if we had a car or car insurance in both of our names. We don't have such things. my wife explained why. The officer said it was ok.
And that was it. there was no other questions about our relationship. Nothing... We were waiting for him to ask things. But nothing. He didn't even ask for bills or photos (we had taken our wedding album, and a bunch of other pictures)
Then, he stamped the approval on the files and told us I would receive a letter of approval in a week or two, and my green card in 4-6 weeks.
He was very polite. He also told us he was very happy to see we had all the documents and copies he asked for. He told us most people go to the interview with less than half of what they are required to bring. We had prepared two folders: 1 for originals and the other for copies. The folders were indexed and the documents well organized.
So, a piece of advice: take all your papers/documents properly organized. The officers will thank you for that.
They want to go fast. They want to approve. I heard they get mad when they are busy, and people don't seem to help with the paperwork they are supposed to bring already properly prepared from home.
Again: do your homework and your interview will be a pleasant meeting, just as ours was.
Finally we said bye, he went with us to the corridor and showed us the way out to the elevator.
We are soo happy...
Thank you all guys. This forum is so supportive!!
Time to celebrate now! :) :)
 
Interview experience

Hello,

I had my Interview yesterday in Northern Virginia. The appointment was at 1:00 PM, we arrived at abt 12:30. We were called in at our scheduled time. The officer was cordial. He asked the usual questions, like if I have ever been arrested etc..., He went through the affidavit of support, had questions for my husband regarding his employment letter, checked our passports, asked us both questions about each other, i.e our In-Laws Names, How we met, when we got married, how many guests, What cars we own, date of births, my employer details etc...
He took copies of our 2005 tax returns... we filed seperate returns, and he asked us why we would do that.
He asked for the Joint documents proof, took the entire set of copies that I had made for joint accounts which include utility bills, home title, insurance cards etc.
He went through the photos that I had brought with me. I just took about 15 pics with me, He joked abt how people bombard him with photo slideshows etc etc... then he went out for a few mins...and came back and handed me my passport with the I-551 stamp!!!! and congratulated me...
The whole thing lasted about 40 minutes.

So, finally...its done. I was told that I would get the actual green card in the mail in a few weeks.

I'd like to thank everyone in this forum...its been so helpful to me... and
Ari4u, special thanks to you! :) Good Luck everyone....
 
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AOS Interview experience Seattle DO

I had my AOS interview yesterday in Seattle. For timelines pl' see my signature. The interview itself was a breeze. The lady was very nice and all she asked for was proof of relationship and we had plenty of those. She also asked how did we meet and whether our faimilies knew each other before. That was it..no tax returns, W2s nothing...just our Ids. Unfortunately, the name check is not done yet...so she told as that we are approved pending name check and we should get the card in mail as soon as the name check is done.

This forum has been very helpful to us...so thanks to all the contributors here...:) and good luck to everybody!
 
Everyone who had a successful interview (It's Fri... I'm too lazy to type ev body's name :p) - CONGRATS!!!

abhp123,
Best of luck with the name check!
 
Seattle DO AOS Interview Experience

I went for my interview, which went well. No surprises with a nice officer.
The common, have you ever questions...no no no no!
We were asked about the spouse's siblings,our honeymoon, when and how we met, how long we'd been dating before marriage, but nothing tricky.
Quite easy I would say.

The officer checked Id's, last taxreturn with W-2s, updated address (because we moved), marriage cert.
Also checked some of the documention, but only kept (and seemed to care about) health insurance card, car insurance, joint taxreturn, lease agreements. Didn't even look at any of the photos, but I think the fact that we brought alot of stuff helped.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring my Bcertificate in my native language, I thougth they only wanted the English version, so I will have to submit that, but would then be approved I was promised. I already faxed it today and mailed it, and they said it would be looked at next week and I should expect to receive my card in the mail within 3 weeks.
They did not say anything about name check...

Surprisingly, they did not take my AP or I-94, which is good because I might be travelling within the next 3 weeks.

Thanks for all the help!

Timeline:
Application I-485 package 9/15/05
RD 9/22/05
EAD Approved 11/22/05
AP Efiled 12/01/05
AP Approved 2/15/06
Interview Scheduled for LA 1/31/06
Changed Interview due to move out of state.
Case transferred to Seattle DO.
Interview Seattle DO 3/31/06
Pending Document.
 
