October 2011 Filers

SMS notification: 12/29 at 10PM

Hey,

Here are some answers to your questions:

Q. When did we receive the status update?
A. 12/29 at 10PM via SMS from USCIS. I did not check USCIS' website until several hours later so I'm not sure if the SMS was sent the same time as status updated on the web.

Q. Online or physical update?
A. Website status/SMS only for now. The SMS appears to be a notification that a physical letter has been sent, so the paper IL will likely lag by a few days.

Q. Which service center?
A. USCIS' website reads: "national benefits center."

Sounds like you're pretty stressed. Hope you hear good news back soon!

bigbull99 said:
@ HossDelgado

when did you get to know your interview date? did you get an online update or you got it in the mail?
Which is your service center. Mine is CSC. I hope mine comes too. almost every one is getting it.
USCIS sent me a letter on 24Nov, stating that - for speedy process my application was sent to CSC. I wish it satyed at MSC. No idea when i will be getting my interview ?
Click to expand...
 
JT7 said:
Nope, no bills, no lease, only christmas card with our names from his brother. Well, thank you for advice )
Click to expand...

@ JT7,
How come you didn't have the important documents? Have you filed already? if not, don't file anytime soon. Fix your lease, joint account, phone bill, electricity bill, water bill, internet bill, any travel ticket, any property receipts and stuffs like that. If you have filed already, start to get whatever document you can ASAP.
 
RFE again

Online up date says that they sent out a RFE on I 130, to day. I dont what it could be? Very frustrating
 
@bigbull99 That truly sucks. I know this is hard for you at this time but try to be patient. It will all work out in due course. I hope it's something you'll be able to get rectified soon

@chriskertown Welcome! Wishing you the best!

October Filers: Happy New Year to you all. Wishing everyone wonderful things for 2012.

It's been a nerve wracking past couple weeks for me. My interview is in 9 days. I still can't get over how fast it came. I have to travel to NY soon to get a copy of my marriage certificate (I have one with me and sent in two official copies but if they take the one I have we'll need one for ourselves) plus I have to go get another (certified copy) divorce decree ( I sent in two official copies when I applied (I-130 and I-485) and all I have with me are photocopies of the divorce decree.

These are the things are worry me when it comes to my interview and more details to my situation
1. I was married before. (Right out of college, I got involved with what I thought was the love of my life. We dated a year and then got married. The marriage lasted maybe 8 months then we went separate ways BUT I never filed for divorce until December 2009 (almost 2 years later) (All that time, I was still F-1 and still in status and never applied for immigration benefits because at that time, I wasn't even thinking about that (being that I was still in F-1 status and pretty naive). I was granted my divorce in April 2010 which coincidentally was a few weeks after I met my current husband.

2. I only met my hubby in March of 2010. We met through his sister who is my very good friend and he was home from deployment at the time. He was soon deployed again, and during that time we had to rely on phone conversations and skype whenever he got a chance. Deployment was done in December of 2010 and he came home and we have been going strong since then. He proposed in April 2011 and we got married in July 2011, filed in October 2011. So naturally the short timeline (history we've had) also makes me nervous that the IO will not look favorably on this.

3. In college when I was 18 (9 years ago) my friend and I stole toiletries from Walmart). In retrospect it was one of the stupidest things of my life. I think it was some body sprays and lotions. We were arrested. Charged with petite larcency. We pled guilty and the judge gave us each 40 hours of community service on our campus. The case was dismissed and record expunged. I did answer YES on the I-485 about this crime and wrote and attached a letter explaining what happened and that it was an isolated and stupid thing of my youth. Since then I have never been in trouble again. Never stole again. Never been arrested again. Just been on the straight and narrow. I'm nervous about how the IO would look on that.

4. And most troubling is the age difference between my husband and I. He is 4 years my junior. The thing is, I'm sure the military has something to do with this but he is no where near the maturity of guys his age. In fact, he acts more mature than me and I think that was one of the things that attracted me to him. (I'll try not to make you guys sick with this. LOL) But, if you saw us together and saw how we interact, you'd never think that we had an age difference "issue", I just feel like we're compatible BUT I'm worried about how the IO will look upon this.

So with all these things going against me, you can only imagine what a nerve wracking time preparing for this interview is. It's gotten kind of bad where every time I think of the interview I just put off preparing (assembling) the paper work and photos, bills etc (I know this is really bad). I also know I need to think more positively but I'm just "keeping it real" with you guys.

