I was scheduled for my interview today at 11:15 and got to level 10 about 20 minutes early. Went through security - shoes off, jacket off, electronics, cables, USB's and pens (!) out of bag and into the tray. The lovely young ladies there had a look through my paperwork and stuck the photo to the front of my passport. Asked if I was married to a US citizen or green card holder (no). You have to wait for a couple of minutes for the elevator to arrive and you get ushered up to another level.
Once you're up there, you'll get told to take a ticket and sit down - but there was hardly anyone there so my butt did not even make contact with the seat before I was called up. Went to the window and another lady checked all my paperwork again and took my fingerprints - she was very happy and cavalier in stark contrast to my nervous self! Then she asked me if I completed my medical (yes), how long ago (two weeks), and they said they hadn't received it and I'm thinking ...you've got to be joking. But she said she would have another look and thankfully found it.
I paid the fee ($462 AU) and sat back down. Spent the time waiting (probably only about 10 minutes) having a sticky beak at the interviews happening before mine. All of them put on AP, mainly for missing documents. One woman from Melbourne whose medical hadn't arrived yet, another man in the same situation, a woman who had it done yesterday and it hadn't been sent yet, plus one more who hadn't done the medical yet and was missing a police check. There were also two women from Iran put on AP (who had quite a long interview) and it sounded like a combo of missing documents/extra background checks.
After all that, I got called up and gave a rather nervous oath with my shaky right hand - signed off with my fingerprints again. The CO begin going through my papers one by one, he seemed hilariously very blasé about the whole thing. I got asked:
- You were a student in the US? (Yes, twice - both times on an F-1)
- Where did you study? (LA/NYC - the he joked about how I was split between both coasts - nothing in the middle)
- Which university did you go to in Australia? You've only got your higher school certificate here. (Sydney Uni and I eagerly plucked out my degree and asked me if he wanted to see it. He said no to me, it seemed that being prepared and having it with me was enough for him).
- Have you ever had any trouble with the police in Australia? (No) Then he said "not even any parking or speeding tickets?" And I laughed and said I actually didn't, he replied "wow, even I've had one!"
- Have you ever lived anywhere other than Australia? (no)
Then he wrapped up by saying that everything looked all good - and they just had to do some extra checks and that my passport would be returned to me in a few days.
That was it - very straightforward. I had all this extra paperwork I prepared and didn't even need to use any of it.
Some of the other questions people in front of me got asked included - how long have you two been married, have you ever worked for the government (the ladies from Iran got asked that), he asked someone if they had their university degree with them, but I think that may have been because they had completed high school somewhere other than Australia.
Thanks so much to all the moderators and everyone here who has been so helpful and answered all my questions! There were a number of things I was a bit worried about going into the interview (crap entry photo, still a student and haven't yet worked full time, parent missing from birth certificate (even though I had listed their name on a previous visa application), etc) but none of them came up. As long as you qualify and have all your paperwork, and someone in my family reassured me "as long as you're not going in there with an AK-47 you'll be fine!"