DV 2016 AOS Only
- Thread starter Sm1smom
- Start date
Hi all,
Just wanted to share our interview experience and pass our thanks on to Mom and the other moderators. I've also included our dates below as we can't edit the spreadsheet.
I was the derivative applicant on my wife's application. We arrived ~50 minutes early for our interview at the Boston FO and were called ~15 minutes late. The IO first interviewed my wife alone - he asked about our relationship and my job plans, plus asked for her latest pay stubs. He then ran through her i485 form and questions. He then told her she was approved. Then he collected me from the waiting room and did the same: asked about our relationship, my job plans, my qualifications, asked to see evidence I was still enrolled as a student, and then did the i485 questions. He then told me I was also approved. He said we should receive our cards within 10 days. There was another officer in the room who was observing.
The actual interviews took about 30 minutes total. We have not received CPO notification yet (as of 1.5 hours after interview).
Two notes about our case that may be helpful:
1. We entered the US on non-immigrant visas in mid 2014 (E3 and F1) and left the US several times. We most recently entered on 1/10/16 and submitted DS260 in mid February.
2. We were married on Jan '16 - after my wife won the lottery but before we submitted DS260. We were engaged in March 2015, however. We were asked about when and how we met, but not about the timing of our marriage relative to the green card application.
We have been lucky to have a very fast processing time:
Current: December
Lockbox: 3/16/16
NOA: 3/30/16
Bio: 4/8/16
Bio walk in: 4/21/16 (letter date was 4/26/16)
Interview letter: 4/26/16
Interview: 5/11/16
Thank you again to everyone for their help. It has been invaluable.
Just wanted to share our interview experience and pass our thanks on to Mom and the other moderators. I've also included our dates below as we can't edit the spreadsheet.
I was the derivative applicant on my wife's application. We arrived ~50 minutes early for our interview at the Boston FO and were called ~15 minutes late. The IO first interviewed my wife alone - he asked about our relationship and my job plans, plus asked for her latest pay stubs. He then ran through her i485 form and questions. He then told her she was approved. Then he collected me from the waiting room and did the same: asked about our relationship, my job plans, my qualifications, asked to see evidence I was still enrolled as a student, and then did the i485 questions. He then told me I was also approved. He said we should receive our cards within 10 days. There was another officer in the room who was observing.
The actual interviews took about 30 minutes total. We have not received CPO notification yet (as of 1.5 hours after interview).
Two notes about our case that may be helpful:
1. We entered the US on non-immigrant visas in mid 2014 (E3 and F1) and left the US several times. We most recently entered on 1/10/16 and submitted DS260 in mid February.
2. We were married on Jan '16 - after my wife won the lottery but before we submitted DS260. We were engaged in March 2015, however. We were asked about when and how we met, but not about the timing of our marriage relative to the green card application.
We have been lucky to have a very fast processing time:
Current: December
Lockbox: 3/16/16
NOA: 3/30/16
Bio: 4/8/16
Bio walk in: 4/21/16 (letter date was 4/26/16)
Interview letter: 4/26/16
Interview: 5/11/16
Thank you again to everyone for their help. It has been invaluable.
Britsimon
Super Moderator
Nice!
The seperate interviews is unusual, but understandable givemn your post selection marriage. Glad it went fast for you!
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
Yep, the separate interview has to do with the post selection marriage.
Just to share more information here, in case it's helpful: We took to the interview photos from our wedding (showing all the guests), plus photos from the duration of our (9 year) relationship, plus copy of the joint lease we signed for our apartment in the US. He didn't ask to see any of these, but perhaps they would have come in handy if he was concerned about our answers to his questions about our relationship.
Sm1smom
Super Moderator
The IO didn't dig deeper or ask for additional evidence because he was satisfied with the initial response. It's always good to be prepared with anything and everything that could help with one's petition, like you guys obviously did, they however wouldn't ask for additional forms of evidence to be presented if the initial response appears satisfactory and no red flags are raised.
