Before I began the process, I had some questions. So I consulted an immigration lawyer I found on this site - Mr. Mills. It was a telephone consultation and very helpful. I would not call him inexpensive (which lawyer is?) but his advice was well worth it. It enabled me to do the whole process without hiring a lawyer and paying 4-5K that they would charge for something like this. Many thanks to him.
I first came to the US on F1 visa. Then I got a job and got an H1-B visa. Got married. My US citizen spouse petitioned first for an immigrant visa by filing the I-130 form with the CSC on April 15th 2002. One reason we did this is because we were not sure if we wanted to go the AOS route or the CP route. We indicated CP on the I-130 petition because it is fairly easy to change from CP to AOS but the same is not true the other way. The receipt date for the I-130 was April 30th. They made a mistake and assigned my case to the category of spouse of green card holder which I am not, instead of spouse of US Citizen which I am. I called them about it, faxed a letter and then FEDEXED another letter. Finally they got back to me saying they are aware of the error and it would be fixed at the time of adjudication. An RFE was issued for a marriage certificate in July which I mailed right away. The 130 petition was approved on August 7th 2002 (and under the right designation).
We then decided to go the AOS route and filed I-485 on August 15th 2002 with the San Jose INS office. I physically went and dropped it in the receptacle outside the office. My wife was not employed at the time of filing but since we had lived together for 6 months and I was earning enough by myself to beat the poverty line, I was able to file an Affadvait of Support, sponsoring myself. We got a receipt very quickly and I went to get my EAD. Stood in line the whole night but got my EAD from the San Jose office. This was late August.
We received the interview appointment letter and request for fingerprinting in early Jan. I got fingerprinting done the very next day by visiting the Application Support Center (ASC) in San Jose. It was a quick 10 minute process. Then I got working on getting the the medical report done. This took some time as I didnt have all the required vaccinations/records. I first went to my PCP and got all the immunizations for a $5 copay. Thanks to Sachin Phadke from this board for giving me this advice. Then I went to an inexpensive Mexican doctor in South San Jose and he did my medical for $85 + $30 chest Xray fee. His name was Dr. Albert A. Gomez and I recommend him highly. His office is very speedy with the paper work. The white/asian doctors up in Sunnyvale and other places charge $350 for the same process.
Also note that I got my fingerprinting done more than a month before my interview date. I would advise this to anyone who wants to walk out with their passports stamped on the day of the interview. If very little time has elapsed between your fingerprinting and interview, the INS will likely not have recieved the results from the FBI.
Feb. 12th was my interview. The interview was for 10:30AM and we showed up at 9:00AM. I wore a suit and tie and wife dressed formal also. The security cleared us fairly quickly although by the time we got into the office, they had made me remove my shoes, belt and coat. Once inside, we were directed up to the 2nd floor to the waiting area. I put my appointment letter in the basket under Window #2 and waited and waited. They finally called us at 11:30. The interviewer was a nice hispanic woman. She asked for and looked at the following:
1) My passport
2) My driver's license
3) My EAD
4) Spouse's passport
5) Spouse's driver's license
6) Joint apartment leases
7) Insurance policies
8) Utlity bills
9) Wedding photographs
10) Marriage certificate
11) Tax papers
12) Recent pay stubs
13) My birth certificate (didnt have original so got affadavit sent from india and got another from Indian consulate in SF)
She kept a copy of all of these. We had made the copies in advance and color tabbed it for her. This impressed her a lot. Then she asked a bunch of questions like if I ever committed a crime, if I was here to commit espionage etc. She also asked us where and when we met, was it an arranged marriage, who proposed, when my parents first met my spouse etc etc.
She was happy with everything but was about to ask us to mail in one more thing before approving us. For some reason she wasnt satisfied with the Marriage certificate but my wife told her that that was the original proof of marriage and i guess that sufficed because she moved on. She looked up the FBI results on the computer and approved the petition. She stamped the passport with the I-551 stamp for 1 year and said the card would come in the mail between 3-6 months. The EAD card and my I-94 were retained by her as they are not needed anymore. She also said that this was a conditional permenant residency and we would have to file I-751 21 months from now.
So thats my story. I will update the post, when the card actually comes in the mail. Thanks for all your help.
UPDATE (3/6/03): Received "Welcome Notice" from CSC today.
