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DV 2020 AOS Only

Hello everyone, hello mom, yesterday my wife (She is the principal applicant) and I received invitations for the interviews on 09/17/2020, NY. At the same time, we have not yet received a letter for biometric appointments.

How can they accept us without biometrics and how will it happen?

Also, I have a few questions about the Diversity Visa I-485 Attachment which they sent:

1. Is a copy of the Form I-134 sufficient or are income and tax supporting documents copies from my Affidavit of Support also required? (Although all these documents are in the sent case).

2. The fourth paragraph indicates the Form i-693 Medical Examination Report. The results must be submitted in the original envelope sealed by the medical office. What exactly does this mean? Do we need to do other medical examinations and bring envelopes to the interview? Or is it enough for them that we have already sent our envelopes with medical examinations in our cases? We are just worried that their expiration dates may have expired since we sent our cases on 07/09/2020.

3. Also, please advise if an interpreter can be interviewed, as my wife does not speak English fluently? (Considering she was an F-1 student for the last year).

4. And how does the interview with married couples take place together or separately?

Thanks in advance for the answers.
 
FDV said:
Thank you for your advice. How did they tell you to bring a new medical examination? Did you call them yourself? As I said earlier, we have sent our cases on 07/09/2020. This was our third successful attempt after two returns.
Click to expand...

I did not bring any medical exam in my interview because I sent it with my AOS package.
Didn't you miss reading the interview letter says, "unless already submitted" ?
 
mendokusai said:
I did not bring any medical exam in my interview because I sent it with my AOS package.
Didn't you miss reading the interview letter says, "unless already submitted" ?
Click to expand...
No, I haven't missed anything. It is written in my Diversity Visa I-485 Attachment, in the fourth section:
Form i-693 Medical Examination Report. The results must be submitted in the original envelope sealed by the medical office.
 
Please tell me what this means. We received an email request from KCC to pay $ 330 per person. Do we have to pay this $ 330 to the KCC before arriving for an interview at our local office?
 

Attachments

  • Adjustment of Status Mail Form.pdf
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CASE APPROVED

Warning:This is a really long post!!!

First of all, extreme gratitude and thanks to @Sm1smom, @SusieQQQ and @Britsimon. Your collective guidance and helpful suggestion made this process much easier to navigate and get approved so easily. Also thanks to all the other forum members who helped with all their valuable advice.

Summary: My wife and I had our interview yesterday morning at Lawrence, MA field office. We got approved.

I am posting the interview details below; I will describe as much details I can so it helps everyone else who is waiting for interview:

Documents we took:
  • Exact complete set of print of AOS packet that we sent for both us. We had the whole package scanned before sending. We put them in two legal binders.
  • Additional copies of all original translation documents (birth certificate, degree certificate of my wife, all my documents were in English)
  • All Original documents (Passport, I-20, Birth certificate, marriage certificate, education degrees etc.)
  • New lease document as we have moved to new address.
  • My tax return documents (transcripts) from last few years and this year’s submitted copies (no transcripts yet available)
  • Pictures of our wedding and pictures from time we met.
Interview:

The officer was seating behind a plexiglass that shielded him from us the whole time and there were just small slots at the bottom of the shield for us to pass documents to him.

FYI: The officer had both my wife’s and mine AOS files in front of him, side by side. It wasn’t print copy it was the exact file we sent to lockbox. I could see the medical exam envelope and our pictures.

FYI: KCC informed me when I called earlier that my FO requested the files on 18th August, it was sent on 21st August.

