I applied for Adjustment Of Status (Married to US Citizen) on July 2.006.
Receipt Notice: 07/20/2.006.
Fingerprints taken: 08/23/2006.
Employment Authorization Doc: 10/06/2006.
In November 2.006, I get an email with the popular message: "Your Interview was cancelled. - You interview has been rescheduled by USCIS and we'll let you know if we re-scheduled again, yada, yada, yada..."
I freaked OUT
I called my Attorney and she told me: "That happens sometimes because they schedule a lots of interviews and they cannot handle it so they de-scheduled and then re-schedule people again!"
It calmed me a little bit, until January comes and I still have nothing...I review the Time frames for Processing and for my surprise I see that for the I-485 the time frames in all the centers and local offices is already in August!!! And I still have not received anything from the USCIS.
I called my lawyer again and he sent somebody to immigration for me on January 10th, 2007 to make an Inquire about my case but they said that I should ask again after 6 month after the Receive Notice Date (July 20th, 2.006 + 6 month = January 20th, 2006)...OK, so I told my attorney, let's wait until February to see what happens...
For my Surprise I get an Appointment letter (Feb. 3rd) on the mail for March 6th, 2007 but still on the USCIS website and Phone system it says that I'm rescheduled and that the interview was cancelled!
I made some research online and I found a bunch of people with the same problem...I took the advice and I went to the Interview with everything ready to prove that my marriage was legitimate but always afraid of not being called since my interview is supposed to be canceled!
My interview was scheduled for 9.30 a.m., I was there and sign up the attendance sheet at 8.31 a.m. and wait...wait...wait...until finally at 9.47 a.m. my name was called!
I was nervous but I kept my poker face and everything went OK.
What to expect from the interview:
1.- I didn't go wearing a suit or anything over the top, just Black Dockers Pants with a Tommy LS Shirt and my wife wasn't spectacular either, she was wearing kind of the same type of clothes I was wearing. Why am I saying this? because you will see here that almost 99.99% of the people will tell you to go there dressing the best outfit you can afford and the truth is that, on the day of my interview I saw a guy that it was like 60 years old with his wife from Philippines...the guy looked like a Mechanic with ripped out jeans covered with oil stains and a "Larry the cable guy" green shirt!..His wife was wearing the clothes that she slept with and wasn't wearing any make up...it might be surprising but they got approved too!
And this is because, the immigration officer that is going to carry the interview is there to make you prove that your marriage is real and that you guys have a life together...THAT'S IT! He is not there to make critics about your fashion taste!
2.- If you have a real marriage, you will be approved...is plain simple...the only way I see this not happening is if you really try not to share anything with your spouse and also throw away all the bills, receipts and Lease agreement of the house you both live in...You have to miss the appointment to not get approve.
3.- Be there on time. I saw people getting called only once and if they weren't there, they got passed...I don't know if they were going to be called later that day though.
Specific details of my interview:
- I got in the Officer's office and we raised our hands and swear to say the truth or nothing but the truth.
- He asked for our Drivers license and my Passport (Make sure that you both have the same address on the drivers license) and also both of our birth certificates.
- He asked how we met.
- He asked every single question that you answer when you filed up the application for the AOS (Do you have criminal background, is this your phone number, where do you work, etc, etc)
- He asked if we had something that can show him that we life together (and the keyword here was)
that I can keep.We gave him a Voided Check and told him that the rest of the documents that we had were originals (which was our mistake), being such a nice guy, he took our Health insurance cards and Joint Tax declaration and made a copy for his records.
- When he was coming back from the copy room he saw that I had a photo album and saw some pictures of the wedding but only flipping through the pages and not putting a lot of interest to it.
- My wife offered also to show documents of the Car we bought together on November 2.006 which is a new car that we are paying together (and for the next 6 years) but the guy said:
"I've seen enough".
- He said,
"I'm approving your application, Congratulations", and then he explained to me how can I do in two years to remove the condition of the Residency so I can have a Permanent one and Apply for US Citizenship on March 6th, 2.010.
The guy was really nice and we were out of there in 10-15 mins.
Now,
what should you bring to the Interview?
Here is what it is: (Original and Copy)
- All the immigration papers that you have received.
- Bank statement reflecting both of you guys direct deposit going to it.
- Voided check of the joint account.
- I-94 from when you got in the Country the last time.
- Utility Bills that have both of your names on it (Water, Power, Cel Phone, whatever)
- Payment stubs from both and ID of the place you work for.
- Pictures of the wedding and trips you did together.
- Birth Certificate of both of you.
- Health, Dental, Vision insurance Cards that reflect the same policy ID.
- Any other document in regards to Identification like SSN and EAD Cards for both (even though he didn't ask for them).
I wish you all good luck and I hope that this will help everybody that like me, was scared to death of the interview which I promised, getting a Driver's license is 5 times harder than getting approved in this interview.
Thank you all!
P.S. Final Timeline:
Venezuelan Citizen married to a Gorgeous Us Citizen.
Applied: I-765, I-485 and I-30. July 10th, 2006.
Receipt Date: July 20th, 2006.
Fingerprints taken: August 23th, 2.006.
EAD received on the mail: October 6th, 2.006.
Interview received on the mail: February 3rd, 2.007.
Interview appointment and GC Approved: March 6th, 2.007.
