Interview went generally well as an experience, I will describe it below, as it was different, but the officer - M. Jordan - white blond lady in her 40s - said that I will be most likely denied after review , due to lacking 20 days to make it to minimum US residence, even though it says one can apply 90 days before full eligibility, denial reason sounds very bureaucratic, but "nobody's above the law", so basically I accepted it as a denial and now planning to apply in January, once I have enough days in US in total.
Interview was for 12.30, me and my husband arrived at 11.30, parked at LA Mall across the street (about $14.00 cash only), had a lunch and were at the building main door at 12.00, security took about 5 min, and we started to search for room 2050, which is second floor (not 5, 6 or 8 like people described before)
so we found elevator, went on 2nd floor and walked around for about 10 min just looking for 2050, but later on when we took stairs down - it took us right down to main entrance hall and cafeteria.
in room 2050 - looks just like infopass or embassy room, with about 8 windows, walls between waiting room and windows don't reach ceiling and reveal that there is apparently space in the back where they take you,
security guard had a sign on his table something like "please verify your appointment here"
I gave him my letter and he told me to put it in the first window and have a seat, there were about 40 chairs in waiting room in 4 rows and about 20 people, out of them half were probably family and friends.
at about 12.40 officers started appearing (possibly after lunch break) behind windows and started calling the names, but people called would return back to seats, so I wasn't sure what's going on until my turn.
my name was called at about 1.40 and a young fast talking asian looking officer asked for my GC, DL and passport, went back and made copies, then he gave me written and reading test, I had to sign bottom of each paper.
then he started civics, and luckily I studied both versions, so I answered 8 out of 10, last 2 I knew I could answer, but was kinda nervous standing there by the window with all the people behind, so I prefered to skip, just to get over with. He said I passed and told me to take a seat.
I guess after people passed civics they were taken to the back part through 2 side doors on both sides of long row of windows.
after about 20 more minutes more wait around 2.00, my name was called by a white blond lady about 45 yo, she took me literally 5 steps in to her cubicle, which actually was nicer then a dark torture dungeon I imagined, it had a huge window, or it was a window wall, and it had nice view outside and lots of indirect light.
She offered me a seat and I saw a thick folder on her desk with probably all document I ever sent to USCIS starting with my visa.
After "truth oath" she began with weird question if I ever went to school in US, I kinda got startles at first, trying to figure out where that came from and how it will affect my application, I said no and told her what happened, that I went for PhD abroad and to visit my mom, I wonder if it was a trick to make me slip or to make me lie??
she went on directly to the fact that I was too long abroad, and said she didn't have this issue with anybody for a while before today, there was lady right before me.
I felt soo down that I didn't care anymore for the rest of interview really, I didn't use any of my carefully prepared document, I though she decided already and there is nothing I can really do about it.
Then we started to look into travel part of my application and she made it to look like that whatever number of days I put in there they would use it, and she told me to multiply 365 by number of years (in my case 3) then devide it by 2 (cuz 50% of time is required minimum of in US, and maximum of stay out) and that number was 20 days more then my total trips at the moment of application
I asked about "one can apply 90 days before eligibility" rule, she said it doesnt apply to this requirement.
and she asked do I want my denial letter now or mailed
I asked is there a possibility to review my case, she basically gave me piece of paper saying :
"Dear applicant
your application has been continued for folowing reason:
and a marked box"No further action required on your part at this time, Upon receipt of below checked boxes your application will be further acted upon:
the a box marked : "Other" then in red pen she written" I will look over your application, it appears deniable, you spent more then 1/2 time out of US"
If you have not received a response after 120 days from date of this notice, you may mail and inquiry to address..."
I guess after I refused to take a denial letter, she decided to finish the interview and go over the rest of question, for some reason after my address change and receiving IL at new address, they still didn't have it updated.
also my name on file was a long combination of my maiden name + my current name, while greencard only has my new name.
I was going to change my name, and she said she will try to proceed with that, but I don't remember details. I didn't really care.
I think she kinda felt that I am extremely disapointed even though I behaved polite and tried not to show much anger, it was my fault after all and law is on their side.
she said that if I feel there is error in calculation of the days I may go back to waiting room while she makes copies and recalculate all over
I did go back, but I didn't add those calculations manually, I used "timeanddate.com" and cheched it many times, so there was no chance for mistake,
so I used the time off to think about "what If I edit this days for -10 days each", I mean it's all horrible bureaucracy after all, what difference does it make for USCIS, if I get approved now or 5 months later, and "may be it will work out fine today, since she didn't seem like recalculating herself".
But then I remembered those weird questions that could possibly mean to check my reaction in case I lied, or divert my attention and make me slip. What if this was one of them?
