2nd Interview

bmorechick

Registered Users (C)
After my spouse and I went for an interview in the 2nd wk of December, we received a letter asking us to present ourselves again for another interview in the 1st week of Feb. Is this common practice?

This request for the 2nd interview asked us to bring letters from our bank, our work place, people we know, and other supporting evidence. My fear is that we may not have enough time to gather this evidence. I got a lawyer and I'm thinking of asking him to reschedule our interview. Again, is this advisable? We just want to be very prepared for the 2nd interview.
 
2nd interview is definitely not a good sign - it means USCIS don't trust your marriage after the 1st interview.

You'd better follow the orginal interview schedule and be prepared well.

But you don't have to be in panic, if your marriage is real.

Just be calm and be yourself.
 
bmorechick said:
After my spouse and I went for an interview in the 2nd wk of December, we received a letter asking us to present ourselves again for another interview in the 1st week of Feb. Is this common practice?

This request for the 2nd interview asked us to bring letters from our bank, our work place, people we know, and other supporting evidence. My fear is that we may not have enough time to gather this evidence. I got a lawyer and I'm thinking of asking him to reschedule our interview. Again, is this advisable? We just want to be very prepared for the 2nd interview.


I suppose that speaks to attending the first interview well prepared with documented proof of your relationship. Did you not bring such evidence to the first interview?
 
We brought proof: Joint bank accts (savings and checking), joint gas and electric, joint phone bills, car insurance with both names, and lease with both our names. We got married in Feb, but we only opened joint accts in August because we moved and we didn't want to have to go through the hassel of changing everything again. The 1st interviewer kept asking why we only had joing accts starting in August and we told him it was because my spouse was living out of state and we weren't sure where we planned on settling. We have nothing to hide and we plan on giving them every evidence they need.

Has anyone gone through a 2nd interview? My DO is Baltimore
 
bmorechick said:
We brought proof: Joint bank accts (savings and checking), joint gas and electric, joint phone bills, car insurance with both names, and lease with both our names. We got married in Feb, but we only opened joint accts in August because we moved and we didn't want to have to go through the hassel of changing everything again. The 1st interviewer kept asking why we only had joing accts starting in August and we told him it was because my spouse was living out of state and we weren't sure where we planned on settling. We have nothing to hide and we plan on giving them every evidence they need.

Has anyone gone through a 2nd interview? My DO is Baltimore

sounds like you did a good job of providing intitial evidence. just back it up with continued proof of those items and I cannot imagine you will have a problem.
 
As long as your marriage is bonafide, you have nothing to worry about, even if it is a "stokes interview".
Good luck!!!
 
if i understood this right you said your spouse was living in another state (for work I assume). I am thinking they might be unsure about that. But if everything has stayed the same since the last interview then I think you could be fine.

Maybe you should also get some letters from some longtime mutual friends. Just stating that they have known you for a long time as a couple (if applicable). Letters from both employers (if they met respective spouses) might also be a good idea, since employers seem more credible as friends.
 
be prepare for the big dance

bmorechick said:
We brought proof: Joint bank accts (savings and checking), joint gas and electric, joint phone bills, car insurance with both names, and lease with both our names. We got married in Feb, but we only opened joint accts in August because we moved and we didn't want to have to go through the hassel of changing everything again. The 1st interviewer kept asking why we only had joing accts starting in August and we told him it was because my spouse was living out of state and we weren't sure where we planned on settling. We have nothing to hide and we plan on giving them every evidence they need.

Has anyone gone through a 2nd interview? My DO is Baltimore


Bmore,

This is a not a good sign at all. You are going to be attend a stoke interview, which is an equivalent of an attorney asking a judge to treat someone as a hostile witness :rolleyes: What will most likely happen is that you are going to be seperated and questioned individually. You attorney can't be in two places at the same time, and can't tell USCIS not to seperate you guys, this is an internal USCIS matter which he has no jurisdiction over. :(

I differ with the coment that you shouldn't reschedule your interview, you have every right to reschedule your interview if you won't have the evidence on time and date of the interview. You don't want to be have to send them another material because it wasn't available on your interview date. Your attorney can reschedule it by writing a letter to request a new date. However, in the meantime, you better be collecting any small shred of evidence that this marriage is bona fide based on ...lian standards of marriage. :cool:

Things to consider and prepare in a nice folder: All joint-smorgash- :D
Insurace---Life, health, house or apt, and car. car title, apartment lease, utility bills (cellphone, home phone, electric, gas, water, whatever u pay), credit cards and dept store cards (macys, nordstroms, fileness, ann taylor, Talbots, victoria secrets, bath and body works, furniture stores too). You see I get magazine from Fredericks of Hollywood and Victoria Secrets, because I want my wife to wear sexy lingerie, and I am not ashamed of that. So, if you receive such magazines under your name, bring it to the interview, because at times, people underestimate the power of people's relationships. So, you want to have a high ground on many issues. Photos and photos, before getting married, if you were ever on vacation together, bring any communication which was part of your planning to go on this vacation, hotel receipts that you stayed in. Pictures taken on your vacation(s). Email communications while you were dating, anything that shows extended communications of your relationship will certainly help you. Moreover, if you have receipts of flowers or gifts that you sent to her during your relationship (prior to marriage and post marriage), then it bodes well for you two. For example, I used to buy flowers from 1800 flowers, but now I buy from another vendor, but I still have all receipts from 3-5 yrs ago in my email. So, any bum that question the legitimacy of my relationship better have some solid evidence that I am faking my married life or he's toast in court. :mad:

