Citizenship interview passed; spouse - out of status
I successfully passed my citizenship interview today(Chicago). The interview took only 5 min. Here are some of the details
1. I have employment based green card. I left my employer 6months and 1 week after filing I485. I did not notify INS. My green card was approved without any RFE
2. I’m married and my wife has been with me along the entire way starting back from the day when I was on H1b and she had H4. The INS concluded at the time of I485 adjudication that my wife had a 187 days gap between her student visa and her H4. Long story short, they denied her adjustment and she was told to go back to my country and to wait for visa number. She was 7 months pregnant at that time and the visa number wait was around 21/2 years. We decided for her to stay. I was honest on my citizenship application and wrote “OUT OF STATUS”. The interviewing officer looked at it and said nothing.
3. The interviewing officer was very professional. He asked me if I was still employed by the same employer who applied for my green card. I answered – NO, He then asked me if I’m currently employed and I answered – YES. That was it.
My Oath ceremony is scheduled for April 7th 8AM same location.
To all out there who have ‘out of status’ spouses - The citizenship application is about YOU not your spouse. Living with your ‘out of status’ spouse is NOT a crime and you are NOT harboring criminals. My advice is to be honest and tell them the truth. Oh, and you don’t need a lawyer – the waiting room was so crowded because of people having their relatives and lawyers with them.
PaulK
I successfully passed my citizenship interview today(Chicago). The interview took only 5 min. Here are some of the details
1. I have employment based green card. I left my employer 6months and 1 week after filing I485. I did not notify INS. My green card was approved without any RFE
2. I’m married and my wife has been with me along the entire way starting back from the day when I was on H1b and she had H4. The INS concluded at the time of I485 adjudication that my wife had a 187 days gap between her student visa and her H4. Long story short, they denied her adjustment and she was told to go back to my country and to wait for visa number. She was 7 months pregnant at that time and the visa number wait was around 21/2 years. We decided for her to stay. I was honest on my citizenship application and wrote “OUT OF STATUS”. The interviewing officer looked at it and said nothing.
3. The interviewing officer was very professional. He asked me if I was still employed by the same employer who applied for my green card. I answered – NO, He then asked me if I’m currently employed and I answered – YES. That was it.
My Oath ceremony is scheduled for April 7th 8AM same location.
To all out there who have ‘out of status’ spouses - The citizenship application is about YOU not your spouse. Living with your ‘out of status’ spouse is NOT a crime and you are NOT harboring criminals. My advice is to be honest and tell them the truth. Oh, and you don’t need a lawyer – the waiting room was so crowded because of people having their relatives and lawyers with them.
PaulK
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