My wife's case finally got approved after her interview. We filed together in 2001 (RD March 28, 2001, RD April 11, 2001) . Somehow our files got separated. Mine got approved less than one year later while her case lasted almost two and a half more years. She received a RFE in May 2003. The RFE was for proof of continuing legal status. We replied right away. Then in Jan. 2004, exactly 1000 days after our initial filing, her case was transferred to local office (New Orleans). In late June, we received the interview notice. The notice asked us to provide a list of items including proof of good marriage and financial support(I-864). One funny ITEM listed is "your spouse". The notice appeared to us as one intended for people applying for green card through marriage. We prepared the documents as much as we could anyway.
On August 4th, we had our interview. The officer was very nice and courteous. To our surprise, he opened my wife's file folder and started to say that since this is an employment case, you don't need this and you don't need that while crossing out things on a sheet. He ended up not checking any of the documents we brought with us. He just double checked certain info on our 485 applications. Finally, another twist, the officer told us that we passed the interview but he could not approve the case because my wife's finger prints were not classifiable. She needed to provide the certified copy of no criminal record from the places we have lived in the past five years. As soon as we provide this document, he can stamp her passport. Luckily, we have lived in the same place for exactly five years now. We got the document and went back to New Orleans again on August 13th. It is a five and a half hour driving for us. This time my wife got the approval and the stamp. She has gotten the card in the mail on August 30th. After such a long wait, the last step was really fast. I guess we deserve it.
I hope our story will help those who had finger prints problems. The INS only let you do finger prints twice if your finger prints were not readable the first time. My wife did her finger prints four times, twice in 2001 and twice in 2003. If your finger prints were not readable, you most likely will have to go through interview and need to provide court certified copy(copies) of "no criminal record" from the places you have lived in the past five years.
On August 4th, we had our interview. The officer was very nice and courteous. To our surprise, he opened my wife's file folder and started to say that since this is an employment case, you don't need this and you don't need that while crossing out things on a sheet. He ended up not checking any of the documents we brought with us. He just double checked certain info on our 485 applications. Finally, another twist, the officer told us that we passed the interview but he could not approve the case because my wife's finger prints were not classifiable. She needed to provide the certified copy of no criminal record from the places we have lived in the past five years. As soon as we provide this document, he can stamp her passport. Luckily, we have lived in the same place for exactly five years now. We got the document and went back to New Orleans again on August 13th. It is a five and a half hour driving for us. This time my wife got the approval and the stamp. She has gotten the card in the mail on August 30th. After such a long wait, the last step was really fast. I guess we deserve it.
I hope our story will help those who had finger prints problems. The INS only let you do finger prints twice if your finger prints were not readable the first time. My wife did her finger prints four times, twice in 2001 and twice in 2003. If your finger prints were not readable, you most likely will have to go through interview and need to provide court certified copy(copies) of "no criminal record" from the places you have lived in the past five years.