Next Friday, I cannot wait to come back and say that I was approved. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. So just incase it doesn't work out next week, well you all have ALL the potential reasons WHY. I'm praying it does go well but these emotions (fear, anxiety, nervousness) are just driving me a little mad.

Anyone who has any of these same situations going on for them? Anyone with interviews that's already gone had factors that might have worked against them? A lot of the stories I read on this forum seems to be pretty straight forward. First marriage, no prior arrests, no age issues, dated and lived together long before marriage and/or filing etc. Is anyone in the same boat as me?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MarineWife said:
4. And most troubling is the age difference between my husband and I. He is 4 years my junior. The thing is, I'm sure the military has something to do with this but he is no where near the maturity of guys his age. In fact, he acts more mature than me and I think that was one of the things that attracted me to him. (I'll try not to make you guys sick with this. LOL) But, if you saw us together and saw how we interact, you'd never think that we had an age difference "issue", I just feel like we're compatible BUT I'm worried about how the IO will look upon this.
Click to expand...

Do you like worrying for fun? 4 years age difference is absolutely nothing to be concerned about. With both people over 20, age difference won't be an issue in the interview unless it crosses 10 years.
 
Gc approved!

GC approved! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't thank everyone enough for the advice and support. Not only to everyone in this October thread, but also to those who posted their experience and advice in the past - I read most of them.

I just got home from my interview. Longstoryshort: it went smooth and fast.

To Bostonians: you enter through the public entrance of the "tall" JFK building, but you make your way to the "short" building. Room E-170, even though it says room E-150 on the IL. You then hand in your IL to the desk in front and sit until your name is called.

The waiting room was packed, and my wife and I waited a little over an hour (counting that we arrived 30 minutes early). She got called in first and took our big bag of documents. 5 minutes later - though it felt like a long time - I got called in.

I was immediately sworn in. I already forget the sequence but I was only asked these questions:
- how did you meet?
- why did you wait so long to apply? (It's been 4 years since we got married. I said I procrastinated because I was too busy with school)
- do you have any other documents with both your names? (we've already submitted most of it: transcripts of joint tax return, joint bank statements, auto insurance. I also showed the receipt of the rent we just paid and our checkbook. In the end the IO did not take any of these)
- medical insurance in both names? (we have separate. My wife's from her job, and mine from school)
- name, DOB, SSN, address
- yes/no questions

After that, the IO said she was going to approve it, wait for the GC in the mail - which is the non-conditional GC since we've been married for so long, and said I can apply for citizenship in 3 years. She took my I-94 and EAD card. We thanked her and left.

After that, I asked my wife the questions she was asked:
- how did you meet?
- who lives in the house with you? (she said me, and her 3 kids)
- so the IO asked if her for pictures: we had our wedding/reception album, then about 4-6 pictures of each year we were together
- who paid for the wedding?
- do you have any documents with both your names?

That was it.

I definitely overprepared - but I feel it is better than being underprepared. I hope everyone gets their interview soon and that it goes as smooth and painless as mine.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MarineWife said:
2. I only met my hubby in March of 2010. We met through his sister who is my very good friend and he was home from deployment at the time. He was soon deployed again, and during that time we had to rely on phone conversations and skype whenever he got a chance. Deployment was done in December of 2010 and he came home and we have been going strong since then. He proposed in April 2011 and we got married in July 2011, filed in October 2011. So naturally the short timeline (history we've had) also makes me nervous that the IO will not look favorably on this.
Click to expand...

Try not to worry about this short time-line. I'm guessing that's why they give out 2-year conditional GCs first.

MarineWife said:
4. And most troubling is the age difference between my husband and I. He is 4 years my junior. The thing is, I'm sure the military has something to do with this but he is no where near the maturity of guys his age. In fact, he acts more mature than me and I think that was one of the things that attracted me to him. (I'll try not to make you guys sick with this. LOL) But, if you saw us together and saw how we interact, you'd never think that we had an age difference "issue", I just feel like we're compatible BUT I'm worried about how the IO will look upon this.
Click to expand...

Also, don't worry about this issue. My wife is 6 (closer to 7) years older than me.

You are already as prepared as you can be. Answer truthfully and direct to the point - try not to overshare and don't volunteer info if you don't have to. All these issues may not even come up. I do understand how you feel. I was bugging out until we finished the interview. Only now am I starting to feel relaxed.

I wish you the best.
 
JT7 said:
Hi! Do I HAVE to have joint account for the GC Interview? The only financial document we have is my name on his life insurance. Also we have some pics and mails to the same address, post card from relatives. Would it be enough?
Click to expand...