  • Interview time: early morning
  • We arrived at the office at 20 minutes early and then after security check we went up to the check-in desk and an officer took our interview letter and then told us go into the next room and wait.
  • BTW you are allowed to take your phone and even laptop (if needed). Phone you can use but no camera function allowed.
  • After waiting 15 minutes another officer came out from a corridor and announced both me and my wife’s name.
  • We followed the officer to his room and he told us to raise our right hand and take the oath. He just stated the oath about being truthful and all and at the end we just said, “I do”.
  • After that he explained how the interview will go step by step. First, he will confirm our biographic information, then immigration status, then the security questions.
  • He asked us for our passport and then requested us to take the mask off for few seconds to take picture and then took only index finger’s print of both hands.
  • After that he started going through I-485 section by section and asked for supporting documents and related questions as it progressed.
##Whatever question below written means he asked both me and my wife same questions and checked with our respective files in front of him.
  • He confirmed my name, DOB, place of birth etc. Asked and confirmed about my other names used (long family name in some other legal documents). He just asked, confirmed and moved onto the next question.
  • My citizenship and if I have any other citizenship.
  • My parent’s info (place of birth and current citizenship).
  • He asked me my SSN.
  • He asked for both of our birth certificate.
  • My current address (as I had moved so he asked for the new address and corrected on the form as we spoke).
    **When he asked my wife, he asked her about our previous address.
  • Then he opened my passport found the last port of entry stamp and asked me the date and port of entry. Same for my wife.
  • Then he asked me about my current employment and just confirmed the info with the I-485.
  • He asked my wife about her previous work and asked if she and I met through work and she said no and we confirmed we met at college.
  • Then he asked about my marriage and place of marriage.
    *He asked my wife instead the date of our marriage.
  • There was a typo in my wife’s DOB and he corrected it as we spoke.
  • He asked if I had any children. Same with my wife.
  • Next he asked if I belong to any association or organization: so, I named the organizations listed on I-485. Surprisingly he belonged to one of the same associations through his university so he showed me the ring and we laughed about it.
  • Then he asked for our marriage certificate and made a copy of the translation.
  • After this he said, “now we will go through the tedious security related YES/NO questions and I will ask the same question for both of you and you both give me YOUR respective response after I ask”.
  • He literally went through every single question.
  • When it came to criminal charges or fines I mentioned 2 traffic citation I had 10 years ago and I have copies, he said "not required, and then he just asked are the traffic tickets above $500? When I said NO then he said NO NEED".
  • At the end he asked if I have my current employment contract, current I-20, previous I-20s. I had them with me and he just checked them and there was an extra copy of I-20 there and he kept it and returned the rest. Same for my wife and kept the extra copy of I-20.
  • Finally, he said this is his first DV based AOS case so he was glad he could manage the time slot for us before 30th September. And then he asked if we have any documents that confirms our selection. I gave him copy of 1NL and 2NL and he asked if these are copies and I said these are official as I only have email copies and he just kept them. I showed him the DV fee receipt and he said he did not need it.
  • After that he said everything looks in order and asked us to sign the I-485 forms.
  • He then said, “I will approve your case today and you should receive the GC by mail in 3-4 weeks.”
  • I confirmed about the new address and asked if he needs the signed AR-11 form and he said no need everything is in the system.
  • I asked if there is any letter we are supposed to get today and he said no need but we will receive an official notice by mail before the GC.
  • He walked us all the way to the waiting room and that’s it.
**FYI: He didn't ask about my sponsor I-134 stuff, no mention of I-944, even the public charge question on I-485 he skipped, nothing about health insurance, bank statement, credit history, tax. Only I-485 and previous immigration info. So those of you who are still waiting don't stress.

The interview took 35-40 minutes. Later in the afternoon after 5 hours the case tracker showed case status being changed to “New Card is Being Produced”.

My advice is if you have front loaded the AOS application really well based on the forum's experts advice then your interview should be easy. Be well prepared as in take all relevant documents especially copies of everything, they will ask for it and if you have it then they are more willing to approve the case rather than waiting. Dress semi-formal/business casual it shows you are taking this seriously.

Thanks again everyone.
 
Last edited:
@Sm1smom and @SusieQQQ
Please take over @FDV 's questions because I am not confident to do it.
I organize the information and questions which was given by FDV below as much as I can since I accidentally started answering.

(situation)
- received invitations for the interviews on 09/17/2020, NY.
- not yet received a letter for biometric appointments.
- we sent our cases on 07/09/2020 (This was our third successful attempt after two returns.)

(questions)
1. How can they accept us without biometrics and how will it happen?
2. Is a copy of the Form I-134 sufficient or are income and tax supporting documents copies from my Affidavit of Support also required? (Although all these documents are in the sent case).
3. The fourth paragraph indicates the Form i-693 Medical Examination Report. The results must be submitted in the original envelope sealed by the medical office. What exactly does this mean? Do we need to do other medical examinations and bring envelopes to the interview? Or is it enough for them that we have already sent our envelopes with medical examinations in our cases? How did they tell you to bring a new medical examination? Did you call them yourself?
4. Also, please advise if an interpreter can be interviewed, as my wife does not speak English fluently? (Considering she was an F-1 student for the last year).
5. And how does the interview with married couples take place together or separately?
6. We received an email request from KCC to pay $ 330 per person. Do we have to pay this $ 330 to the KCC before arriving for an interview at our local office?

