Finally after a full year we got our approval yesterday. Thanks to all those who posted their experiences, it helped tremendously!
Here is how our day went: We were scheduled for a 10:30 am appointment in Seattle. After a long two hour drive we were there by 9:00. We had taken with us a a big plastic crate which carried all of our pictures, we had pictures from years ago when we were dating to our most recent trips.
We checked in and to our surprise were called a few minutes before our appointment. A pleasant middle aged lady called my name and escorted us into her room. She looked at our plastic crate and said "Wow you have brought alot of stuff with you". We replied that we didnt want to come underprepared. So then she began the interview process. Told us to stand and take the oath. We did. She began by asking me the series of questions from the I-485, ie. have you ever been a prostitute?
. Then she asked to see my I-130 approval, for some reason she said they had not received it from the Processing Center. I showed her that. She asked how I had entered the U.S. and when my last date of entry was. I showed her copies of my H1B and F-1 & OPT. She seemed to think that I needed a stamp on my passport each time I entered the U.S., I told her that my passport had been scanned each time I entered the U.S. from Canada and that my H1B also had a microchip that detected my entry and exit from the U.S. She seemed to be surprised by that but moved on. Next she asked me to verify my bday, my place of birth, and my wedding date. She verified my husbands bday, his place of birth and asked to see his birth certificate. Then she asked us how we met (in school 6 years ago), when we decided to get married. Since both of us are East Indian I think she assumed that we would have had an arranged marriage and so asked us if our parents consented to our marriage. We were like yes of course. She asked us where we had our engagement and where we had our wedding. Then she asked to see proof of our bona fide marriage, we gave her a list of all the stuff which we had brought with. She asked for joint 2005 taxes, we had a copy made for her and she kept it. We had bank statements, car loan, car purchase, car insurance, E-trade, Edward Jones, Apartment lease, Credit card bills, utility bills, donations, travel itineraries. She responded with "You have only been married for over a year. You have lots of stuff". She didnt even ask to look at any of our other documents. She then printed out an I-751 and told us that in less than two years we would have to apply to remove our conditions. We asked if she could stamp my passport so we could travel to Vancouver. She replied that we would have to wait 1-2 weeks for the card. We asked her if she wanted to see our pictures since we had brought so many in. She asked us to show her our favorite set of pictures, we brought out the wedding album. She glanced at it but didnt ask to keep any pictures. That was the end of our interview. We thanked her for her time. She escorted us back into the waiting area.
After about 20 minutes we were done. It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected but nevertheless you never know what might happen so it is always best to go prepared. I am glad we had brought anything and everything that we thought might help our interview. Thanks once again guys, without your input I dont think we would have been as prepared as were.
Now I am anxiously awaiting for the card in the mail......
BTW my LUD has changed but the message still remains unchanged. Any ideas of why that might be?
Here is how our day went: We were scheduled for a 10:30 am appointment in Seattle. After a long two hour drive we were there by 9:00. We had taken with us a a big plastic crate which carried all of our pictures, we had pictures from years ago when we were dating to our most recent trips.
We checked in and to our surprise were called a few minutes before our appointment. A pleasant middle aged lady called my name and escorted us into her room. She looked at our plastic crate and said "Wow you have brought alot of stuff with you". We replied that we didnt want to come underprepared. So then she began the interview process. Told us to stand and take the oath. We did. She began by asking me the series of questions from the I-485, ie. have you ever been a prostitute?
. Then she asked to see my I-130 approval, for some reason she said they had not received it from the Processing Center. I showed her that. She asked how I had entered the U.S. and when my last date of entry was. I showed her copies of my H1B and F-1 & OPT. She seemed to think that I needed a stamp on my passport each time I entered the U.S., I told her that my passport had been scanned each time I entered the U.S. from Canada and that my H1B also had a microchip that detected my entry and exit from the U.S. She seemed to be surprised by that but moved on. Next she asked me to verify my bday, my place of birth, and my wedding date. She verified my husbands bday, his place of birth and asked to see his birth certificate. Then she asked us how we met (in school 6 years ago), when we decided to get married. Since both of us are East Indian I think she assumed that we would have had an arranged marriage and so asked us if our parents consented to our marriage. We were like yes of course. She asked us where we had our engagement and where we had our wedding. Then she asked to see proof of our bona fide marriage, we gave her a list of all the stuff which we had brought with. She asked for joint 2005 taxes, we had a copy made for her and she kept it. We had bank statements, car loan, car purchase, car insurance, E-trade, Edward Jones, Apartment lease, Credit card bills, utility bills, donations, travel itineraries. She responded with "You have only been married for over a year. You have lots of stuff". She didnt even ask to look at any of our other documents. She then printed out an I-751 and told us that in less than two years we would have to apply to remove our conditions. We asked if she could stamp my passport so we could travel to Vancouver. She replied that we would have to wait 1-2 weeks for the card. We asked her if she wanted to see our pictures since we had brought so many in. She asked us to show her our favorite set of pictures, we brought out the wedding album. She glanced at it but didnt ask to keep any pictures. That was the end of our interview. We thanked her for her time. She escorted us back into the waiting area. After about 20 minutes we were done. It turned out to be a lot easier than I expected but nevertheless you never know what might happen so it is always best to go prepared. I am glad we had brought anything and everything that we thought might help our interview. Thanks once again guys, without your input I dont think we would have been as prepared as were.
Now I am anxiously awaiting for the card in the mail......
BTW my LUD has changed but the message still remains unchanged. Any ideas of why that might be?
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