Maybe you don't have to have a joint account. But I'm sure that it is better to have one. It should cost very little to get one, depending on the bank, and will only add to the success of your application.
 
Age ?

Jackolantern,

Even i don't think 4 years diff really matters.

Do you have any idea how they treat age differences when both are 30+?
Diff of 10 years you mentioned, do you really know anything about it or you just assumed?
Could you please provide more details on this?

Thank you !


Jackolantern said:
Do you like worrying for fun? 4 years age difference is absolutely nothing to be concerned about. With both people over 20, age difference won't be an issue in the interview unless it crosses 10 years.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@DeeZee Congrats on your approval of GC

@MarineWife Try not to worry too much. I was reading your post and yes you think it's alot of things going against
you BUT I don't think so as they are miner things. 4 yrs is not alot. I am 8 yrs older than my husband. The arrest was a miner thing as well (don't think it should be a problem) Try and focus on the positive and show as much evidence as you can (people go with tons of evidence and sometimes the IO doesn't look at it). Personally to me as long as you have the most important things as evidence to show your marriage is bonefide it should be enough.

Good luck
 
BetterWorld said:
Do you have any idea how they treat age differences when both are 30+?
Diff of 10 years you mentioned, do you really know anything about it or you just assumed?
Click to expand...

The only times I know of when they made an issue of age difference was when it was over 10 years, usually 15 or more years. Differences of 4 to 9 years are so very common that if it was an issue it wouldn't be hard to find cases where they encountered problems due to that common age difference. There might be an extremely anal interviewer somewhere who harassed the applicants over a 5 or 6 year difference, but if that happened it must be rare.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Stop tripping girl! You will be just fine. My husband was divorced, we got married one year later, he was out of status, he is ten years older than I am, he makes significantly more money than I do, etc etc. The interview was a breeze. Stop tripping! lol
MarineWife said:


It's been a nerve wracking past couple weeks for me. My interview is in 9 days. I still can't get over how fast it came. I have to travel to NY soon to get a copy of my marriage certificate (I have one with me and sent in two official copies but if they take the one I have we'll need one for ourselves) plus I have to go get another (certified copy) divorce decree ( I sent in two official copies when I applied (I-130 and I-485) and all I have with me are photocopies of the divorce decree.

These are the things are worry me when it comes to my interview and more details to my situation
Click to expand...
 
I hope it goes well for you. We also have a 9-yr difference (I'm older than he) but I'm more worried about stuff I can control -- like making a mistake on the forms, which are all starting to blur together!
If they are gonna be jerks over something like that, there is not much you can do about it, and worrying might make you MORE nervous and mistake-prone.

Maybe you could have a massage/facial/ chamomile tea before the interview?
 
Oh my goodness! Thank you guys sooooo much! I swear you all are the best! Thanks so much for all the encouraging words @Jackolantern @sweet15 @DeeZee @guccimane @BetterWorld! So at least my biggest worry is out of the way thanks to your reassurance! I will definitely start getting myself together, calming my nerves and seriously prepping for the interview.

Congrats!!! @DeeZee I'm really happy for you. Wonderful way to start 2012
 
jeterfan1 said:
I hope it goes well for you. We also have a 9-yr difference (I'm older than he) but I'm more worried about stuff I can control -- like making a mistake on the forms, which are all starting to blur together!
If they are gonna be jerks over something like that, there is not much you can do about it, and worrying might make you MORE nervous and mistake-prone.

Maybe you could have a massage/facial/ chamomile tea before the interview?
Click to expand...

Thank you (if you were talking to me) I am going to take your advice and try to have a relaxation day next Thursday! I can't wait to tell you all how it went.
 
October filer without a response for some time!

Hi all,

Great to see so many have had a good process in getting their GC. I am an October filer, got receipt and biometrics done (as a walk in) on the 26 of October but have not heard anything back! I should explain that I am trying to get a GC for my three year old son, so no other documents needed. I have tried to see my case status online and through the phone, but the system does not recognize my receipt number.

Any ideas of what I should do? Have not gotten a RFE or an interview date. I know the next step should be one of these two (hopefully the Interview date). My son's visa expires in April, so any help is greatly appreciated. Also, apologies for not putting the dates on my signature, can't find out how to set up the signature on this....
 
relaxation

MarineWife said:
Thank you (if you were talking to me) I am going to take your advice and try to have a relaxation day next Thursday! I can't wait to tell you all how it went.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was -- that's a good idea. I really hope things go smoothly!!! Best wishes!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top