Hi,
Just today our status changed to "Case Was Approved, On May 6, 2016, we approved your Form I-485". We had no interview, but 3 INFOPASSES: 5Jan, 14Mar, 29Apr. Last visit were told that nothing was done on our case, there is still third agency check, and FO gave us a form to file that her supervisor could check.
Is it possible that our case is really approved without interview or it's some kind of mistake?
We were current in October, bio was on 27 Oct, so it's already more than 190 days since. You can imagine how tired we are of waiting, waiting....
We are very agitated now, but really afraid that it's just a mistake.
Just today our status changed to "Case Was Approved, On May 6, 2016, we approved your Form I-485". We had no interview, but 3 INFOPASSES: 5Jan, 14Mar, 29Apr. Last visit were told that nothing was done on our case, there is still third agency check, and FO gave us a form to file that her supervisor could check.
Is it possible that our case is really approved without interview or it's some kind of mistake?
We were current in October, bio was on 27 Oct, so it's already more than 190 days since. You can imagine how tired we are of waiting, waiting....
We are very agitated now, but really afraid that it's just a mistake.
Sorry for so many updates! My card arrived in the mail yesterday. I'm at work now telling my managers and HR... pretty exciting. This is the first I've told them about it 
I checked yesterday and online status was still Fingerprint fee received. I checked today and all 4 of them are "Case was Approved".
Mine was the only card that arrived in the mail yesterday, maybe the rest will arrive today
I checked yesterday and online status was still Fingerprint fee received. I checked today and all 4 of them are "Case was Approved".
Mine was the only card that arrived in the mail yesterday, maybe the rest will arrive today
Thanks for the answer. It gives hope.Yes some people are approved without interview. The Infopasses probably allowed them to "see you" - and if your paperwork was in good order the interviews are usually a formality anyway, which your FO seems to have decided was not needed.
Actually, all three time at INFOPASSes we met different FOs. They were similar only in one way saying "you have plenty of time, wait...."
Thanks, and fingers crossed...Yup! It's possible for a case to get approved without an interview. Of course, I do understand your agitation, but I suppose you'll believe when the actual GC shows up in your mail box
Hello Everyone
We had our interview yesterday. We arrived very early and my interview was supposed to be at 09:15 and my wife's at 10:15. We waited until 09:30 and nothing was done. At about 09:50 the FO call our name and we stand up, he came to us and told us that he's going to call us soon. We waited for another good 30 minutes.
He called us and we went to the room. When we get there he told us that our son's file is not there and it was sent to the wrong office and he had already sent a request for it. He asked for our passports and our ID's. He went through I-485 to confirm identity and yes/no questions.
After the interview he told us that, he never had a case like ours since we're asylum pending and if our son's file was there he was going to approve the case . He said we have to wait, the file might take from 3 days to a week to arrive. After he asked my son how is school and how old is he? My son is 4 years, he said I already interview him.
Lastly, he said he promised that he's not going to sit on it, he also understand that there's a timeframe here and there are other cases still coming in so he have to work on it as soon as possible.
To put it bluntly we're AP pending the arrival of the file.
We had our interview yesterday. We arrived very early and my interview was supposed to be at 09:15 and my wife's at 10:15. We waited until 09:30 and nothing was done. At about 09:50 the FO call our name and we stand up, he came to us and told us that he's going to call us soon. We waited for another good 30 minutes.
He called us and we went to the room. When we get there he told us that our son's file is not there and it was sent to the wrong office and he had already sent a request for it. He asked for our passports and our ID's. He went through I-485 to confirm identity and yes/no questions.
After the interview he told us that, he never had a case like ours since we're asylum pending and if our son's file was there he was going to approve the case . He said we have to wait, the file might take from 3 days to a week to arrive. After he asked my son how is school and how old is he? My son is 4 years, he said I already interview him.
Lastly, he said he promised that he's not going to sit on it, he also understand that there's a timeframe here and there are other cases still coming in so he have to work on it as soon as possible.
To put it bluntly we're AP pending the arrival of the file.
Thanks a lot..one more question..sorry for silly questions...suppose if I submit for just last year 2015 tax return, will it show all previous years as well in one transcript? or do I have to request for each year separate? Thanks again..Tax return transcript