We were approved in Garden City last week! Here is our story.
My husband adjusted from a K-1 *overstay*. Background: I petitioned him for the K-1 visa but we didn't marry in the 90 days allowed (long story). Anyway, we did marry, and we filed I-130, I-485 and I-765 after meeting with an AILA lawyer at the beginning of January. Everything moved very quickly; he did biometrics at the end of January and was scheduled for an April 2 interview in Garden City around the end of February.
We got out to Garden City around 11 a.m. for our 1 p.m. interview (we drove from our home in Brooklyn). They won't let you in more than 45 mins. ahead of time, so we went to a deli across the street for lunch. We went in around 12:15, metal detector, IDs, all that good stuff.
Once they let you in, you're shown to a very large room with a zillion chairs and 8 windows at the front. You check in at Window 1 with your appointment letter. A little while later they might call up 20 or so people, line you up, and send you upstairs to another waiting room to wait for the interview. That took maybe half an hour from entry to being sent upstairs, and then we waited maybe another half hour to be called for our interview. I think we went in around 1:15 for our 1:00 appointment...not bad.
Our DAO was a middle-aged man, looked and sounded maybe West Indian/Caribbean. Not overly friendly but not rude. He swore us in, asked about the overstay, asked if my husband had had any trouble with the law. He asked if we'd had a medical done here, and I said we'd had the I-693A done here and that it should be in the file (he found it, but the civil surgeon had given us an extra copy just in case). He asked us for any joint documentation and photos; I had our joint lease and some health insurance stuff, and a big photo album that included the pics from our civil ceremony. He flipped through the photo album very quickly and asked to keep one of the wedding pictures. Then he left the room to check up on our case, and came back and said he would have to DENY due to the overstay! eep! I pointed out that I as the original I-129F petitioner filed the I-130 in addition to the I-485, which I thought I was supposed to do. He found the I-130 in our file, looked it over, and left the room again. A few tense minutes passed before he returned, said he would APPROVE us because we filed the I-130
, groused a little bit about the overstay, and then took my husband's passport again and removed the I-94 and gave us the spiel about removing conditions. Woop woop!
We were sent back downstairs to the large waiting area. We waited a LONG time for his passport to be sent downstairs and stamped, but about an hour later, we were called up to window 8, asked for ID, and a different guy stamped his passport and again told him about removing conditions. I think we left around 2:45 or so.
His welcome notice was mailed on 4 April 2007, card production ordered 9 April 2007. We are done for 21 months and needless to say very much relieved.
Overall, Garden City was a pretty nice place to interview. No one was unfriendly or unprofessional, and it was pretty spacious--no being stuffed into tiny rooms with hundreds of other people. And free parking to boot. Take it if you can get it!