Feb 2002 case approved after interview
RD 02/19/2002
Hi Guys,
Yesterday got approved and stamped at the loacl Baltimore office. Was heading in to some trouble during the interview......but firstly here's some background.........right now me and my wife are not staying together siince she is just completing her studies, in Penn. We got married in Nov last year.
The officer wanted to confirm that, she asked for some proof that we were married, she didn't seems to accept the marriage cert. from India......she said that anyone can get that....luckly we did the fedral tax returns joint, so that was one proof that we were married, she asked for another. She asked for some joint account, property together, lease document that had our name and govt. correspondence that my wife got at my address (she did not accept the notices from the Vermont INS office, stating that those are our correspondence and she can not accept that as proof of residence)....but we did not have any (...STOP laughing
). Anyways, I said that I have the photo's from the marriage.......I never thought that it would come to this, so just left the album in the car (.....STOP laughing
). So, she said that she'll work on the case , but we will have to send in some documents later to support the fact that we are married. Then she also said that since my wife is actually a resident to Penn., then we really need to prove that she is married to me, since Baltimore is only for Maryland residents not for Penn. residents.
Suddenly we noticed that in my wife's state tax return it clearly mentioned "married but filing seperately", and also mentioned my address.....well, that was it........ Then she just asked the standard question about arrest, deportation, pay stubs, emp. letter...all that and then stamped the passport.
The interviewing office was helpful, although tough.
So, I suggest strongly that,
1. No matter how stupid u think that the things u might have to carry to the interview......u should carry it. Had I not left the marriage photo album in the car things would have been a little smooth.
2. Get a joint account or something else like that.
3. Get married in an US court.
Also the law firm that handled my case did it in a very professional and thorough job. All the documents that were asked for in the interview letter, were already with the interviewing office. The lawyer had already send tax returns and everything mentioned in the letter when he applied for I-485. I think that that's what caused the case to move on pretty fast. All I had to do is just furnish INS with the latest documents, viz., pay stubs, emp. letter and all that.
All the very best to u guys.
Regards,
- A