@FDV
Maybe you may better go to goo.gl/0va2DU and check every tab in this spreadsheet.
Respectfully talking, everybody in this thread has learned about DV AOS process through this excel sheet already,
and it seems there is some stuff you have to know before asking a question here.
 
FDV said:
Hello everyone, hello mom, yesterday my wife (She is the principal applicant) and I received invitations for the interviews on 09/17/2020, NY. At the same time, we have not yet received a letter for biometric appointments.

How can they accept us without biometrics and how will it happen?

Also, I have a few questions about the Diversity Visa I-485 Attachment which they sent:

1. Is a copy of the Form I-134 sufficient or are income and tax supporting documents copies from my Affidavit of Support also required? (Although all these documents are in the sent case).

2. The fourth paragraph indicates the Form i-693 Medical Examination Report. The results must be submitted in the original envelope sealed by the medical office. What exactly does this mean? Do we need to do other medical examinations and bring envelopes to the interview? Or is it enough for them that we have already sent our envelopes with medical examinations in our cases? We are just worried that their expiration dates may have expired since we sent our cases on 07/09/2020.

3. Also, please advise if an interpreter can be interviewed, as my wife does not speak English fluently? (Considering she was an F-1 student for the last year).

4. And how does the interview with married couples take place together or separately?

Thanks in advance for the answers.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why you copied this post to my private message, the idea is that all the information is shared so that it can be helpful to other people with cases similar to yours and for the next DV winner. Also I remember back in August you were passed the link for the timeline doc sheet like you asked and you haven't filled out the missing information. Then I asked you for the missing info so that I could write it down on the timeline doc sheet myself, and you never replied.

1. I don't know about this topic so you will have to either wait for @Sm1smom or another forum member to answer this. Or you could actually read

mendokusai said:
I did not bring any medical exam in my interview because I sent it with my AOS package.
Didn't you miss reading the interview letter says, "unless already submitted" ?
Click to expand...

2. mendokusai already answered this, if you submitted the original sealed medical exam form when you sent your package for the third time then you do not need to take another medical exam. If Chicago Lockbox accepted your package BEFORE the 60 day expiration then you're fine. No need to overthink it.

3. If both of you are not fluent in English and are not comfortable with your English skills, it's up to you if you want to look for an interpreter.

4. In the timeline doc sheet you can find the link of all the interview experiences in this thread
 
mendokusai said:
Dear @Sm1smom @SusieQQQ and @Britsimon
Thank you so much for your endless support, and effort to organize this thread and website.
Today, my case was updated to "New Card being produced" on the website finally, thanks to all the member in this thread.
I would like to promise you that I will be living in this country with a humble mind and full of appreciation
in my heart thinking of the fact I am just lucky one this time for everything, it was not a privilege of mine.

And let me share my personal perspective of biometric reviewing time of my case since I researched a bit.
This includes some world history class a bit.
  • Chargeable country: Japan
  • Nationality: South Korea
  • Status in Japan: Special permanent resident
Conclusion first, the reason why my bio test review took so long was,
maybe, they had to figure out my personal relationship with North Korea
according to the Japanese lawyer in the US I know.

It seems this special permanent resident status in Japan of mine was a tricky one.
If it comes with "special", that means the person is a descendant of immigrants during WW2 from Korea or China.
Specifically talking about Koreans, when the immigrants registered their ID with the government of Japan after WW2,
they could freely say " I am from South" even though they were actually from North.
(No evidence was needed at the time unlike USCIS does strictly for us.)
So still there exist some Korean families in Japan, who send money and stuff to their family in North.

Actually, me, my cousin, and my siblings, all have experienced that the officer of the US embassy asked only about
if we related to North Korea or not when we had an interview to get F1 visa, like,
"Do you have any family member who lives in North Korea"
"Have you send money or stuff to North Korea?"
"Have you visited North Korea?" and so on.

It should be a really rare case, but the lawyer opened my eyes so I am sharing this for your information.

Again, thank you so much for everything.
Please take care of yourself.
Click to expand...

Congratulations and thank you for the detailed updates. The history lesson is another layer removed in getting further insights into the US immigration process. Thank you!
 
