I-485 approval with derivative petty theft/arrest case
Our I-485 is approved. We had our interview on Tuesday, April 26th, 2005. The officer was a female, a very nice lady. All the documents that she asked, we had them. Due to my wife's arrest case, she told us at the end of interview that she need her supervisor approval. Our attorney did request her to approve my case but she said she will do both of them at the same time. Since she kept our APs/I-94s and since we have travel plans at end of May, we asked her when to expect an approval. She said that she should be mailing an approval on Friday or latest by Monday of next week. By Monday, 2nd May, we had approvals in our hands.
Here is what she had asked us to bring in for interview:
- All documents indicating that we maintained legal status: I had I-20, all H1/H4 approval notices. She did not ask for any of these documents
- I-94: she took our I-94
- SSN numbers
- All APs: I had 3 of them and she took all of them
- Companies financial documents including DE6: we had last 4 years of annual reports along with DE6. We tried to give her this information but she said prior to our interview, she visited our website and since its >$10B company, she does not need any of this information. Its mostly required for start ups
- Employment letter: She did ask for it and we had it for her. She asked me about my job duties and compared with labor cert.
- Birth Certificate: Since I had only provided my high school certificate in lieu of Birth Certificate, she asked if we had any addition documents. My attorney chimed in that under claus bla bla, citizens of country xxx, dont have birth records and hence high school certificate is enough as birth evidence. She asked attorny to give her a print out of the relavent claus which he did. I also had Affidavit of birth from both parents, along with hospital certificate. All of these documents were enough to convince her of my birth. She did not ask for birth certificate for my spouse.
- Income tax since 2001: I handed her over all of the income tax documents since 2001. I would advise not to staple taxes as USCIS need them in a certain format.
- W2: I handed her copy of all of W2s since 2001
- We had 2 of our kids with us, a 5year and 8months. She asked for birth certificate of the 8-month old.
- I-134: it was mentioned on the interview letter and I had it with me. My attorney was of the view, its not required as its for family based cases but I am glad I had it with me.
- Proof of Marriage: Along with our daughter birth certificate, she asked for lease agreements and joint bank statements
- Since my wife had an arrest case, she asked for certified court copies and we gladly handed the copies. My wife had a shop lifting case in 2001. She was arrested for a misdemeanor. We hired a criminal attorney and he bargained with the DA and converted the crime to an infraction, petty theft under $50.00 with no jail term and a fine.
This was pretty much it. I suppose she had done our finger prints/back ground checks prior to interview. Rest was standard i.e. going over the I485 form and noting the changes. After that, she had us sign the changes.
My company did fly an attorney from Irvine to accompany us for interview at San Francisco office. I think, it does help to have an attorney. Interview was in a very relaxed environment. I had my 5year old son drawing pictures on officer desk. Warning for all those with kids: she asked my spouse if she works. My wife said "No" and my son said "Yes at night". Officer ignored my son but it certainly can raise a flag. Our attorney thought that was the only thing that went wrong. In reality, my wife only goes to school at night, my son knows about it but who knows, what these kids are thinking at a given moment? BTW, the immigration officer was an x-attorney her self.
We will be going in for stamping on May 10th.
Those of you, who have received approval letters and still visit this thread, can you confirm this observation: I was expecting a more formal letter, but district office approval letter is not on offical letter pad, it has no monogram..it looks pretty hooky!
Regards-
It was about time!!