For all of us with an Interview date in June-July
- Thread starter payala
- Start date
I GOT IT!!!
By the end it turned out that we were waaaaay overprepared. We did our final preparations last night, the only thing we were worried about were those 3 months that we didn't live together after we got married so my husband even printed out a calendar and made references to receipts for every single weekend that he went to visit me while I was up in school.
Our interview was at 9 but we got there at 8. They didn't take us in till 9:30 but that wasn't bad I don't think. We got this really nice officer. He first asked us to swear in before we even sat down. Then he said he was gonna go over the forms to make sure all the info that they have was correct. He noticed we had a change of address so he crossed out our old address from every form and wrote the current one. He said that that was very important so I would get any future documents they might send. He asked the typical questions "have you ever..." but he skipped a bunch. He went over the biographic info and I told him that everything was correct, then he said that I'm a student and I told him that I graduated last May so he crossed that out and put Engineer instead. He made a joke saying that now the flow of money is coming in instead of out. He asked for my passport, I-94 and the EAD, I gave him my new passport and my expired one since my student visa was there. I don't even think he checked my visa, or asked for my I-20 or anything. Oh the only think that was missing (even though we sent it TWICE) was my husband's letter of employment, so we gave it to him...again. Then he said he's required to ask for any proof of the relationship so we gave him the lease and our joing bank account statements. Then my husband told me to show him some pictures too so we gave him some pictures from our trip to the Dominican Republic last year, he said that he needs to put that in his list of countries to visit because it looks very beautiful. He didn't even keep the pictures. Then my husband asked him how long it should take for us to receive the GC or if we should apply for an AP since we want to fly home to have our Catholic wedding. He asked when we needed to leave and we told him that on December so he asked if late July sounded OK. At that point I realized we were approved!!! He stamped my passport and wished us good luck. Oh and he told us about the 2-year conditional residency law. That stamp looks so pretty. Hopefully in 3 weeks or so I'll receive they actual card.
Overall I would say the process wasn't bad for us. We seriously expected to have to wait for at least a year, it turned out to be half that much. A laywer we talked to said even 18 months. Oh and about lawyers.... we saw a bunch of lawyers when we were waiting and they were running from client to client. One of them was even asking the couple if they had made photocopies of everything (they hadn't) ...AT THE INTERVIEW!!! Just not worth it!
Goodluck everyone!!!
By the end it turned out that we were waaaaay overprepared. We did our final preparations last night, the only thing we were worried about were those 3 months that we didn't live together after we got married so my husband even printed out a calendar and made references to receipts for every single weekend that he went to visit me while I was up in school.
Our interview was at 9 but we got there at 8. They didn't take us in till 9:30 but that wasn't bad I don't think. We got this really nice officer. He first asked us to swear in before we even sat down. Then he said he was gonna go over the forms to make sure all the info that they have was correct. He noticed we had a change of address so he crossed out our old address from every form and wrote the current one. He said that that was very important so I would get any future documents they might send. He asked the typical questions "have you ever..." but he skipped a bunch. He went over the biographic info and I told him that everything was correct, then he said that I'm a student and I told him that I graduated last May so he crossed that out and put Engineer instead. He made a joke saying that now the flow of money is coming in instead of out. He asked for my passport, I-94 and the EAD, I gave him my new passport and my expired one since my student visa was there. I don't even think he checked my visa, or asked for my I-20 or anything. Oh the only think that was missing (even though we sent it TWICE) was my husband's letter of employment, so we gave it to him...again. Then he said he's required to ask for any proof of the relationship so we gave him the lease and our joing bank account statements. Then my husband told me to show him some pictures too so we gave him some pictures from our trip to the Dominican Republic last year, he said that he needs to put that in his list of countries to visit because it looks very beautiful. He didn't even keep the pictures. Then my husband asked him how long it should take for us to receive the GC or if we should apply for an AP since we want to fly home to have our Catholic wedding. He asked when we needed to leave and we told him that on December so he asked if late July sounded OK. At that point I realized we were approved!!! He stamped my passport and wished us good luck. Oh and he told us about the 2-year conditional residency law. That stamp looks so pretty. Hopefully in 3 weeks or so I'll receive they actual card.
Overall I would say the process wasn't bad for us. We seriously expected to have to wait for at least a year, it turned out to be half that much. A laywer we talked to said even 18 months. Oh and about lawyers.... we saw a bunch of lawyers when we were waiting and they were running from client to client. One of them was even asking the couple if they had made photocopies of everything (they hadn't) ...AT THE INTERVIEW!!! Just not worth it!
Goodluck everyone!!!
Congrats 
Been waiting since morning to hear good news. I agree that most of us have been over prepared for the interview - reminds me of ours - we weren't asked anything beyond our own name, address, etc. But I guess its better to be over prepared than under.
You should be getting the card shortly.