FDV said:
Hello everyone, hello mom, yesterday my wife (She is the principal applicant) and I received invitations for the interviews on 09/17/2020, NY. At the same time, we have not yet received a letter for biometric appointments.

How can they accept us without biometrics and how will it happen?

Also, I have a few questions about the Diversity Visa I-485 Attachment which they sent:

1. Is a copy of the Form I-134 sufficient or are income and tax supporting documents copies from my Affidavit of Support also required? (Although all these documents are in the sent case).

2. The fourth paragraph indicates the Form i-693 Medical Examination Report. The results must be submitted in the original envelope sealed by the medical office. What exactly does this mean? Do we need to do other medical examinations and bring envelopes to the interview? Or is it enough for them that we have already sent our envelopes with medical examinations in our cases? We are just worried that their expiration dates may have expired since we sent our cases on 07/09/2020.

3. Also, please advise if an interpreter can be interviewed, as my wife does not speak English fluently? (Considering she was an F-1 student for the last year).

4. And how does the interview with married couples take place together or separately?

Thanks in advance for the answers.
Click to expand...

You should have been following this thread more closely than you’ve done, because if you did you would have read of several selectees who got interviewed without having completed the bio first from July when the USCIS offices re-opened to the public for in person service.

1. Take copies of everything you already sent in with the AOS package.
2. The IL is assuming you didn’t send in the medical report with your package, you can safely ignore that request if you already submitted the medical report, (and the submitted medical report was signed within 60 days of when USCIS received your AOS package).
3. You can take an interpreter along if you like, although if your wife did one year of schooling in the US last year, I don’t see why she wouldn’t be able to answer the simple and straight forward questions asked during the interviews. It’s not like writing some English composition exam. But take a paid interpreter along if you prefer.
4. Could be together, could be separate. - another great example of why following this forum closely is a good idea - you’ll have read of other couples’s interview experiences and be better prepared.

p.s. I don’t appreciate your sending this same post to me via PM. Post in the open forum and wait for a response.
 
FDV said:
Please tell me what this means. We received an email request from KCC to pay $ 330 per person. Do we have to pay this $ 330 to the KCC before arriving for an interview at our local office?
Click to expand...

It means you haven’t made the required payment! Without that payment, KCC will not send your requested case file to your FO. And without the KCC file, your IO cannot approve your AOS application.

How did you miss the fact that this payment needed to have been made???? You didn’t go through the AOS process spreadsheet?
 
asm_dv said:
CASE APPROVED

Warning:This is a really long post!!!

First of all, extreme gratitude and thanks to @Sm1smom, @SusieQQQ and @Britsimon. Your collective guidance and helpful suggestion made this process much easier to navigate and get approved so easily. Also thanks to all the other forum members who helped with all their valuable advice.

Summary: My wife and I had our interview yesterday morning at Lawrence, MA field office. We got approved.

I am posting the interview details below; I will describe as much details I can so it helps everyone else who is waiting for interview:

Documents we took:
  • Exact complete set of print of AOS packet that we sent for both us. We had the whole package scanned before sending. We put them in two legal binders.
  • Additional copies of all original translation documents (birth certificate, degree certificate of my wife, all my documents were in English)
  • All Original documents (Passport, I-20, Birth certificate, marriage certificate, education degrees etc.)
  • New lease document as we have moved to new address.
  • My tax return documents (transcripts) from last few years and this year’s submitted copies (no transcripts yet available)
  • Pictures of our wedding and pictures from time we met.
Interview:

The officer was seating behind a plexiglass that shielded him from us the whole time and there were just small slots at the bottom of the shield for us to pass documents to him.

FYI: The officer had both my wife’s and mine AOS files in front of him, side by side. It wasn’t print copy it was the exact file we sent to lockbox. I could see the medical exam envelope and our pictures.

FYI: KCC informed me when I called earlier that my FO requested the files on 18th August, it was sent on 21st August.