UPDATE (3/11/03): Received plastic card in the mail today. WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! For me this is the end of the road... well atleast for the time being. Until I have to file to remove conditions but that is 20 months from now.
I first came to the US on F1 visa. Then I got a job and got an H1-B visa. Got married. My US citizen spouse petitioned first for an immigrant visa by filing the I-130 form with the CSC on April 15th 2002. One reason we did this is because we were not sure if we wanted to go the AOS route or the CP route. We indicated CP on the I-130 petition because it is fairly easy to change from CP to AOS but the same is not true the other way. The receipt date for the I-130 was April 30th. They made a mistake and assigned my case to the category of spouse of green card holder which I am not, instead of spouse of US Citizen which I am. I called them about it, faxed a letter and then FEDEXED another letter. Finally they got back to me saying they are aware of the error and it would be fixed at the time of adjudication. An RFE was issued for a marriage certificate in July which I mailed right away. The 130 petition was approved on August 7th 2002 (and under the right designation).
We then decided to go the AOS route and filed I-485 on August 15th 2002 with the San Jose INS office. I physically went and dropped it in the receptacle outside the office. My wife was not employed at the time of filing but since we had lived together for 6 months and I was earning enough by myself to beat the poverty line, I was able to file an Affadvait of Support, sponsoring myself. We got a receipt very quickly and I went to get my EAD. Stood in line the whole night but got my EAD from the San Jose office. This was late August.
We received the interview appointment letter and request for fingerprinting in early Jan. I got fingerprinting done the very next day by visiting the Application Support Center (ASC) in San Jose. It was a quick 10 minute process. Then I got working on getting the the medical report done. This took some time as I didnt have all the required vaccinations/records. I first went to my PCP and got all the immunizations for a $5 copay. Thanks to Sachin Phadke from this board for giving me this advice. Then I went to an inexpensive Mexican doctor in South San Jose and he did my medical for $85 + $30 chest Xray fee. His name was Dr. Albert A. Gomez and I recommend him highly. His office is very speedy with the paper work. The white/asian doctors up in Sunnyvale and other places charge $350 for the same process.
Also note that I got my fingerprinting done more than a month before my interview date. I would advise this to anyone who wants to walk out with their passports stamped on the day of the interview. If very little time has elapsed between your fingerprinting and interview, the INS will likely not have recieved the results from the FBI.
Feb. 12th was my interview. The interview was for 10:30AM and we showed up at 9:00AM. I wore a suit and tie and wife dressed formal also. The security cleared us fairly quickly although by the time we got into the office, they had made me remove my shoes, belt and coat. Once inside, we were directed up to the 2nd floor to the waiting area. I put my appointment letter in the basket under Window #2 and waited and waited. They finally called us at 11:30. The interviewer was a nice hispanic woman. She asked for and looked at the following:
1) My passport
2) My driver's license
3) My EAD
4) Spouse's passport
5) Spouse's driver's license
6) Joint apartment leases
7) Insurance policies
8) Utlity bills
9) Wedding photographs
10) Marriage certificate
11) Tax papers
12) Recent pay stubs
13) My birth certificate (didnt have original so got affadavit sent from india and got another from Indian consulate in SF)
She kept a copy of all of these. We had made the copies in advance and color tabbed it for her. This impressed her a lot. Then she asked a bunch of questions like if I ever committed a crime, if I was here to commit espionage etc. She also asked us where and when we met, was it an arranged marriage, who proposed, when my parents first met my spouse etc etc.
She was happy with everything but was about to ask us to mail in one more thing before approving us. For some reason she wasnt satisfied with the Marriage certificate but my wife told her that that was the original proof of marriage and i guess that sufficed because she moved on. She looked up the FBI results on the computer and approved the petition. She stamped the passport with the I-551 stamp for 1 year and said the card would come in the mail between 3-6 months. The EAD card and my I-94 were retained by her as they are not needed anymore. She also said that this was a conditional permenant residency and we would have to file I-751 21 months from now.
So thats my story. I will update the post, when the card actually comes in the mail. Thanks for all your help.
UPDATE (3/6/03): Received "Welcome Notice" from CSC today.
UPDATE (3/11/03): Received plastic card in the mail today. WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! For me this is the end of the road... well atleast for the time being. Until I have to file to remove conditions but that is 20 months from now.
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