Hi everyone,
I know it has been a while but i was following capolive's advice and focusing on our case for the pasts weeks. It was a roller coaster but thank to Allah my husband and i got our interviews and got approved for the green card. Both of our status are now on CPO and we are waiting for the Welcome letters and the cards! We really wanted to thank everyone on this forum.
Now, because our case was complicated, I wanted to go through it just in case someone else is in a similar situation.My husband and I were living and working in different states( him in CA and me in NY). We were both working on H1-B visas. We met seven years ago when we come from Africa to study , have been in a relationship for six years, lived in different states for five years and have been married for a little more than a year now . After graduating from a community college, I transferred to NY and my husband( then my boyfriend) stayed in TX. The schools we attended were good when it comes to the majors we were pursuing and the states offered more job opportunities( i studied finance and he did engineering). So we were living in different states for years while visiting each other as often as possible. We wanted to get married and finally live together after graduation but GOD has His plans an we have ours! I was the first to find a job so I signed a two years contract ( for security) that was in 2008. My husband could not find a job in NY but kept looking and only found something in CA. Because we wanted to get married, HE had to have a job and therefore he took it. We got married in beginning of may 2009 and I received KCC letter two weeks later .we were still stuck in two opposite coasts however because of my contract. We went to Africa for the wedding and had hundreds of pictures with family and of the ceremony. Our numbers became current in September and we applied for AOS in the beginning of Aug. I have put the time line below. We hesitated a lot toward the end when it came to me moving to CA or staying in NY for the interviews because as of September my contract was up and I was ready to finally move to CA. After thinking about it for a while, we decided not to change my address so that the process could be as smooth as possible. After doing walk in biometrics, I was schedules for interview on sept 14 and my husband on sept 15. My husband flew to NY for my interview. He was not allowed to come in with me but my interview went well and I got my passport stamped. On the same day, we flew to CA together and went to my husband's interview on the next morning. I was allowed to be with him during the interview and the officer ask questions to both of us about our relationship and proof of bona fide marriage. We show him our CA lease, car insurance, health insurance, my famous work contract with the two year mention, all of the plane tickets we had bought since we were together and the gross amount spent about 7000 dollars as well as all of the pictures we took during our relationship and of course the pictures of the wedding back home with our families and friends. He was very impressed by the food and traditional cloths( surprise!). When we were done, he told us that he would approve my husband right away, congratulated us and said that his card should be at home in the next two weeks. He also said that if my husband needed to travel outside the country within the next two weeks, he should come to the office to stamp his passport before then. When we checked our status on line that afternoon, both of our status were on CPO. By the way, when we left NY for CA, i finally took all of my staff and I am now living in CA with my husband!!! Again, thank you to everybody for your help and support but mostly to Allah who blessed us. It was not easy but we are happy it ended well Macha Allah
I hope that our story will comfort those who are in similar situation. Always be honest about your situation, always have proof to back up your arguments!!!
AND DO A LOT OF INFO PASS!!!
Good luck to everybody!!And I will update when we received the cards Incha Allah!
TIMELINE
May 2009- 1Nl
August 2009- 2NL
Case current in Sept 2010
Aug 5 2010- Sent Complete package to Chicago
Aug17 2010- NOA
Aug 25(me) and 26( husband)-No Bio letter so we did walk in Bio
Aug 26 -Bio appointment for Sept 17(so late!!!)
Now waiting for interview letter...
Sep8- my husband has his interview letter for 9/15( before planned bios)
Sep9- I received my interview letter for 9/14
Sept14- my interview in NY- approved and stamped
Sept15 Husband interview in CA- approved
Sept16- Both CPO
Now waiting for welcome letter and Cards!!!
By the way, could someone explain what PDA means ? Thanks