  • Interview time: early morning
  • We arrived at the office at 20 minutes early and then after security check we went up to the check-in desk and an officer took our interview letter and then told us go into the next room and wait.
  • BTW you are allowed to take your phone and even laptop (if needed). Phone you can use but no camera function allowed.
  • After waiting 15 minutes another officer came out from a corridor and announced both me and my wife’s name.
  • We followed the officer to his room and he told us to raise our right hand and take the oath. He just stated the oath about being truthful and all and at the end we just said, “I do”.
  • After that he explained how the interview will go step by step. First, he will confirm our biographic information, then immigration status, then the security questions.
  • He asked us for our passport and then requested us to take the mask off for few seconds to take picture and then took only index finger’s print of both hands.
  • After that he started going through I-485 section by section and asked for supporting documents and related questions as it progressed.
##Whatever question below written means he asked both me and my wife same questions and checked with our respective files in front of him.
  • He confirmed my name, DOB, place of birth etc. Asked and confirmed about my other names used (long family name in some other legal documents). He just asked, confirmed and moved onto the next question.
  • My citizenship and if I have any other citizenship.
  • My parent’s info (place of birth and current citizenship).
  • He asked me my SSN.
  • He asked for both of our birth certificate.
  • My current address (as I had moved so he asked for the new address and corrected on the form as we spoke).
    **When he asked my wife, he asked her about our previous address.
  • Then he opened my passport found the last port of entry stamp and asked me the date and port of entry. Same for my wife.
  • Then he asked me about my current employment and just confirmed the info with the I-485.
  • He asked my wife about her previous work and asked if she and I met through work and she said no and we confirmed we met at college.
  • Then he asked about my marriage and place of marriage.
    *He asked my wife instead the date of our marriage.
  • There was a typo in my wife’s DOB and he corrected it as we spoke.
  • He asked if I had any children. Same with my wife.
  • Next he asked if I belong to any association or organization: so, I named the organizations listed on I-485. Surprisingly he belonged to one of the same associations through his university so he showed me the ring and we laughed about it.
  • Then he asked for our marriage certificate and made a copy of the translation.
  • After this he said, “now we will go through the tedious security related YES/NO questions and I will ask the same question for both of you and you both give me YOUR respective response after I ask”.
  • He literally went through every single question.
  • When it came to criminal charges or fines I mentioned 2 traffic citation I had 10 years ago and I have copies, he said "not required, and then he just asked are the traffic tickets above $500? When I said NO then he said NO NEED".
  • At the end he asked if I have my current employment contract, current I-20, previous I-20s. I had them with me and he just checked them and there was an extra copy of I-20 there and he kept it and returned the rest. Same for my wife and kept the extra copy of I-20.
  • Finally, he said this is his first DV based AOS case so he was glad he could manage the time slot for us before 30th September. And then he asked if we have any documents that confirms our selection. I gave him copy of 1NL and 2NL and he asked if these are copies and I said these are official as I only have email copies and he just kept them. I showed him the DV fee receipt and he said he did not need it.
  • After that he said everything looks in order and asked us to sign the I-485 forms.
  • He then said, “I will approve your case today and you should receive the GC by mail in 3-4 weeks.”
  • I confirmed about the new address and asked if he needs the signed AR-11 form and he said no need everything is in the system.
  • I asked if there is any letter we are supposed to get today and he said no need but we will receive an official notice by mail before the GC.
  • He walked us all the way to the waiting room and that’s it.
**FYI: He didn't ask about my sponsor I-134 stuff, no mention of I-944, even the public charge question on I-485 he skipped, nothing about health insurance, bank statement, credit history, tax. Only I-485 and previous immigration info. So those of you who are still waiting don't stress.

The interview took 35-40 minutes. Later in the afternoon after 5 hours the case tracker showed case status being changed to “New Card is Being Produced”.

My advice is if you have front loaded the AOS application really well based on the forum's experts advice then your interview should be easy. Be well prepared as in take all relevant documents especially copies of everything, they will ask for it and if you have it then they are more willing to approve the case rather than waiting. Dress semi-formal/business casual it shows you are taking this seriously.

Thanks again everyone.
Click to expand...

Phew! At last :D:D Great news! Congratulations. Guess I will see you again in 4-5 years' time - until then, I can say free at last ;)
 
Did my Interview on September 9. The officer was neutral though polite and calm.
Was hesitant to allow kids (6/7 years old) come with us but eventually allowed.
Asked to show her our passports with visas and dates of our marriage and date of last entry to the US. Then she asked i485 yes/no questions. At the end she asked us if we have any questions. I asked if she received our medical forms we send separately and if our background check is complete and got positive reply from her.

After that she said that she is going to approve our case and that she only needs to wait for DV files from KCC and that we will receive our cards in several weeks.

I will update the spreadsheet later when I receive the cards.

Thanks to my self for preparing all the documents without anyone's help))
 
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