Interview at Portlandd Oregon. Passed I guess.

I am a USC applying green card for my wife who has been a full-time student for 5 years. We had our AOS interview at Portland, Oregon today (April 20, 2006.)

Our interview was scheduled at 2:00pm and we arrived at the waiting room around 1:20pm. We got called by a very nice officer around 2:05pm and was out of the building around 2:32pm.

The officer introduced herself and took us to her office. She swore us in and checked our photo IDs. The officer is new on her job so there was another officer sitting at the desk kind of coaching her. When she told us that she is new on the job, I was thinking that our case must be simple or they would not let a newbie handle a complicated case.

She asked us some basic information like the current address and phone number. All of a sudden, she turned to my wife and asked her about my birthday. My wife was nervious and could not remember the exact year. The officer joked about that and said that it's more important to remember the date so "your husband would get the present." My wife was not able to answer the date of last entry to the U.S. It was quiet for a few seconds (but it felt like ages when you are on the hot seat.) I said "Can I answer?" The officer let me answer the question. She then asked my wife the No-No-No questions on the I-485 application. She asked me for the evidence of citizenship (she made a photocopy of my US passport) and the most recent pay-stub (I gave her the past 9 months.) She asked me for evidence of us filing the 2005 taxes. Since we just filed the taxes last week, I gave her a photocopy of all the forms we filed.

Finally, she said that this is a very clean case but since our I-130 package has not been transferred to her office, she cannot stamp my wife's passport. She knew that our I-130 has been approved and she will send in another request to get our file. She said that we should expect the green card in less than 2 months. We asked about what my wife's legal status after the interview and what document we should be using if we plan to travel overseas. There were some confusion about whether my wife should still maintain her full-time student status but we were told to use our Advance Parole to travel before getting the green card. Just to be sure, I asked the officer if we can have some celebration tonight and she said YES.

So I guess we passed the interview and should be getting the card shortly. Our feelings are mixed though since there is no stamp on the passport and anything can happen before actually getting the card.

We prepared a lot of document including two photo albums. But we only turned in the filed 2005 taxes and my pay stub. Other than the photo IDs and my US passport, the officer did not check anything else.
 
Garden City NY May 2nd Interview

Hi Guys

I had my interview today garden city NY, at 7 AM. We had an older heavy white male, very nice. He sworn us in asked for our passports and my wife’s Driving license. Then he asked for birth certificates for both of us and our marriage certificates. He checked the documents we submitted and asked us questions while he was going through them. He asked me where I went to law school I told him, he joked that his supervisor had asked him to call the school but he was satisfied with my answer. The he asked for our tax return we gave it to him and he asked for the letter of employment and pay stubs. He was in a hurry and just asked these questions without even looking up.

Then he threw a questions in the room how we got to know each other, My wife told him and then he looked at me and asked me when I came to New York and how we met , I gave him the spiel. He asked me where my parents were and if I had a bother/sister and if he was in the US.

Then once he was done with the documents, he asked the general questions on the I-485, have you been jailed etc, then at the end he was ok so since you haven’t been in violation with the immigration we can stop. He asked for the pictures and asked us to give him any one with both of us showing our faces clearly.

He then wrote pending I-485 , date and A no. , he said everything looked fine and he doesn’t see any problem, he will send it up and they will put it in the computer and I should get the GC in 4 Weeks.

I think the interview lasted 10 – 15 mins we were out by 8 Am so the whole thing took an hour.

I wanted to ask him for his card but just held myself back as it was going so good and he was joking around with us. Well now the wait for actual green card.

Only thing strange was , he did not take my I 94 nor my EADs.
 
Interview on May 9th in LA

It all went well. The whole interview took about 10 minutes, I think. The officer was very nice and didn't ask any tricky questions. All he asked for was my Birth Certificate and our joint asset documents. The only glitch was that I am still pending name check, which may take anywhere from a week to several months. :( but i guess the hard part is over and I will just have to wait for the name check. I still keep my I-94, EAD, and AP.

