Having Attorney with you at AOS interview

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BetterWorld

Registered Users (C)
Hello !

I was wondering many people who already attended their AOS interviews, might have experience of taking attorney with them to the interview.

May be i missed but never saw any thread on this topic.

So here, Please share your experiences/Opinions/Suggestions...

- for the instances when attorney handled the situation during interview
- Is it worth it taking attorney to the interview
- Did attorney joined you during stokes interview or not? (both of you or just one?)
- Any info related to this


All the best !
 
Do you have an upcoming Stokes interview? Or any other complication that would make you want to bring an attorney, like a criminal record?
 
No, i don't have anything that complicated or criminal record.
I was just curious how, and on what lawyers help at the time of interview? there is cost to take the lawyer at the interview.

Any experience...


Jackolantern said:
Do you have an upcoming Stokes interview? Or any other complication that would make you want to bring an attorney, like a criminal record?
Click to expand...
 
We did.

Our immigration lawyer was with us during the interview. There was not much she did during the interview, just available IF there is anything that would come up. Anything that needs clarification. Nothing came up. It was very quick. Maybe less than 10 minutes.

But prior to that, she oriented us, briefed us. That was helpful. She used to work at the immigration office (actually interviewed people), so she told us what actually happens during the interview.

Would I do it again? It depends. If there are complications in the situation, I would. Having a lawyer with you helps a lot, emotionally. You are certain there is someone in that interview room, on your side. But if the case does not have complications, I would not. It is expensive to request the presence of a lawyer.

But I'm terrible in understanding legal stuff (sometimes I feel they do that intentionally, just so lawyers would have their job!). So, I would definitely see the lawyer prior to the interview, just to set the expectations; so there won't be any exceptionally surprising questions. Anything that I need clarification on, I'd thoroughly ask the lawyer about it. She could also tell me what documents might be asked or anything I overlooked. So I'd prepare those.
 
We didn't use a lawyer. The only thing unique about our situation was my wife's non-immigrant visa was a G-4 (Employee of an International Organization). I read the directions carefully for all the forms that we had to fill out. I used a highlighter on the instructions to highlight the important stuff, and I put an x through parts of the instructions that where not relevant to our case. I am glad that I did that, because it brought to my attention that we had to fill out two additional forms due to my wife's non-immigrant visa. When I looked at the additional forms that we had to fill out, it asked for a particular number which my wife didn't have and the visa office at her employer said that they would have to get a number for her and it would take six weeks. I am glad that I saw that while we where filling out the forms. Due to my careful reading of the instructions we submitted the proper evidence and never received an RFE.

When we went to the district office for the interview, about half of the couples in there had lawyers. Some of the lawyers where briefing their clients about their case and what to expect in the waiting room. After the interview when the officer was escorting us out, my wife made a comment to the officer asking how I did in organizing the case. The officer said that we did a good job and it was pretty much straight forward.

Again as others have mentioned, having a lawyer depends on if your case is complicated.
 
We did bring a lawyer. I agree with silvermug about using a lawyer for help before the interview. I feel that bringing lawyers can go one of two ways. The IO can be happy because they have positive experience working with that individual (this was our experience) and they know that you are organized and prepped so their work should be decreased. The other way I feel it could go is that they could be irritated that they are being watched by the lawyer. I'm not sure if that is really the case or not.

I'm not really sure what the stokes interview is, but I felt overall happy that I brought the attorney. My spouse had overstayed his visitor visa (not by his choice as he was 7 at the time) and once that happened he had no choice of GC any other way besides marriage. We dated for several years and finally married and filed. Because we didn't have much experience with this subject and we were affraid of consequences due to his overstaying, we decided to go with an attorney which was more money (approx. $5K) but at the end of the day it worked great. The attorney going to the interview was about $1K which is a lot of money and also not a lot of money at the same time. If for some reason you didn't bring the attorney and the IO tricked you in some way and then you had to repay all of the fees to file again, it would be worth it. I definitely suggest understanding the process completely when you go so the IO feels that you (both US Citizen/Immigrant) are competent and are worth approving.

If you have any other specific questions, just ask...
 
Tips for Preparing for Interview

Also, I wrote this on another post about tips that I've received...

Interview usually goes like this:
1. Swear In (while standing)
2. Request for IDs (SS Cards, EAD, Passports, Drivers License)
3. Review of the I-130 with sponsor
4. Review of the I-485 with applicant
5. Request for Maritial Evidence

Helpful tips, I received from my immigration attorney.
1. Put SS Card, EAD, DL in Passport and clip with a binder clip to secure. Hand entire contents to IO
2. Organize all documents that go together with Post-It Tabs (stick on index tabs) and label tabs with what documents/group of documents are. For example for maritial evidence, I grouped all photes together under a "Photos" tab, Electricity statements for several months under an "Electricity Statements" tab, etc
3. Organize groups of documents together with Binder Clips (makes it a lot easier for you to find)
4. Top 2-Hole punch any documents that you think the IO will ask for. This way they can just open up their clips and put the documents in.

My stack included every NOA I received and a copied/2-hole punch of each NOA, all of the sponsor's employement information together originals and copies (also punched), three years of tax returns originals and copies of the sponsor (also punched), any other documents they ask for originals and copies (also punched) such as arrest records, maritial evidence originals and copies (also punched).

I feel that our IO was impressed with how organized we were and left a good impression, so it may be worth it to you.
 
Lawyer

Thanks lizab213.

I guess it really help to have attorney at the interview.

So, You remember your lawyer did anything specific at the time of interview?
He gave any tips for the interview?



lizab213 said:
We did bring a lawyer. I agree with silvermug about using a lawyer for help before the interview. I feel that bringing lawyers can go one of two ways. The IO can be happy because they have positive experience working with that individual (this was our experience) and they know that you are organized and prepped so their work should be decreased. The other way I feel it could go is that they could be irritated that they are being watched by the lawyer. I'm not sure if that is really the case or not.

I'm not really sure what the stokes interview is, but I felt overall happy that I brought the attorney. My spouse had overstayed his visitor visa (not by his choice as he was 7 at the time) and once that happened he had no choice of GC any other way besides marriage. We dated for several years and finally married and filed. Because we didn't have much experience with this subject and we were affraid of consequences due to his overstaying, we decided to go with an attorney which was more money (approx. $5K) but at the end of the day it worked great. The attorney going to the interview was about $1K which is a lot of money and also not a lot of money at the same time. If for some reason you didn't bring the attorney and the IO tricked you in some way and then you had to repay all of the fees to file again, it would be worth it. I definitely suggest understanding the process completely when you go so the IO feels that you (both US Citizen/Immigrant) are competent and are worth approving.

If you have any other specific questions, just ask...
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