GC interview for the parent. Share of experience is needed

A

Anna Rotakhina

Registered Users (C)
My mom is scheduled for GC interview in San Jose immigration office, CA. She doesn't speak English. I'm going with her as a translator and as her sponsor
I'd like to know what kind of questions do they usually ask during such interviews, so I can prepare my mom what to answer and prepare myself what to translate? If anybody had similar experience, PLEASE SHARE! Mom get's confused when she is nervous, and I'd like her to feel as prepared as possible, so we don't look "suspicious" to interviewing officer.
 
Anna Rotakhina said:
My mom is scheduled for GC interview in San Jose immigration office, CA. She doesn't speak English. I'm going with her as a translator and as her sponsor
I'd like to know what kind of questions do they usually ask during such interviews, so I can prepare my mom what to answer and prepare myself what to translate? If anybody had similar experience, PLEASE SHARE! Mom get's confused when she is nervous, and I'd like her to feel as prepared as possible, so we don't look "suspicious" to interviewing officer.
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In my 5 months reading this forum, I've never seen a GC parent sent for an interview. So I suspect USCIS found something suspicious about your mom's case and wants to speak further.

Can you give us some background on your petition, so we can see if anything seems unusual?

eg: did you file I-130/I-485 concurrently? How/when did you and your mom enter the US? What immigration status is your mom in now? So far, what sequences of notices / online updates have you had? Do you or her have any unusual employment or criminal situations?

-ML

K1 -> I-485 -> I-751 -> N-400

Now filing I-130/I-485 for parent...
DO: Santa Ana, CA

5/13/08 - Parent I-130/I-485/I-765/I-131 mailed to Chicago Lockbox
5/22/08 - checks cashed, receipt numbers from Missouri MSC (NBC)
5/25/08 - Notice dates for all notices
5/29/08 - LUD I-130/I-485/I-765/I-131 (received and pending at NBC)
6/07/08 - Fingerprint appointment letter received
6/12/08 - Fingerprint appointment date
6/12/08 - LUD I-485/I-765 (no change, still received and pending at NBC)
7/29/08 - LUD I-485 - RFE sent out, case on hold
7/30/08 - LUD I-485 (no change, still on hold for RFE)
8/04/08 - RFE received, request for tax return, 87 days to respond
8/05/08 - Sent RFE response to NBC (regular mail)
8/14/08 - LUD I-485 (RFE received, case processing has resumed)
8/15/08 - LUD I-485 (no change, still case processing resumed)
8/18/08 - LUD I-485 (no change, still case processing resumed)
8/18/08 - LUD I-765 - EAD approved / card production ordered
8/18/08 - LUD I-131 - AP approved / approval notice sent
8/19/08 - LUD I-131 (no change, still approval notice sent)
8/26/08 - AP received, multi entry valid for 1 year from 8/18/08
8/29/08 - EAD received
8/30/08 - Case transfer to CSC (letter received, no web update)
9/03/08 - LUD I-485/I-130 (case pending at CSC)
9/04/08 - LUD I-485/I-130 (no change, still case pending at CSC)
 
Anna Rotakhina said:
My mom is scheduled for GC interview in San Jose immigration office, CA. She doesn't speak English. I'm going with her as a translator and as her sponsor
I'd like to know what kind of questions do they usually ask during such interviews, so I can prepare my mom what to answer and prepare myself what to translate? If anybody had similar experience, PLEASE SHARE! Mom get's confused when she is nervous, and I'd like her to feel as prepared as possible, so we don't look "suspicious" to interviewing officer.
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I don't know if they will let you be her translator
 
ml_boston said:
In my 5 months reading this forum, I've never seen a GC parent sent for an interview. So I suspect USCIS found something suspicious about your mom's case and wants to speak further.