You can have friends who have known you guys write letters about your relationship. Again, if you were married in a church or synagogue or mosque, the person who married you can write a powerful letter attesting to your relationship. Any person who is familiar with your marriage, will be helpful. Also, photos of you guys with your friends out partying, dining and doing some leisurely activities will be great. Your landlord, if he knows you guys personally, can write a letter about you guys. However, be prepared for a difficult and often aggressive interview from the dogs of USCIS.

Things to practice and be on the same page with your wife:

Your name, date of birth, where you meet, year you met, how and who propose, where was the proposal made, where did you buy the ring and for how much :confused: Moreover, where was the wedding held, who was the officiant, how many people where in attendace, if you brought the album, and name some of the people at the wedding. Moreover, did you consumate the marriage, how did you arrive or leave the wedding? :confused: Basically, questions that tend to test and probe the genuiness of your relationship. Also, bring any mail send to where both of you live, under your name and hers. Joint crap which will take a moral high ground from a madly empowered USCIS officer seeking to destroy your marriage. :p
 
Thank you all for your comments.

Here is a list of documentation we gave for the first interview:

- Gas and electric bill
- Phone bill
- Joint wachovia bank acct
- Joint HSBC online savings acct
- Joint Netflix acct (the interviewer said we couldn't use this in the first interview)
- Joint current lease
- Joint auto insurance
- pics of just both of us (the interviewer said that we are the only ones in the pic - what can i say, we don't like taking pics - not even on the wedding day which was at a court)

Here's what we have now or are in the process of getting:
- Lease from our former landlord
- Letter from former landlord attesting to our relationship
- Letters from friends
- Letters from our employers
- Letter from my employer detailing my spouse as a dependant beneficiary on my health, vision, dental and life insurance
- We're filing a joint tax return this year
- I added my spouse an authorized user on my credit cards in September (4 in all)
- Letter from our bank stating that we have a joint account
- Train ticket stubs from 2004 and 2005 showing that i traveled out-state to visit my spouse

ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS??? This is so stressful
 
thats a very comprehensive list which i think all of us should make use of before we go for an interview.

also one good point, a very valid point is how one gets dressed for the gC interview, though some may think it does not matter.

Think I read on this webiste and my lawyer said as well, if you arent dressed well, the interviewer thinks its disrespectful.

As a matter of fact, I personally like to be well dressed, and not be shabby. Think it pretty much talks about your personality. So, even if you do not like to be dressed well, all the time, try it for the interview, it may just help :)

Stay calm, composed, confident and be positive. It will all work out in the end!
Good Luck!
 
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try not to be nervous on the second interview. my first interview also went bad and the officer told us that we will have a second interview but we havent received any notice yet to appear for it. Just be true to yourselves, slap them by being honest and proving to them that your marriage is bona fide.

officers can be so judgemental and every single document you can bring will help you. goodluck on your interview. by the way which DO do you belong?
 
bmorechick - question for you

bmorechick - I have a question for you.

You mentioned, you got a lawyer, so the first interview, you did not have a lawyer with you, is that the case?

i would also think that the presence of a lawyer would be beneficial , correct?
 
YOu're right, we didn't have a lawyer in the first interview. The 2nd time around, we're not leaving any stone unturned and we're going with all the fortification we can get.
 
I think having, a lawyer present your case, is very helpful. As the lawyer not only presents your case, he/she is pretty much a witness to everything you are doing.

I am sure with all your preparation, you will be approved :)
 
Hi !
Just wanted to let you know that one of our friend was interviewed three times before he got his G.C. First two times they had an Attorney with them. Third time they didn't ask the Attorney to come and he got approved. It took him two years to get his GC and when he got it, It was for 10 years.
Stay calm, collect all the information, bills etc and go for the interview. I think if they are suspicious about your marriage they may call you for another interview too because if the marriage is fake it will never last for two years. But if your marriage is real then why to worry? Have fun and live your life. :)
 
A year later after our first interview, we got a notice for a second interview. The letter states it's an "interview for I-485".

It also said "bring passport, as well as any other service issued documents. You must bring valid photo identification for both you and your spouse."

Our I-30 was approved the day after our first interview.

Does anyone know if this is going to be the tuff 2nd interview process that everyone dreds? USCIS trying to find out the legitimacy of the marital relationship?
 
if the second interview is a Stokes inteview, it would probably be tough. If it's just a second interview, it'll probably be like the first one.
 
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