For those of you following my case or you are curious about the interview process, here is my experience from yesterday:
I arrived at my local office at about 8.40am for my 9am interview. It turned out being early didnt matter because it was not until after 9.30 that I finally got called in. To my suprise the man who greeted me had a thick european accent, he seemed young and my guess is he was fairly new. I stood and took the oath nervously and was told to take a seat. He then took me by suprise by saying "You can breath, this is more or less a formality". He asked me for my drivers lisence and passport, which I gave to him. I was now sitting there a lot more relaxed as he proceeded to open my file, he went through each line on the I-485 form and asked me to confirm what was there. he went over some of biographical data and asked me for proof of payment to the DOS. He then said my visa number was available and there should be no problem in approving me. All in all it took less then 10 minutes. He asked me if i had any questions and I asked him if it were possible for me travel home in the next few days for Christmas. He said this shouldn't be a problem and he could stamp my passport. I got a little excited but found this odd because being the informed applicant that we all are, I knew that I was still yet to do my biometrics. But i played dumb. he asked me to return to the waiting room and give him 10 minutes while he finalized everything....
He came back sometime later and invited me back inside. He sat me down and said exactly what i thought was going to happen "you are missing one thing, you need to get your biometrics completed first." He also said in order to travel I would need advance parole. I explained to him that I applied for AP 2.5 months ago and he was not too suprised that i was yet to recieve it. he apologized and said i would need to wait for an appointment letter. next, i kindly asked him if there was any way he could make a biometric appt. for me and explained i had not been home in 2 years. He said the ASC was closed today and that he would try first thing in the morning to schedule me for an apppointment. He took my cell phone number and said he would contact me. He told me that it takes approximately 24 hours for biometrics to clear and once this happens I could make an infopass appointment and they could stamp my passport. Finally, I asked him if he had a number I could contact him on. To my suprise he gave me his office number, which i thought was a huge bonus. Someone on the inside who I could actually talk to! I thanked him and told him i looked forward to hearing from him. I left with mixed feelings knowing that I was all but aproved for the GC but wasnt sure If I'd be able to travel.
I returned home about an hour later and checked my mail. Sure enough, waiting in the mail was my Advanced Parole. Now I knew i could travel no matter what. Long story short I booked my flight and am leaving today. I still hope to hear back from the officer and explain there is no longer a rush on biometric appointment as I will be away for 3 weeks. Hopefully this isnt an issue.
Im fairly positive that not all immigration officers are as kind as this man was but it was very refreshing after hearing such bad stories. I hope everyone can get someone as reasonable to deal with.
Merry christmas and happy new year!