Can you give us some background on your petition, so we can see if anything seems unusual?

eg: did you file I-130/I-485 concurrently? How/when did you and your mom enter the US? What immigration status is your mom in now? So far, what sequences of notices / online updates have you had? Do you or her have any unusual employment or criminal situations?
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Thank you for responding so fast. Here is my mom's story. She is 65 y.o. She entered the US as a tourist in Dec. 2007. 3 months later I applied for adjustment of status for her. I filed the whole package that they gave me in local USCIS office. I.e. I-485, I-765, I-130, I-864, I-131, G-325A, I-693. Within two months we received invitation for fingerprints, employment authorization, and parole. So, now, I guess, she has AOS status with alien number and SSN. Neither my mom, nor I have any criminal records. As for employment, she doesn't have anything unusual, and I work periodically as self-employed accountant/bookkeeper. The only "suspicious" thing that could be there is that I don't have enough income, but I put a lot of assets (bank accounts, house equity) in my affidavit of support. My husband has enough income to support us, but we decided that he better not sign an additional affidavit of support, but we go with assets instead.
 
pat2ondo said:
I don't know if they will let you be her translator
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From what I've heard, they don't care much about who is translating. But, I've read here that they might invite somebody in the office who speaks your language, if they have any, just to check if you are translating right. In addition, they clearly stated in interview letter that "if you don't speak English, you may bring a translator with you".
 
Anna Rotakhina said:
From what I've heard, they don't care much about who is translating. But, I've read here that they might invite somebody in the office who speaks your language, if they have any, just to check if you are translating right. In addition, they clearly stated in interview letter that "if you don't speak English, you may bring a translator with you".
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Anna, I have heard of a similar case long time ago. The difference was that USCIS was more specific and told the person that he could bring a professional translator; meaning a professional with an appropriate occupational license. I agree with pat2ondo; they might not let you serve as a translator since you are a relative and not a neutral person in this case. You should probably inquire at your local DO. Make an infopass appointment and ask them. Good luck to you anyway.
 
zuzkin said:
Anna, I have heard of a similar case long time ago. The difference was that USCIS was more specific and told the person that he could bring a professional translator; meaning a professional with an appropriate occupational license. I agree with pat2ondo; they might not let you serve as a translator since you are a relative and not a neutral person in this case. You should probably inquire at your local DO. Make an infopass appointment and ask them. Good luck to you anyway.
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Tank you. That's a very good idea. I will check with the local office if they will allow me to be a translator and will post the answer here.
 
One last thought. I think an IO would want to question your mother's intent. I mean, when she got the visa back home, she had to prove she had no intentions to immigrate once here. She entered on a visitor visa and now she wants to stay. I remember when my mother went to get a US visitor visa in her country, she had to bring proof that she has no intentions to remain in US. Normally, you would petition for your relatives through the outside consulates, while they reside in their home country. Perhaps this might be the issue. Not sure. But if I were you, I'd prepare her for this potential question.
 
zuzkin said:
One last thought. I think an IO would want to question your mother's intent. I mean, when she got the visa back home, she had to prove she had no intentions to immigrate once here. She entered on a visitor visa and now she wants to stay. I remember when my mother went to get a US visitor visa in her country, she had to bring proof that she has no intentions to remain in US. Normally, you would petition for your relatives through the outside consulates, while they reside in their home country. Perhaps this might be the issue. Not sure. But if I were you, I'd prepare her for this potential question.
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That's a good point. Thank you. Actually, she really didn't want to stay at first. I invited her hoping that she would like it here and will agree to stay, because it's hard for her to be all by herself back in Russia, and it's hard for us to help her on such a long distance. I hope, that such answer would satisfy the IO.
 
Zuzkin.
Just a little update on a "translator" case. I called customer service. You were right. They specifically require, unless there is an emergency(who knows what that means?) not to use an immediate relative as a translator. That must be uninterested party. Also, the cust.rep. suggested the same thing that you did, make an interview in the local office and ask them if I can translate for my mother.
 
Anna Rotakhina said:
Zuzkin.
Just a little update on a "translator" case. I called customer service. You were right. They specifically require, unless there is an emergency(who knows what that means?) not to use an immediate relative as a translator. That must be uninterested party. Also, the cust.rep. suggested the same thing that you did, make an interview in the local office and ask them if I can translate for my mother.
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Here you go :) Glad I could help. Just prep you mom for this interview. I don't think there are going to be any difficulties with it. By emergency they probably mean something like a case where your mother would speak a dialect type of language for which you couldn't find a translator. That's not the case with you. Udaci vam!
 
