First of all I must start by saying that the best thing I did to myself was FILING EARLY. I have often wondered why I did not wait but today am so happy that I did so. Filing early is now he moral of my experience.
Background:
Entry on Jan. 18 2002 - B1/B2. Visa valid 1 year, multiple entry. I94 valid for 3 months.*
4/16/02: Filed I539 to change from B1 to F1
4/18/02: I-94 expired. Same date I-539 recpt date.*
Apr. 02 to May 05= denials, appeals, motions to reopen, letters etc till approval.*
Sept. 05 to Apr. 10: School as F1 (plus I gave birth to a few daughters and sons)
April 2010: OPT EAD received (applied 3 weeks before)
May 2010: Graduation - Masters
Aug. 2010: concurrent filing of I-360 (R1) and I-485
Sept. 2010: bio
May 2011: renewed EAD received PLUS DV2012 win and voided results.*
Jul. 2011: DV2012 win again.*
Sept. 2011: concurrent I-360/I-485 denied. Just denial email.*
Oct. 2011: DV I-485 filed. Rejected due to missing signature. Refiled. Accepted.*
(details of this on my signature)
Current status: not even sure.*
End of Oct. 2011: Notice of denial received by mail 36 days later.*
Today's detailed interview:
Arrival at 7:15 AM parked and went on the back door waiting line for attorneys. At 7:30 AM doors were open and a few people from the front line building were told to come to the back door line since the front door line was so long and the back door was only about 8 people. In the building, we were of course stripped and people joked that it's like an airport without planes, and the security guy said "this is the Federal Building, so if we detain you, at least you won't miss your flight" everyone laughed.*
Elevator won't stop in 13th floor so went to 14th and Security told me that USCIS MOVED.*
7:45 - gave my appointment letter to receptionist. 2 other people waiting. One waiting for his attorney, one waiting for his clients.*
8:00AM - speakers announced my name (first to be called in) and immediately I felt like going to the bathroom with a running stomach. I braved my way to the door and officer led me to his very nice large window office. (I later came to learn he's like the head for DV cases or supervisor something) note: he was very knowledgable about DV process, other processes and applications of laws.*
IO: raise your right hand...swearing. Then he sat me down . Asked for my passport and I gave him, asked for the one with visa...I didn't have it then he asked me if I renewed while in the US and he was satisfied but I had a copy of the visa I used to enter here...and honest to say started grilling me. With plain antagonism and I knew better to remain calm
IO: what is your immigration status. (I told him...F1, then OPT, then attempted R1 that was denied, then in place of appealing, I started a fresh with DV case coz the notice was taking too long to get to me and I had only 33 days to file while in lawful presence).*
IO: your DV I485 was filed too late to close the gap. (me: I had filed before but it was rejected. ) why? (me: I think I forgot to sign). Can I see the rejection notice? (me:yes, I have it).*Before I gave it out, he went on and on...really rough on me that I was out of status bla bla bla
THE ROOM WAS TENSE AT THIS POINT and I didn't know what to do or say.*
IO started explaining how DV works and if I may have fallen out of lawful presence during the F1,R1, and DV filing last few months of last year, such a person does not qualify. (me: Sir, I can confidently tell you that I have not fallen out of status at any given time during my past years here. *I worked very hard to ensure that it did not happen. You must be mistaken...I remained calm with a smile though my stomach was queezy to run to bathroom!).*
IO: you seem pretty confident about that. Do you have that notice when you were rejected? (I had taken it out but couldn't find it on the table with other papers. Then he started looking for his notes, and he couldn't find them either so he asked me "I had notes on a piece of paper, that's what am looking for..." just when I found my letter, he also found his notes hehehe! IO continued explaining things to me and I listened as he concluded the interview. (the most helpless moment)
Then my voice came up (ive been sore, can barely be heard) and I responded with a chuckle "so I didn't even need to take that flu shot that made me sick?" he chuckled back "why did you take a flu shot? Do you have new medicals?" me: I thought you would ask for it, and wanted to ensure you had all you needed. IO: Why would I ask for it when the flu season is over? We laughed... As he looked at the notice of rejection from October covering the gap in dates.*
I asked him "so what happens next? (As I picked up my papers with disbelief) He started repeating himself on KCC file and visa availability....I was almost getting up to leave.
ALL OF A SUDDEN, HE CHANGED...I felt like I had a different person in the room.*( AND THE CREDIT FOR THIS CHANGE GOES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT! Only Holy Spirits presence can do this change)
He asked me for the I-94 and stapled it to a file. IO: let me see your degrees (do you want originals, copies or both?) IO: originals. I started with the Masters, then my Professional Degree, then my Bachelors. He looked at them and gave me back. Asked for original birth certificate, I gave him and he gave me back. Asked for that letter that was rejected again (which turns out to be a life saver) and asked if I had a copy, (no) then he said that we would make copies on our way out. I stood to leave and he said "wait a minute" then he said that since visa number is not yet available, he would request for a visa for me. The other issue was that he is the only person who requests for files from KCC and he did so. Received all the other files but a blank folder labelled with my name. We both laughed...disguised at why they sent a blank folder. He said that all he needed was my original entry, but might get it by the end of the day. In the meantime, he said that he would close any gaps on my lawful presence in the afternoon as we wait for a visa.*he showed me the request to KCC marked "EXTREMELY URGENT". (by the way people ... KCC still claim that they never got a request!)
IO: Let me ask you a few questions so that I don't have to call you back. Have you ever done this or that ... All answers were no. Then he confirmed my address and phone number. Asked if my husband won the lottery and I said "we both won the first time, but the second drawing I won alone". Then he asked if my husband was part of my application and I told him " no, we decided to have one person at a time... ". Then he asked me if I worked and I said yes. He asked for a recent paystub and kept it.*
He said that I have everything they are looking for, I am very highly educated and that is something they look for and he also murmured that I make too much money which is great and we both chuckled. He called out the name of the company I work for and asked me "after this are you going to leave them?" I said, "yes, of course after today I can do so much more with this outcome, so yes". We both smiled...even if I lied to him...it's obvious that a professional like me works where am working for lack of GC though they give me a 6 figure salary... plus, I try to live a life which gives me no reason to lie....
Conclusion:
Approved pending KCC file and visa number (which he would request...or wait for bulletin) on condition that I've not been out of status.
Then he said "I have a good feeling that all will go well"
Any questions? He asked. (yes, I would love to travel immediately, how can I do that and be assured to come back) he told me AP but (according to him) takes 1.5 months and threw his hands up like that's too much of a wait. They process APs on the spot via infopass and he told me how. I told him that I didn't think I would travel soon so only filed for AP last week. He checked the system, and it was not there but I told him that it was only received last Thursday and this was a long weekend. He explained that if one has been out of status, going out can trigger a bar of 3 or 10 years... "but in your case, it won't trigger anything because you haven't been out of status" {my mind went, is this the same man I was with 45 minutes ago claiming that I was out of status?}
We left and made copies by the copier and I joked that I carried the whole house of documents. He joked back that of I didn't carry, that was when he would ask for them.*
8:50 AM - Parking $11 bucks! What!
If I remember anything else...will edit.