So I decided to not risk committing crime of "lying under oath" (especially when truth is easily discoverable) over 5-6 more months of wait, and when she called me again to give me originals of my documents, I asked would it help if difference was 1 day not 20, she said no, it has to be exactly required amount of days, so I said I don't have anything else to edit in my application. SO she wished me good luck and I left
I guess I will wait for final decision in the mail
Interview was for 12.30, me and my husband arrived at 11.30, parked at LA Mall across the street (about $14.00 cash only), had a lunch and were at the building main door at 12.00, security took about 5 min, and we started to search for room 2050, which is second floor (not 5, 6 or 8 like people described before)
so we found elevator, went on 2nd floor and walked around for about 10 min just looking for 2050, but later on when we took stairs down - it took us right down to main entrance hall and cafeteria.
in room 2050 - looks just like infopass or embassy room, with about 8 windows, walls between waiting room and windows don't reach ceiling and reveal that there is apparently space in the back where they take you,
security guard had a sign on his table something like "please verify your appointment here"
I gave him my letter and he told me to put it in the first window and have a seat, there were about 40 chairs in waiting room in 4 rows and about 20 people, out of them half were probably family and friends.
at about 12.40 officers started appearing (possibly after lunch break) behind windows and started calling the names, but people called would return back to seats, so I wasn't sure what's going on until my turn.
my name was called at about 1.40 and a young fast talking asian looking officer asked for my GC, DL and passport, went back and made copies, then he gave me written and reading test, I had to sign bottom of each paper.
then he started civics, and luckily I studied both versions, so I answered 8 out of 10, last 2 I knew I could answer, but was kinda nervous standing there by the window with all the people behind, so I prefered to skip, just to get over with. He said I passed and told me to take a seat.
I guess after people passed civics they were taken to the back part through 2 side doors on both sides of long row of windows.
after about 20 more minutes more wait around 2.00, my name was called by a white blond lady about 45 yo, she took me literally 5 steps in to her cubicle, which actually was nicer then a dark torture dungeon I imagined, it had a huge window, or it was a window wall, and it had nice view outside and lots of indirect light.
She offered me a seat and I saw a thick folder on her desk with probably all document I ever sent to USCIS starting with my visa.
After "truth oath" she began with weird question if I ever went to school in US, I kinda got startles at first, trying to figure out where that came from and how it will affect my application, I said no and told her what happened, that I went for PhD abroad and to visit my mom, I wonder if it was a trick to make me slip or to make me lie??
she went on directly to the fact that I was too long abroad, and said she didn't have this issue with anybody for a while before today, there was lady right before me.
I felt soo down that I didn't care anymore for the rest of interview really, I didn't use any of my carefully prepared document, I though she decided already and there is nothing I can really do about it.
Then we started to look into travel part of my application and she made it to look like that whatever number of days I put in there they would use it, and she told me to multiply 365 by number of years (in my case 3) then devide it by 2 (cuz 50% of time is required minimum of in US, and maximum of stay out) and that number was 20 days more then my total trips at the moment of application
I asked about "one can apply 90 days before eligibility" rule, she said it doesnt apply to this requirement.
and she asked do I want my denial letter now or mailed
I asked is there a possibility to review my case, she basically gave me piece of paper saying :
"Dear applicant
your application has been continued for folowing reason:
and a marked box"No further action required on your part at this time, Upon receipt of below checked boxes your application will be further acted upon:
the a box marked : "Other" then in red pen she written" I will look over your application, it appears deniable, you spent more then 1/2 time out of US"
If you have not received a response after 120 days from date of this notice, you may mail and inquiry to address..."
I guess after I refused to take a denial letter, she decided to finish the interview and go over the rest of question, for some reason after my address change and receiving IL at new address, they still didn't have it updated.
also my name on file was a long combination of my maiden name + my current name, while greencard only has my new name.
I was going to change my name, and she said she will try to proceed with that, but I don't remember details. I didn't really care.
I think she kinda felt that I am extremely disapointed even though I behaved polite and tried not to show much anger, it was my fault after all and law is on their side.
she said that if I feel there is error in calculation of the days I may go back to waiting room while she makes copies and recalculate all over
I did go back, but I didn't add those calculations manually, I used "timeanddate.com" and cheched it many times, so there was no chance for mistake,
so I used the time off to think about "what If I edit this days for -10 days each", I mean it's all horrible bureaucracy after all, what difference does it make for USCIS, if I get approved now or 5 months later, and "may be it will work out fine today, since she didn't seem like recalculating herself".
But then I remembered those weird questions that could possibly mean to check my reaction in case I lied, or divert my attention and make me slip. What if this was one of them?
So I decided to not risk committing crime of "lying under oath" (especially when truth is easily discoverable) over 5-6 more months of wait, and when she called me again to give me originals of my documents, I asked would it help if difference was 1 day not 20, she said no, it has to be exactly required amount of days, so I said I don't have anything else to edit in my application. SO she wished me good luck and I left
I guess I will wait for final decision in the mail