Anna Rotakhina said:
Thank you for responding so fast. Here is my mom's story. She is 65 y.o. She entered the US as a tourist in Dec. 2007. 3 months later I applied for adjustment of status for her. I filed the whole package that they gave me in local USCIS office. I.e. I-485, I-765, I-130, I-864, I-131, G-325A, I-693. Within two months we received invitation for fingerprints, employment authorization, and parole. So, now, I guess, she has AOS status with alien number and SSN. Neither my mom, nor I have any criminal records. As for employment, she doesn't have anything unusual, and I work periodically as self-employed accountant/bookkeeper. The only "suspicious" thing that could be there is that I don't have enough income, but I put a lot of assets (bank accounts, house equity) in my affidavit of support. My husband has enough income to support us, but we decided that he better not sign an additional affidavit of support, but we go with assets instead.
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If I remember correctly, if you petition by assets, the total assets shall be 7 times of the 125% proverty line is required. Does the asset you filed meet such requirement?
 
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pleasetellmewhy said:
If I remember correctly, if you petition by assets, the total assets shall be 7 times of the 125% proverty line is required. Does the asset you filed meet such requirement?
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"The total value of all assets, line 29, must equal 5 times (3 times for spouses and children of USCs, or 1 time for orphans to be formally adopted in the U.S.) the difference between the poverty guidelines and the sponsor's household income, line 24c." That's a quote from I-864.
And, yes, total value of the assets that we filed, is actually 7 times more than poverty guideline. My concern is, that it might be unusual to go by assets instead of stable income, but for that they should call me for the interview, not my mother.
 
Anna Rotakhina said:
I'm sorry, I don't know what does that mean? What is CSC? And how I can know whether or not these forms were transferred? Where should I look?
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If you look up your case status online, it would normally say "transfer to CSC". CSC is the California Service Center, where applications usually go after most of the USCIS adjudication is complete, while they wait for the FBI background checks. It is a good indicator of how far you are in the process. Check both the I-130 and I-485 receipt numbers online. What do they say?

Also, did you get the EAD or the advance parole yet?

You assets have to be reasonably convertible to cash within 1 year without hardship to your family. Usually they won't let you use home equity, nor will they let you use your first car.

Perhaps they'll want to question you on your planned asset usage. Did they specifically ask you to accompany her to the interview? Are you using assets that meet the above requirements?

-ML

K1 -> I-485 -> I-751 -> N-400

Now filing I-130/I-485 for parent...
 
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ml_boston said:
Check both the I-130 and I-485 receipt numbers online. What do they say? Also, did you get the EAD or the advance parole yet? You assets have to be reasonably convertible to cash within 1 year without hardship to your family. Usually they won't let you use home equity, nor will they let you use your first car. Perhaps they'll want to question you on your planned asset usage. Did they specifically ask you to accompany her to the interview? Are you using assets that meet the above requirements?
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OK. Application Type: I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS.Current Status: Case received and pending. Application Type: I130, IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Current Status: Case received and pending.
Does that mean that these forms were not transferred?
I don't know what EAD means, but mom got a I-512L Authorization for Parole of an Alien into the United States.
I didn't know about home equity, but I've read about using your only car as an asset. We actually did file our home equity as our main asset and that might be the reason for the interview. But, again, they shouldn't interview my mother on that. How could she know? They have to invite me! Besides home equity we filed our bank accounts that are definitely easily convertible to cash, and those alone satisfy the requirement of "5 times more than difference between poverty line and petitioner's income"
They didn't specifically ask me to accompany my mom for the interview. Moreover, when I called customer service, they told me that only an uninterested person can come with the applicant as an interpreter. I'm getting more and more confused, realizing that I don't know so much about this process! Where am I? What should I do to prepare for this?
 
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Anna Rotakhina said:
That's a good point. Thank you. Actually, she really didn't want to stay at first. I invited her hoping that she would like it here and will agree to stay, because it's hard for her to be all by herself back in Russia, and it's hard for us to help her on such a long distance. I hope, that such answer would satisfy the IO.
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I don't think so. Because then it seems like you were the one trying to subvert the immigration laws. She should simply explain that she didn't plan to stay, it was her first time ever visiting America (if it was), and that upon visiting she got a better impression of America and after a few months decided she wanted to stay.

Unfortunately you can't undo the past, but given that parental green cards are usually processed in less than a year, it was a big gamble to file I-485 after having her arrive on a tourist visa, unless things were SO HORRIBLE in the home country that a year of waiting would be devastating.
 
Jackolantern said:
I don't think so. Because then it seems like you were the one trying to subvert the immigration laws.
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But she can't subvert the immigration laws - really, her intent is somewhat immaterial beyond providing a clue as to the intent of the alien. Having someone else wanting you to live here permanently doesn't constitute immigrant intent on your part. However, I agree that it's a silly thing to say.
 
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