Hello,
The interview was the worst interview in my life but the result was the best
The interview took around 2 hours and 30 minutes !!!!!!!!!
It looked the IO did not know about EB1-EA and told me IO got the document in the morning of the interview date. I will not mention about the normal things in this post.
The interview was started with a QUESTION "Did you get a Nobel Prize ?". I said 'NO', and my lawyer told IO "if I have a Nobel prize, we would not be here".
And then IO asked me to show an evidence which I have Extarordinary Ability. So I thought IO wanted to get one sample I have the extraordinary ability. From this question...my interview was getting to fall in the hell. I showed IO one of my papers published in the world famous journal in my field. I told IO the paper was selected as the COVER story and ??????~~~?????. But IO did not get it. IO started to check every 6 categories we claimed... Whenever I tried to explain, IO said "I did not get it because of your accent !". In the middle of the interview, my lawyer told "If you are a native, you will get it easily". I am not sure whether the mention of my lawyer was a JOKE or not. Once my lawyer told IO something, IO said "I did not get it and tell me again".
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It's a long story... I could not explain all here and also I do not want to remember the interview again... I think you can imagine with the above what happened in the interview...
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After checking all, the IO went to the supervisor and came back after around 10 minutes. The IO looked very depressed. And then IO told my lawyer, IO would approve my case. But after saying that, the IO asked me the pay stubs and the 2006 tax return to confirm my salary. But IO told me my salary is not the same amount I told IO. So I told IO my salary was rasied on March, 2006. But still, she wanted to get the same number on the documents. But only I had some pay stubs for this year and a wire transfer copy of my monthly salary topup. So I gave my calculation to IO with the evidence including an employment letter with the current salary information. But still the IO wanted to get the same number on the TAX return... It took long time to make the IO understand the calculation... After spending long(?) time for the salary issue, IO asked me my current job...
At last, I was getting out of the hell...
After then it looked everything was being proceeded well but another issue was waiting us... Other questions for I-485 were very simple. The IO asked us copies of birth certificates for my son and my wife.
Finally the IO told us our case could be approved but IO said my name was pending when IO checked my name check status before the interview... IO had a paper about my name check. I felt I was falling into a BLACKHOLE again I could not get out of. And then IO told us IO could check my name check status again. And then IO told us "my name check is cleared". Can you believe this situation ? It's a miracle ! IO checked my wife's finger print and said my wife's finger print has been expired. My wife told IO she did the finger print this year. The IO checked her finger print status again and then told us my wife's finger print was also cleared...
FINALLY, the IO approved our cases and gave us a congratulation letter. The IO told me we could get the CARD within 2 months.
The interview was terrible and dramatic... I went there with my sons and my lawyer... My sons were making small noise in the begining of the interview, the IO told my sons to stop making noise directly and asked us not to make noise. IO was also very nervous...I am not sure why... Imagine ! How can small children sit down without small noise such as moving noise for more than 2 hours in the tiny room. There was only three chairs so my sons sit down on the floor...
Too many things happened in my interview. After one day for the interview, I am getting out of the shock and the wrath. I think you can imagine what was happened in the IO office. So I could not remember all. But I'd like to recommend you the followings for EB1-EA applicants if you need an interview.
1. Go to your interview with a lawyer. For my case, he helped me very much. If your IO is an expertise, it maybe OK without a lawyer. But if your IO is not an expertise, I strongly recommend you to go to your interview with a lawyer.
2. If you have small children, you can go to your interview with a baby sitter. IO asked us whether a baby sitter came with us or not saying her office is too small.
3. You should prepare all criteria with simple and clear words which everybody can understand. If you think you need, you need to bring clear evidences for all your categories you claimed for the Extraordinary ability. For example, if you submitted a membership as an evidence, you need a document or a print from web-site which saying the membership only can be joined for the people who made a great achivement in this field.
Thanks