Been waiting since morning to hear good news. I agree that most of us have been over prepared for the interview - reminds me of ours - we weren't asked anything beyond our own name, address, etc. But I guess its better to be over prepared than under.You should be getting the card shortly.
congratulations payala!
i'd rather come to the interview overprepared than anything. i'd feel more secure that way.... but i guess one can never really feel secure until it's over.
i wish our interview will be just as easy too.
so who's next? i think i am. my interview date is on july 6. i swear, i dread looking at the calendar or wondering what day is it. sometimes, i don't feel anything from the knees down. my husband's really good in assuring me, we'll be okay.
i'd rather come to the interview overprepared than anything. i'd feel more secure that way.... but i guess one can never really feel secure until it's over.
i wish our interview will be just as easy too.
so who's next? i think i am. my interview date is on july 6. i swear, i dread looking at the calendar or wondering what day is it. sometimes, i don't feel anything from the knees down. my husband's really good in assuring me, we'll be okay.
I thought my experience may provide a bit information to some of you.
I am a F1 married to USC in Feb. 2006. Before becoming F1, I was under H1B1. I have been in the US for more than 6 years.
DO: Houston, TX
Received date: 4/2/06
Notice date: 4/6/06
Finger print: 4/28/06
Interview notice: 5/1/06
Interview date: 6/22/06 --approved and got stamped on the passport
I was very surprised that the whole process only took them less than 3 months. I filed I-131 and I-765 with I-485 and I-130 at the same time, but never heard anything about my I-131 and I-765. I guess they were expecting to give me GC shortly, so they didn't even bother to process my I-131 and I-765.
My husband and I took a lot of documents with us and prepared questions they may ask the night before. However, during the interview, we were only asked questions like "what is your name", "what is your address", "what is your birthday", "do you have any children", "have you been married before". I was asked "when was the last time you entered US" and my husband was asked "have you sponsed any other people to the US before". Basically, she just compared our answers to the application we sumitted. The officer did not ask us anything about "us". Not even how we met.
Besides my passport and my previous visa document, the officer also asked for things we had together and documented them. We only had health insurance, checking and saving account together. I am my husband's IRA account beneficiary. She was pretty ok with it i guess, since she didn't say any words, but just wrote them down.
We consulted a lawyer in Houston before we submitted the application and she told us that the fastest processing time she experienced recently was 4 months. It usually takes 6 to 12 months. Maybe I was just lucky. However, my husband and I are the same race, similar age (late 20s), have not been married before, and both have professional degrees and stable income. I don't know if those are also reasons that our processing time and interview time are so short.
BTW, I highly recommend consulting a decent lawyer before submitting the application. Ask the lawyer everything you are not certain regarding the application. We paid $100 for one hour consultation and the lawyer also allow us to e-mail her for any additional questions. The lawyer helped us to fill everything right on the application and submitted all required documents to the right place. Actually she also told us to attach photocopies of bank accounts, bills, photos we had together with the application. She told us that immigration officers processes many applications everyday, so you want your application stands out and make them have no doubt that the marriage is real.
Good luck to everyone of you who are still waiting for the GC.
I am a F1 married to USC in Feb. 2006. Before becoming F1, I was under H1B1. I have been in the US for more than 6 years.
DO: Houston, TX
Received date: 4/2/06
Notice date: 4/6/06
Finger print: 4/28/06
Interview notice: 5/1/06
Interview date: 6/22/06 --approved and got stamped on the passport
I was very surprised that the whole process only took them less than 3 months. I filed I-131 and I-765 with I-485 and I-130 at the same time, but never heard anything about my I-131 and I-765. I guess they were expecting to give me GC shortly, so they didn't even bother to process my I-131 and I-765.
My husband and I took a lot of documents with us and prepared questions they may ask the night before. However, during the interview, we were only asked questions like "what is your name", "what is your address", "what is your birthday", "do you have any children", "have you been married before". I was asked "when was the last time you entered US" and my husband was asked "have you sponsed any other people to the US before". Basically, she just compared our answers to the application we sumitted. The officer did not ask us anything about "us". Not even how we met.
Besides my passport and my previous visa document, the officer also asked for things we had together and documented them. We only had health insurance, checking and saving account together. I am my husband's IRA account beneficiary. She was pretty ok with it i guess, since she didn't say any words, but just wrote them down.
We consulted a lawyer in Houston before we submitted the application and she told us that the fastest processing time she experienced recently was 4 months. It usually takes 6 to 12 months. Maybe I was just lucky. However, my husband and I are the same race, similar age (late 20s), have not been married before, and both have professional degrees and stable income. I don't know if those are also reasons that our processing time and interview time are so short.
BTW, I highly recommend consulting a decent lawyer before submitting the application. Ask the lawyer everything you are not certain regarding the application. We paid $100 for one hour consultation and the lawyer also allow us to e-mail her for any additional questions. The lawyer helped us to fill everything right on the application and submitted all required documents to the right place. Actually she also told us to attach photocopies of bank accounts, bills, photos we had together with the application. She told us that immigration officers processes many applications everyday, so you want your application stands out and make them have no doubt that the marriage is real.