H1 to married to USC
ND 11-22-05
ID 05-09-06
 
AOS Approved!!!

Hello everyone!

My AOS was finally approved today! My interview was at the Fairfax DO at 8:45AM. My husband and I got there about 45 minutes early. It's a bit tricky to find the parking garage so I highly recommend driving by there before your interview some time to check the area out. Anyway, we parked and entered the building, went through security, up to the 2nd floor, and handed in our interview notice.

We were called in on time and asked to raise our right hands and take the oath. Then she took our drivers licenses and all documents I've ever used to work in the US (H1-B visa, H1-B notices, EAD). She started asking us questions from the form. Now we have been living apart for work reasons, so that was the first question she asked. I completely froze, but luckily my husband and lawyer gave the answer and the agent was satisfied. She asked us both details from the forms, like our names, SSN#'s, etc. She asked each of us the other's birthdate and asked me my husband's parents names. She asked us how we met, who was at our wedding, how long did you date for before getting married. We took a full photo album and she looked through ALL our pictures, but it seemed to me like she looked them more for her own interest than for validating our case. We had lots of evidence, like joint insurance, bank statements, affidavits, phone records, etc. Anyway, she took all the copies we gave her. Then, she took out my I-94 out, and took my passport to be stamped and came back with the temporary greencard! I'm so happy because we're travelling out of the country next week and I really needed the stamp for it! She congratulated me and gave me the standard spiel about the conditional status removal and when i can apply for naturalization.

All in all, it was much less scary than I thought it was going be. This board has helped me tremendously! good luck to you all in your AOS journey! Please page me if anyone has questions.
 
Hello again,
I FEEL FREE, FINALLY!!!!!
Today I've got "Welcome Notice"!!! I'm so happy and relaxed! Uff! I was so stressed since last Wed interview.
Thank YOU ALL! That is amazing how much this forum helped me in that process of waiting for GC. Thank you again!
Big thanks to Ema and Ari and Cherr ....although I didn't write to much for you guys, your posts were always helpful. Plus there's always sth "catchy" here to read about:)

If anybody is interested in my interview experience:
http://boards.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=212940

DO: Chicago
RD: 08/09/05...START
ID:05/10/06
welcome notice 05/17/06 FINAL:)

Good day! And good luck for everybody!
 
interview at Norfolk VA

here's my interview experience yesterday:
We arrived 20 mins before the appointment and handed in the notice. 10 mins later we were called by the officer, who was courteous but a bit of a poker-face. We took our oath, he asked for our driver's license and passports. He removed the I94 from my passport. Then requested for "documents that substantiate your relationship, such as 2005 tax returns, W-2 and others". We presented a copy of the tax returns, W-2, proceeded to copy of our joint acct, utility, insurance, statements from company benefits showing both names, etc. then some photos. He asked if the documents (except for photos) are for him and we said yes. He took them and didn't ask to see the original. Then he went through the questions on the I485 (quoted as the "no no no" questions on this thread"). Then he told us that he's satisfied with the evidence presented. My FBI finger print check has cleared but pending name check. I will receive the GC in the mail once the name check is cleared. He hopes it won't take long but the time is unknown.

since we presented the purchased air tickets to my home country this september as one of the evidences, he said one month before the travel date, if I don't get my GC, to apply for advance parole online, and i should get it in one week's time.

then we were sent out. That's it. We were done in less than 15 mins.

Now i have to wait for the "dreaded" name check. ...... :(


H1B married to USC
DO location: Norfolk, VA
11/2/05: sent applications to Chicago lock box
11/7/05: RD (Day 00)
11/16/05: ND (Day 10)
1/11/06: LUD (Day 65)
2/6/06: Infopass appointment (Day 91), received iEAD (good for 8 mths)
2/14/06: FP notice for 765, 485, notice received on 2/17/06 (Day 102)
3/8/06: FPappointment for 765 (Day 124)
3/9/06: FP appointment for 485 (Day 125) but when requested, they allowed me to do both on 3/8/06
3/14/06: Received EAD in the mail (Day 130)
4/3/05: Received request for initial AOS interview (Day 150)
5/18/06: AOS interview (Day 195)
waiting for name check clearance
 
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