Good luck to everyone of you who are still waiting for the GC.
interview tomorrow
so nervous,
should i fill a i 864 supplement just in case ? my wife income were use to sponsor me but she barely meet the poverty guideline for last year and her son live with us last year but now he is living with his dad, so i didn't know if i should go ahead and fill a i 864 using my income to self sponsor myself.
thanks
so nervous,
should i fill a i 864 supplement just in case ? my wife income were use to sponsor me but she barely meet the poverty guideline for last year and her son live with us last year but now he is living with his dad, so i didn't know if i should go ahead and fill a i 864 using my income to self sponsor myself.
thanks
Hi,
I also had a question regarding the I-485 interview. My wife has got her I-485 interview coming up on July 24th. I think we do have enough documents to take with us, but here is a list documents we will take with us:
1. Copy of I-485 filed on Januray 2nd 2006.
2. Copy of I-130 filed on 10th December 2001 along with the approval notice.
3. Originals and copies of birth certificates of our two children, both born in the States. (3 and half year old girl and 1 and a half year old boy).
4. Copy and original mortgage statements in both our names.
5. Copy and original car insurance statement and cards in both our names.
6. Copies and original bank statements on both our names.
7. My wifes birth certificate and a copy. ( We did send this with the form I-485 already).
8. My naturalization certificate and copy along with US Passport.
9. My wifes passport along with I-94W.
10. My wifes employment authorization card.
11. Letter from my employer regarding my job and salary.
12. Copies of my paystubs for the past two months.
13. Photos and copies of both of us along with our children, plus wedding album.
14. Tax transcripts for the last three years. ( Are transcripts enough or do i need to bring the actual return?)
15. Drivers license for both of us.
Now, the interview letter said that i also needed to bring my birth certificate (which will need to be translated). Do i really need to bring my birth certificate if i have a naturalization certificate and US passport? Also, i read that there is a new form and new requirments for affidavit of support even for those that have already filed but will have there interview after July 21st 2006. Does this mean i will need to fill out the affidavit of support again? Plus it ask's for last six months of paystubs and only last years return. Anyone know about this new affidavit of support requirments? One other thing when we filled out the I-130 and I-485 etc we used my wifes married name but my wifes passport is in her madain name, will this be an issue as to why the name was not changed on the passport over the past five years? Do you think it would be better to go and get a new passport made in her married name. Also if am missing something from this list please let me know
Thanks eeveryone for your help and good luck to all.
Regards
HRH
I also had a question regarding the I-485 interview. My wife has got her I-485 interview coming up on July 24th. I think we do have enough documents to take with us, but here is a list documents we will take with us:
1. Copy of I-485 filed on Januray 2nd 2006.
2. Copy of I-130 filed on 10th December 2001 along with the approval notice.
3. Originals and copies of birth certificates of our two children, both born in the States. (3 and half year old girl and 1 and a half year old boy).
4. Copy and original mortgage statements in both our names.
5. Copy and original car insurance statement and cards in both our names.
6. Copies and original bank statements on both our names.
7. My wifes birth certificate and a copy. ( We did send this with the form I-485 already).
8. My naturalization certificate and copy along with US Passport.
9. My wifes passport along with I-94W.
10. My wifes employment authorization card.
11. Letter from my employer regarding my job and salary.
12. Copies of my paystubs for the past two months.
13. Photos and copies of both of us along with our children, plus wedding album.
14. Tax transcripts for the last three years. ( Are transcripts enough or do i need to bring the actual return?)
15. Drivers license for both of us.
Now, the interview letter said that i also needed to bring my birth certificate (which will need to be translated). Do i really need to bring my birth certificate if i have a naturalization certificate and US passport? Also, i read that there is a new form and new requirments for affidavit of support even for those that have already filed but will have there interview after July 21st 2006. Does this mean i will need to fill out the affidavit of support again? Plus it ask's for last six months of paystubs and only last years return. Anyone know about this new affidavit of support requirments? One other thing when we filled out the I-130 and I-485 etc we used my wifes married name but my wifes passport is in her madain name, will this be an issue as to why the name was not changed on the passport over the past five years? Do you think it would be better to go and get a new passport made in her married name. Also if am missing something from this list please let me know
Thanks eeveryone for your help and good luck to all.
Regards
HRH
Thanks Patty,
Good luck on your interview also. My wife's interview is at 1:30 PM so am hoping the officer will not be too grumpy since its late in the day.
Oh and about the I-864 form i read it on the USCIS website and thats why i was wondering if am going to need to a whole six months of paystubs now. I don't get paystubs from my work the money is just deposited into our account every two weeks. If i need a copy of then he just prints it out of his computer from paychex website. Then again am wondering if they will say thats not the original and its just a copy. Anyway about the new requirments for the I-864 it's at,
www.uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/factsheets/AffSupp_062106FS.pdf
Good luck again with your interview.
Regards
HRH
Good luck on your interview also. My wife's interview is at 1:30 PM so am hoping the officer will not be too grumpy since its late in the day.
Oh and about the I-864 form i read it on the USCIS website and thats why i was wondering if am going to need to a whole six months of paystubs now. I don't get paystubs from my work the money is just deposited into our account every two weeks. If i need a copy of then he just prints it out of his computer from paychex website. Then again am wondering if they will say thats not the original and its just a copy. Anyway about the new requirments for the I-864 it's at,
www.uscis.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/factsheets/AffSupp_062106FS.pdf
Good luck again with your interview.
Regards
HRH